Does Electricity Move Instantly? | What the Physics?!
In 1746, Physicist Jean-Antoine Nollet had a question: how fast does electricity travel? To find out, he devised a simple experiment: connecting a large group of monks by thick electric wire and flipping the switch. Over two centuries later, while we may question the methodology, we can’t argue with the shocking results.
Hosted by Athena Brensberger @astroathens 💫
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:49 The Speed of Electricity
03:05 How Does Electricity Move So Fast?
05:22 Conclusion
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@yash1152
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
4:36 so basically, waves.
particles don't displace that much, the oscillation travels nevertheless.
@jimbaulsir8838
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
As an electrical engineer, the “speed” of electricity is dependent on the media to which it’s moving through.
@MikeU128
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Great. Now I have Shock the Monk(ey) stuck in my head!
@skipdalu5805
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
How long does it take "creators" to figure out that people don't want background noise with their instruction? Apparently- a very long time
@19Maddy89
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
1746 and electricity?
@CHOSEN-v3l
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
IT MOVE ACCORDINGLY!
TO CURRENT!
@WyattScott
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Shock The Monk Kay
@olmo-c9e
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
shock the Monk …ey
@DrJulianNewmansChannel
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Nice video. But I’m not sure what’s wrong with saying that the electron flow is a fluid flow. A gas flowing along a pipe is also made up of discrete particles moving in random directions with a net drift, and we’re fine calling that gas a fluid. Perhaps the modern physics of matter has a technical definition of “fluid” that the body of free electrons fails to fulfil, but unless people in the 18th and 19th century had the same technical definition, I don’t see how we can say that they were incorrect for referring to the carrier of electric current as a fluid.
@riccardo50001
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
I'm wondering why the church didn't punish him for devil worship. This must have been highly controvertial when he did this.
@junkerzn7312
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Another good way to think about it is with canals and waterways. The voltage is the height of the water (with provisios below), the current is the… current.
We measure voltage relatively between two points, which would just be the difference in the height (altitude) of the water between two points. But the actual depth of the water has meaning too… you can think of that the way you you think about "static electricity".
It works for "AC" and "DC" too… "AC" are waves on top of the water. "DC" is NOT the height of the water per-say (except for static electricity purposes). Remember how voltage is measured.
In reality, "voltage" is just the strength of the electric field compared with the strength of the electric field in some other location. While "current" is just the actual net movement of electrons through the cross sectional area of a wire.
But while power can be calculated from these quantities, the actual energy is transmitted by the EM field and not by the physical electrons, their movement, or the static electric field they generate.
-Matt
@JamnGeorge
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
I learned this, 200 Monks wanted to get buzzed.
@JamnGeorge
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Lol, just seeing the title was funny enough for me😂
@sudiptaranjansahoo8780
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Why were they electrociting monks 😮. Were there no bulbs which they could have connected in Series and see the same result .
@V.callly
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
It dosent move at all
@wayneharrison6621
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
James Burke recreated the monk experiment for his 1970s series “Connections.”
@dixonblog
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Shock the Monk-y
@Heavilymoderated
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Too bad we can’t just get a one for one exchange of one member of the clergy for one scientific fact. It’s a price I’m willing to pay. Especially if they’re evangelicals.
@hafiz3971
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
If you’re posting a scientific video, please don’t use outdated units like miles.
@RDEnduro
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
At the speed of light I would imagine, alittle slower than that. If the electrons have to move it cant be instantly, but it depends on what your definition of instantly is. Just guessing
@chodetaculous
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Stop the clickbait titles. It's obnoxious.
@robotic_automaton
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
electrocuted? you mean all the monks died instantly?
@alfadog67
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Too bad Heaviside removed the scalar in Maxwell's quaternion.
@Maelstrom_X
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
I think Jean-Antoine Nollet just really hated monks.
*Hey, guys! Hold on to this!" Two-hundred down, many more to go.
@MikeWardNet
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Electrocution means killing by electric shock…🔌
@Vaughnage25
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
You are misusing the word electrocute.
@patrickinsocal
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Okay, this went over my head, but . . . Athena! 🥰
@we02
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Very well explained. Thank you.😊
@Tess4Giving
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Ummm … I'm kinda wondering what he expected to happen to the monks when he turned on the electricity 😦? What did the monks do to him?😥
@1asdfasdfasdf
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
And yet this is all theory. Working theory that is.
@ghassang2074
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
🎉🎉🎉 enable audio track including Arabic language
@jeffhays1968
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
Electric Monks should be a band name
@pokerbob8039
October 19, 2026 at 1:59 am
some monks have uses