The National MagLab is funded by the National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.
These demonstrations about laws and tools associated with electricity and magnetism allow you to adjust variables at and to visualize invisible forces — which makes them almost better than the real thing.
Seeing is believing. In these animations, we show you what electricity and magnetism might look like if they weren't invisible.
Learn about electricity and magnetism — and have some fun while you're at it!
How do Maglev trains work? What are comets made of? How do bugs walk on water? This section demonstrates these and other concepts related to magnetism, electricity and other areas of science.
Whether you prefer your science short & sweet or long & detailed, we spell it out for you here in easy-to-understand language.
Read fun science stories told in comic strip style.
There is beauty and art in science. Gaze on these stories of discoveries that could be featured on museum walls instead of scientific journals.
Explore these surprising, unconventional and sometimes downright strange stories about high magnetic field research.
These special science graphics explain science stories in digestible steps and include optional detours for readers wanting more background to customize your reading journey.
Get to know these pioneers who went down in history for their groundbreaking work, including scientists behind common terms such as Amp, Celsius, Kelvin, hertz and tesla.
From the world's first compass to the magnetic force microscope and beyond, explore a variety of instruments, tools and machines throughout history.
Our timeline takes you through the highlights of electricity and magnetism and across the centuries.
Take a field trip to these high magnetic field landmarks around the globe.
Alessandro Volta invents the first primitive battery, discovering that electricity can be generated through chemical processes; scientists quickly seize on the new tool to invent electric lighting. Meanwhile, a profound insight into the relationship between electricity and magnetism goes largely unnoticed.
1800
Italian physicist Alessandro Volta announces to the Royal Society of London his invention of the first continuous electric current source and the predecessor to the battery, the voltaic pile, which he built by repeatedly layering silver, moist cardboard, and zinc and connecting the silver and zinc strata located at opposite ends of the pile with a wire.
Shortly after Volta’s announcement of the voltaic pile, chemist William Nicholson and surgeon Anthony Carlisle build the first English version of the device and discover that the current it produces can split water into two gases, hydrogen and oxygen.
1802
Johann Wilhelm Ritter, a German physicist, invents the dry voltaic cell, soon followed by an electric storage battery (1803).
Luigi Valentino, a student of Alessandro Volta, first utilizes the voltaic pile for electroplating.
In Italy Gian Domenico Romagnosi discovers a link between electricity and magnetism when he observes that a voltaic pile deflects a magnetic needle. An account of his discovery appears in an Italian newspaper but passes unnoticed in most of the scientific community.
1806
English chemist Humphry Davy contends in a lecture that electrolysis can be used to break down all compounds into their elements and subsequently uses the process to isolate sodium, potassium and the alkaline-earth metals.
1810
Humphry Davy demonstrates the electric carbon arc light for members of the Royal Institution of London, a form of lighting that would not become practical for general use until more than half a century later.
1813
French scientist Siméon-Denis Poisson publishes his equation for electric potential, which is a correction of an earlier equation developed by his compatriot Pierre-Simon LaPlace and delineates the relationship between charge distribution and potential.
