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Is Electricity Instant? A Shocking Experiment from 1746

Season 53 | 5m 56s

How fast does electricity move – and why? In 1746, a French physicist electrocuted a large group of monks to learn about electricity, and he concluded that it moves with “infinite speed.” That wasn’t quite right, but it would take decades to figure out the real answer and its reason.

National Corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Carlisle Companies. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the NOVA Science Trust and PBS viewers.
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