Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life
A fresh look at electricity and its powerful role in life on Earth

When we think of electricity, we likely imagine the energy humming inside our home appliances or lighting up our electronic devices—or perhaps we envision the lightning-streaked clouds of a stormy sky. But electricity is more than an external source of power, heat, or illumination. Life at its essence is nothing if not electrical.

The story of how we came to understand electricity’s essential role in all life is rooted in our observations of its influences on the body—influences governed by the body’s central nervous system. Spark explains the science of electricity from this fresh, biological perspective. Through vivid tales of scientists and individuals—from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk—Timothy Jorgensen shows how our views of electricity and the nervous system evolved in tandem, and how progress in one area enabled advancements in the other. He explains how these developments have allowed us to understand—and replicate—the ways electricity enables the body’s essential functions of sight, hearing, touch, and movement itself.

Throughout, Jorgensen examines our fascination with electricity and how it can help or harm us. He explores a broad range of topics and events, including the Nobel Prize–winning discoveries of the electron and neuron, the history of experimentation involving electricity’s effects on the body, and recent breakthroughs in the use of electricity to treat disease.

Filled with gripping adventures in scientific exploration, Spark offers an indispensable look at electricity, how it works, and how it animates our lives from within and without.

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Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life
A fresh look at electricity and its powerful role in life on Earth

When we think of electricity, we likely imagine the energy humming inside our home appliances or lighting up our electronic devices—or perhaps we envision the lightning-streaked clouds of a stormy sky. But electricity is more than an external source of power, heat, or illumination. Life at its essence is nothing if not electrical.

The story of how we came to understand electricity’s essential role in all life is rooted in our observations of its influences on the body—influences governed by the body’s central nervous system. Spark explains the science of electricity from this fresh, biological perspective. Through vivid tales of scientists and individuals—from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk—Timothy Jorgensen shows how our views of electricity and the nervous system evolved in tandem, and how progress in one area enabled advancements in the other. He explains how these developments have allowed us to understand—and replicate—the ways electricity enables the body’s essential functions of sight, hearing, touch, and movement itself.

Throughout, Jorgensen examines our fascination with electricity and how it can help or harm us. He explores a broad range of topics and events, including the Nobel Prize–winning discoveries of the electron and neuron, the history of experimentation involving electricity’s effects on the body, and recent breakthroughs in the use of electricity to treat disease.

Filled with gripping adventures in scientific exploration, Spark offers an indispensable look at electricity, how it works, and how it animates our lives from within and without.

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Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life

Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life

by Timothy J. Jorgensen
Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life

Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life

by Timothy J. Jorgensen

Paperback

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Overview

A fresh look at electricity and its powerful role in life on Earth

When we think of electricity, we likely imagine the energy humming inside our home appliances or lighting up our electronic devices—or perhaps we envision the lightning-streaked clouds of a stormy sky. But electricity is more than an external source of power, heat, or illumination. Life at its essence is nothing if not electrical.

The story of how we came to understand electricity’s essential role in all life is rooted in our observations of its influences on the body—influences governed by the body’s central nervous system. Spark explains the science of electricity from this fresh, biological perspective. Through vivid tales of scientists and individuals—from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk—Timothy Jorgensen shows how our views of electricity and the nervous system evolved in tandem, and how progress in one area enabled advancements in the other. He explains how these developments have allowed us to understand—and replicate—the ways electricity enables the body’s essential functions of sight, hearing, touch, and movement itself.

Throughout, Jorgensen examines our fascination with electricity and how it can help or harm us. He explores a broad range of topics and events, including the Nobel Prize–winning discoveries of the electron and neuron, the history of experimentation involving electricity’s effects on the body, and recent breakthroughs in the use of electricity to treat disease.

Filled with gripping adventures in scientific exploration, Spark offers an indispensable look at electricity, how it works, and how it animates our lives from within and without.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780691248158
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 06/06/2023
Pages: 456
Product dimensions: 5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Timothy J. Jorgensen is professor of radiation medicine and codirector of the Medical Physics Graduate Program at Georgetown University. He is the author of the award-winning book Strange Glow: The Story of Radiation (Princeton). He lives in Rockville, Maryland. Twitter @Tim_Jorgensen

Table of Contents

Preface: Current Events ix

1 Sparks Will Fly: Static Electricity 1

2 Shocking Developments: Animal Electricity 22

3 Bolt from the Blue: Lightning 37

4 For All That Ails You: Electrotherapy Machines 60

5 A Circuitous Route: The Battery 87

6 Jolted Back to Reality: Electrocution 106

7 A Field Day: Alternating Current and Lines of Force 134

8 Zombie Fish: Electric Force Fields 162

9 Crookes of the Matter: The Electron 183

10 Redbud: The Neuron 205

11 Zombie People: Voltage-Gated Channels 225

12 The Wanderer: Nerve Fibers 245

13 Crossed Circuits: Neuroprosthetic Limbs 267

14 Sounds of Silence: Sensory Neurological Implants 293

15 Inner Sanctum: The Brain 319

16 Future Shock: Artificial Intelligence 348

Acknowledgments 369

Notes 371

Bibliography 403

Index 415

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Ranging from lightning to puffer fish and beyond, this engrossing and innovative book describes electricity’s connection with biology and tells the exciting stories of the people who revealed our present-day understanding of this mysterious substance.”—Roger C. Barr, coauthor of Bioelectricity: A Quantitative Approach

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