Rube Goldberg and the Electrification of America

Hugh Pickens writes "Alexis Madrigal has an interesting essay in the Atlantic about the popular response of people in the 19th century to the development of the electric power industry in America. Before electricity, basically every factory had to run a bit like a Rube Goldberg machine, transmitting power from a water wheel or a steam engine to the machines of a manufactory but with the development of electric turbines and motors the public believed engineers were tapping mysterious, invisible forces with almost supernatural powers for mischief. 'Think about it,' writes Madrigal. 'You've got a wire and you've got a magnet. Switch on the current — which you can't see and have no intuitive way to know exists — and suddenly the wire begins to rotate around the magnet. You can reverse the process, too. Rotate the magnet around the wire and it generates a current that can be turned into light, heat, or power.' And that brings us back to Rube Goldberg, a cartoonist who was was shockingly popular in his heyday and whose popularity closely parallels the rise of electrification in America. 'I think Goldberg's drawings reminded his contemporaries of a time when they could understand the world's industrial processes just by looking. No matter how absurd his work was, anyone could trace the reactions involved,' writes Madrigal. 'People like to complain that they can't understand modern cars because of all the fancy parts and electronic doo-dads in them now, but we lost that ability for most things long ago.'"

Comments

most people still don't understand electricity now

[roman_mir]

Most people today likely couldn't explain what electricity is even if they remotely understand what it does... sort of.

I think it only makes sense to build a religion around electricity.

There could be a stone with some writings on it, like:

1. Thou shalt not touch naked electrical wires with bare hands, etc.

There could be real 'magic' performed, with things shining and flying and moving and doing some other work, even moving the dead carcasses of animals!

It'd be wonderful.

I'm glad modern OS's aren't Goldberg machines!

[pigiron]

Oh wait...

Sign me up!!!!!!

[Twinbee]

Can I subscribe to your newsletter - I am going through a difficult time with my faith in the FSM atm, so I am desperately seeking the real truth. Someone sent me this as a present, and I still have nightmares that these things will haunt and eat me. Please help - I am at my wits end. :(
http://www.venganza.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/cupcake1.jpg

Re:Sign me up!!!!!!

[roman_mir]

sure you can, but my newsletter will be distributed via very high voltage and current, this way the recipient will be able to testify with actual physical evidence that he/she is talking to god through me and the mail. You'll be receiving the first transmission in 24 hours from now, all you have to do is stick 2 wires in the closest to you electrical outlet and exactly 24 hours from now you'll have to grab both of the wires and hold onto them as hard as you can.

The BIG ELECTRON, our GOD will be speaking to you directly right then and there.

This'll also take care of your FSM nightmares.

Rube Goldberg...

[Anne_Nonymous]

...Whoopi's foolish younger brother.

not such "invisible forces"

[turbidostato]

"'Think about it,' writes Madrigal. 'You've got a wire and you've got a magnet. Switch on the current - which you can't see and have no intuitive way to know exists - and suddenly the wire begins to rotate around the magnet."

You have no intuitive way to know current exists? My ass!

Turn on the current and then apply your fingers to the naked wire and then tell me there's no intuitive way to know if current is passing through!

Re:not such "invisible forces"

[rts008]

I'm shocked you would suggest such direct actions! My hair is positively standing on end!

Re:Understanding

[Anonymous Coward]

whomever modded this as redundant is an ass clown whose mod auth should be taken away. That person should also be sterilized so as not to pass on said ass-clownerey. How is the first real post possibly redundant?

Re:most people still don't understand electricity

[TheTurtlesMoves]

Might want to brush up on your physics. No way in hell it would hold a Farad (ie 1 coulomb per volt). Only very recently can you get 1 farad caps, and they have a peek voltage on the order of 10V or less.

O RLY?

[Anonymous Coward]

My 1990 MB W124 diesel has ABS, yet it doesn't have a single computer anywhere on board, no ECUs, nothing.

Shame. Did it break, or did it get stolen? Either way, this guy seems to have your missing part:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190370303982&crlp=1_263602_263622&ff4=263602_263622&viewitem=&guid=a3ca01141280a0b58f929422fff4b052&rvr_id=149029369801&ua=M*S%3F&itemid=190370303982#ht_1039wt_736

Cheers!

Re:most people still don't understand electricity

[sharkey]

...they have a peek voltage...

So, do they have a built-in window to let you peek at the voltage, or do you need specialized equipment?

Re:most people still don't understand electricity

[Anonymous Coward]

It was previously known as the Arc of the Covenant.

Re:radio waves

[hitmark]

Or that the cat is a ghost rather then physical...

Btw. between this and Shrödinger thought experiment about a possibly dead cat in a box, i wonder what physicists of the era had against cats...

Re:Old 78rpm records are a great example

[Anonymous Coward]

CDs are easy to explain. Your kids can see the rainbows on a CD. A CD player is a box of tiny unicorns, and everyone knows that rainbows make unicorns sing.