this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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1364
Hertz, showing the difference between science and engineering (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 126 points 3 days ago (4 children)

I mean, it would be some 25 years until the radio was invented. And Hertz' machine required a 30kV spark on a 2.5m meter long antenna with 2 solid 30cm zinc spheres, and his transmission range was something like "barely down the hall".

Not the most practical method.

[–] [email protected] 73 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'm sure someone thinks it's perfect for their use case, semi relevant xkcd:

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

At least physics will never get patched. The spark device with zinc spheres will always do that thing.

FCC: And get you arrested

[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Fun fact: The german word for using a radio is "funken"; literally "to spark". A radioman is, or was, a "Funker". When you are talking over the radio, you are doing it "Über Funk".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

ooh i always guessed the word "Funk" comes from function, i.e. the radio is a useful tool that has a function to whoever is using it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It really is from "Funkentechnik": "Spark technology". I wonder how many people appreciate the post for the cute etymology and how many because it sounds funny.

Good information for ham radio people, too. Hobby sounds too geeky? Just say you're into Über-Funk-Parties.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

Appreciate for both of course!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

ok but now, where does the word "Funke" (spark) come from?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

mittelhochdeutsch (mitteldeutsch) vunke, althochdeutsch funcho, entstanden aus den mit -n- gebildeten Formen des Feuer zugrunde liegenden Substantivs

https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Funke#Bedeutung-1

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

oha dankeschön ^.^

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Pretty much the first type of commercially viable radio transmitter was the spark-gap transmitter ("Knallfunkensender" in German). It worked by charging up some capacitors to up to 100kV and then letting them spark. This spark sent a massive banging noise on the whole radio spectrum, which could then be turned into an audible noise using a very simple receiver. That was then used to send morse codes (or similar encodings).

They went into service around 1900, and by 1920 it was illegal to use these because they would disrupt any and all other radio transmissions in the area with a massive loud bang.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

“Knallfunkensender”

Literally "Bang-Sparks-Sender".

Are you sure it's because of the radio spectrum bang? I always thought it was because of the audible bang.

If someone operated such a thing today, any guesses what the death zone for electronic devices would be?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

It's a broadband bang that can be heard across the whole spectrum. It becomes audible when listening to radio broadcasts.

Regular radio transmissions are comparatively narrow band, allowing lots of simultaneous transmissions in the same airspace, each on its own frequency. The spark gap transistor is very wide band, so it basically sounds as if you are sending a bang sound across all radio frequencies at the same time.

It wouldn't destroy radio equipment, but the radio transmissions. It's basically as if you'd use a radio jammer as a morse code transmitter.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago (2 children)

So like Bluetooth?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

But somehow more reliable.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Yes, except you need to buy each bit in a big glass jar.

Edit: only half joking, they used big Leiden Jars, which were basically giant glass batteries. There was no such thing as people with power at home, unless you were crazy rich

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There were electrochemical cells (invented in 1800) that provided a constant current for some time.

Idk the details. Look up Galvanic cell, Volta cell.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sure, but those are still "big glass jars full of electricity"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

yeah, true

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Those practical methods would never have existed if not for Hertz' experiments. Those were 25 years of other scientists, having seen that this new concept exists, refining his contraption into what eventually would become the machine that we know as a radio.