♪ Land of the free ♪
♪ Home of the brave ♪
♪ That's what makes the United States ♪
♪ Now let's take a journey with the spirit of freedom ♪
♪ Liberty will lead the way ♪
♪ Let's take a star (star!) spangled adventure ♪
♪ Star (star!) spangled adventure ♪
♪ All the things you'd wanna know ♪
♪ about America's in this show ♪
♪ So come on all you Patriots let's go ♪
(light music)
(door opening
and closing)
- Mr. Edison?
(glass clinking)
Mr. Edison?
- Oh, hello there.
I'm deaf in that ear.
'Course, I'm 80% deaf in this one.
- Mrs. Edison said-
- That's fine, just talk regular.
- My mom works for Mrs. Edison.
They sent me down here to clean up the lab.
- Did she now?
Well, there's a broom in that closet.
- Thank you.
What are you doing here?
- We're trying to find the right filament
for an electric light bulb!
- Oh, okay.
- We're here in the main room
of Thomas Edison's research facility.
Just what are they doing?
It's 1879, and people have been lighting their homes
with fire in one way or another.
Back in the 1840s,
the idea of a glass bulb and a piece of wire in the middle
that heats up was developed.
But none worked well.
The material that is heated up to create light
is called a filament.
Inventors have not found the right filament
that wasn't too expensive, too dim,
or prone to catching fire.
So Thomas Edison and his team are trying
to discover the right filament to burn bright
and burn long.
Can you guess what they will discover?
The answer might surprise you.
(door opening and closing)
- Mrs. Edison said to remind you to eat breakfast.
- Thank you, John.
I ate breakfast yesterday.
Well, the fiber in paper didn't work.
- I'm sorry, it seems like you've tried over 100 things.
- Actually, 1,000, but who's counting?
Platinum is the best.
I sent men around the world to find it,
and it is bright, lasts a long time,
but mining it costs too much.
I want every home to be able to afford an Edison light bulb
to light their homes!
- Should I take this to Mrs. Edison?
- Gather round, everyone.
That's right, listen up.
We have tried over 1,000 materials for the filament.
Remember platinum, gold, tin,
twig, human hair, cat hair,
and even hair from Fred's beard.
(researchers laughing)
Cotton worked well but would only stay lit for 13 hours.
Nobody wants to put in a new bulb every day.
But young John here just was holding this fan made
of a natural fiber: bamboo.
Paper is no good.
Under the microscope,
it appears like a lot of sticks thrown together.
Now, I believe that somewhere in God Almighty's workshop,
there's a vegetable growth
with geometrically parallel fibers suitable to our use.
The solution has to be plants.
So quickly, let's bring hundreds, even thousands of plants
to see if each fiber might work.
(light music continues)
(door opening and closing)
- You know, I'm sure what they say is true.
"Mr. Edison is a genius!"
- Well, the secret of genius is 1% inspiration
and 99% perspiration.
We'll keep working 'til we discover the right filament.
♪ Tinker away ♪
♪ Play and create ♪
♪ You can make the things you set your mind to ♪
♪ But sometimes it's rough ♪
♪ And sometimes it's tough ♪
♪ But if you can persevere you're going to get through ♪
♪ 'Cause it's not just the inspiration ♪
♪ It's all in the perspiration ♪
♪ Just keep going ♪
♪ Just keep going persevere ♪
♪ Just keep going ♪
♪ Just keep going persevere ♪
- Gather round, gather round.
This bulb has now been burning for 1,200 hours!
That's 72,000 minutes
or 4,320,000 seconds.
- But how many days is that?
- That bulb has been burning for 50 days!
No other bulb has come close!
(researchers clapping)
We've found the right filament material!
- Well, what is it?!
- Bamboo!
(researchers cheering and clapping)
- Well, glad you discovered it after failing so many times.
- (chuckling ) I haven't failed-
I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
- A black inventor named Lewis Latimer
helped Edison to make a longer lasting light bulb.
- Latimer had his own inventions like the early air conditioning unit.
And while Edison didn't invent the light bulb,
he found a way that the bulb would be bright enough,
last a long time, and could be afforded.
Today, we've found different technology,
but without Thomas Edison,
we'd all be in the dark!
(upbeat music)