The Relay
December 10, 2025 • EPISODE 290
How does a simple relay help us understand electricity and circuits? In this episode of Science LIVE, Roger Billings breaks down the science behind the relay—the clever electromagnetic switch that makes it possible to control circuits with precision. Learn how relays work, why they’re essential in everyday electronics, and how this simple idea became a building block for modern technology. A clear, hands-on look at one of engineering’s most important tools.
About DrB
Dr. Roger Billings is a visionary innovator whose work has touched the lives of millions of students and transformed the landscape of education. Widely known as “DrB” to the countless kids who benefit from his groundbreaking Acellus learning system, Dr. Billings has dedicated his life to advancing education through technology.
As part of DrB’s lifelong commitment to supporting education, Science LIVE was launched as a way to “give back” by mentoring students in conjunction with the Roger Billings Scholarship Program.
Read more about DrB »
About the Roger Billings Scholarship Program »
Dr. John, do they still have DNA from dinosaurs, so we could somehow remake them like in the movies?
On a side note, i thought about all of the things Acellus does for homeschool students, and it amazes me that this program is non profit.
thanks for science live roger billings!
Watching from Bristol, Tennessee. I have used WD40, it is so helpful. Thank you Acellus.
thank you dr. billings!
It blows my mind how stuff like the WD40 was made.
R-51 NEEDS MORE SCREEN TIME!!!!!!
Wow I didnt know wd-40 stood for water displacement 40 formula. It took 40 times to create the formula. I never thought to spray my snow shovel then shovel snow so the snow doesn’t stick to shovel cant wait to tell my parents.
I loved the story on how WD40 started!
R-51 is the best!!!
Hey from Colorado-I absolutely loved this science live video, I Loved the R51. video, it was so funny🤣😂😋🤩😆😀
It’s really neat to hear the backstory of WD-40 now I know why it’s called that! Also R-51 kind of reminds me of Olaf from Frozen.
The story of WD 40 is so cool.
I loved learning the story behind WD40! This video was so informative, thank you Mr. Billings!
Awesome!
Thank you Dr. B for making this amazing Science Live video!
I really enjoyed this Science Live. R51 is so funny.
Thanks for doing these! 🙂
Thanks Mr Billings
Watching the science live was really enjoyable. Thank you.
That quote is so inspiring, to always try just one more time! Awesome!
I like how even if it take a million tries don’t give up
the fact that you can use WD-40 to unstick almost ANYTHING is crazy. Honestly I think my dad has that somewhere in his office or toolshed
How did they sell a million bottles a week and restock it that fast?
Learning about the WD-40 is very interesting!
Cant wait to use wd 40 to get stains out of my clothes.
Science live is the best.
It was AMAZING!
It would be cool if you offered a science course taught by R-51.
Can you make a course on meteorology?
It was so cool learning about transistors I had never heard of them before. Electricity is so interesting?
Epic live as always!thank you Dr. Billings!
Such a cool live this week! I was very intrigued in the WD-40 making and the DNA talk was so interesting!
wow. I never knew relays were used in so many different things.
i liked the DNA and bell parts and i did not know that it took 40 try to make WD40
WD40 is very useful.
I loved this ! I was able to explain to my dad how the WD40 he was using was invented . He was impressed with how much this program teaches me !
Dr. Billings is the smartest 🙂
I am watching from Spain.
I would have never thought that WD-40 had so many formulas. I thought it was a cool name like R2D2.
I love watching science Live!!
My dad used WD40 on my door because it would squeak, now it’s quiet
This was an awesome episode! WD40 is so cool!
Circuits are such a fascinating thing to learn about!
Hi from South Africa, I really like science live, and would love to go in person.
I feel bad for R51, but he is so funny!
The experiment was very fun to watch. Great Job Mr. Billings!
WD-40 is a great invention, so glad we have it, and to learn the story behind it!
Loved learning about WD40!
Hi this is laila from new York! This episode was super interesting and the experiment was so cool !! R51 is the funniest person ever lolz❤️😅
That’s so cool to hear that NASA used it!
Hey from Texas! Learning about wd40 was awesome!
that is neat about 40 attempts …. my dad always uses that stuff I am going to tell him!
I never know about WD40! That crazy Dr. Billings!!
What a creative and inspiring Live! Thanks.
Science live was great today!
Dr. Billings was amazing! And R-51 was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo funny!
From Ohio, my dad and I watched this live together, we were very interested.
wd40 is so interesting!!! sir Billings is super intelligent thats for sure
I really like the WD-40 stories, and I’m going to try out their suggested use of WD-40!
wow! I didn’t know DNA can be stored for thousands of years!
I LOVE SCIENCE
That’s so interesting about the WD 40 thank you for teaching us all this cool stuff !
my mom uses wd40 to get grease out of cloths
Dr. Billings, I like the relay bell. You used the radio power to turn on the bell and the pyramid light.
Thank you DrB hope for another science live 😀
Encoding and decoding DNA is actually so cool because you can possibly bring bad extinct species
DNA is super cool!
Good morning from Uganda. Thank you so much Dr. Billings for all your hard work that you have put into Acellus over the years. This episode of Science Live was a real treat to watch.
Haha the high impedance air gap joke was just so funny to kick the live show off. And on top the story about wd40 was also amazing.
thank you Dr. Billings!!
This was so fascinating to learn about.
Thank you for teaching us fun things!
Learning about WD-40 was very intriguing!
Aw r-51 got shocked, i love electricity.
Thanks Dr. Billings!
Thank you, Dr. Billings, for this scholarship opportunity.
W-D 40 originally being from nasa is cool to think about when now I just use it for squeaky cabinets and doors lol. The idea of storing data like DNA is also really interesting and it kind of makes sense considering how similar they are. It’s always cool when we take inspiration from nature to make inventions.
Giving up Should never be an option. Try your best 24/7 and you will get to your gouls.
I didn’t know it took 40 tries to make wd40
Dr Billings is so smart.
Thank you Dr. Billings!😁
Interesting as alway with science live. Enjoyed this lesson.
Dr Billings is super cool!
This science live was very interesting and informative!! I love learning especially when it comes to anything Acellus!!
R51 is rocks
I never knew that about WD-40 that’s so interesting.
Watching from Texas!
I never knew much about the relay Roger Billings does a great job explaining and talking about things through the relay. Love this video.
I LOVE r-51
Dr Billings is the goat
the Wd40 is so cool! can’t wait to learn more
That was amazing Mr. Billings. It was cool to hear data and dna.
WOW!! 40 tries is crazy!
Comment Love the encouragement and inspiration!
the relay with the spoons was a really cool idea and if was fun to learn about that stuff
One of the best LIVE’s yet, keep up the good work of making fantastic lives every week.
Science Live is always very interesting and enjoyable to watch!!
Thank You! 💙
Science is cool.
Today’s lesson was interesting— I liked the explanation of how information gets encoded, stored, and transferred.
WD40 is so handy!! This episode was so fascinating!
I like learning about electrical circuits!
Storing memories in DNA is really interesting!
Acellus science lives are my favorite!
I love the Science LIVE videos. Always tons of cool and new things to learn.
WD-40 was such an interesting topic to learn about!
I like how Dr. B taught us about science
Hi everybody it’s Owen from Reno. I love science live and R-51!
I love acellus academy.
I never new the backstory to WD40, that story will now be forever stuck in my head every time I hear A squeaky door.
loved learning about DNA!
Science live is so cool!
I Love acellus
We love Acellus.
Wow WD 40
Roger billings is so smart
we just tested the WD-40 on a shovel it works!!
Every week I learn so much cool stuff from Dr.Roger, I appreciate you!!
WD40 also works to get a knot out of a horses tail!
Thank you Dr. Billings, I always learn so much from your lives!
WD40 is so awesome!!
I loved it !Thank you!
Thank you Mr. billings! Very interesting!
Thank you for science live!
Definitely going to share the wd40 fact with my dad !!!
how would human life be nowadays without electric currents to support us?
Dr. Billings is super smart!
My uncle has a telescope that is strong enough that I got to see the rings around Saturn and 3 of the moons around Jupiter!
R 51 got shocked send help lol!
Very creative! WD40 is cool
I love science live so much!
LOVED THIS EPISODE!!
Hii from Ky! Loved this live!
Hi from Illinois, I love the science lives!!! Thank you.
Thank you for the live.
DNA is probably one of the coolest things to learn about!
This is so amazing! WD40 IS SO COOL.
WD40 is very cool! Dr. Billings is so smart.
Wow this one was definitely a cool one!
i never knew how something so small like a relay can control so much in power distrubtion
I love science live, who knew WD-40 has such an interesting backstory.
That was amazing I did not know NASA used wd40
R51 is the most iconic person I’ve ever seen
My dad got shocked once. He learned to make sure all the electricity was off after that.
Thank you Dr. Billings great video!!
I liked learning about WD40!
love science live!! Watching from Texas!
Electricity is awesome!
I loved the story of WD-40. It is a great reminder to never give up and that what you do could be for more things than what you had in mind.
This is my favorite science live so far!
Watching from Canada! The story of WD-40 is so cool.
r-51 needs to come on more he is so funny🤣🤣🤣🤣
At the graduation can other people go that are not graduating, but are still doing Acellus?
WOW I never could have though that WD40 was made this way.
That was incredible! I’m so glad I get to watch science live! Looking forward to the next one!😎
DNA is such a fascinating thing to learn about and how it works.
I use WD-40 for many things around my home.
I love Science Live!!!!!
I love science Live it so much fun.
cool, greetings from honduras!!!!
WD40 has crazy backstory!!
“Wow, I never knew WD-40 took 40 tries to get right! That’s amazing.”
Wow! I didn’t know you could use WD40 for all that.
40 try’s to make WD40, that’s crazy.
Thank you for this class I really enjoy it; one of the things I found very interesting among other things is how Tin foil balls can conduct electricity if there is a radio wave.
My dad uses WD40 all thetime so I was really cool to learn about it! 40 years is crazy!!!
It took 40 tries to make WD40!!! That’s so crazy. I love Science Live so much! Thanks Mr. Billings.
Always something new to learn I love it.
This episode was really awesome. And it took 40 try’s, that is a lot. I guess that’s why we never give up on our dreams.
I think it’s very cool learning WD-40 ’s history and how they worked for NASA. It was unfortunately funny seeing R-51 electrocuting himself when experimenting with the spoon relay. Merry Christmas!
hello from Las Vegas! what an interesting science live
Enjoyed learning of WD 40 experiment and how it was developed and now being used is amazing.
WD-40 seems great definitely gonna give it a try!!
My grandmother uses WD 40 all the time. I am glad they kept trying.
I love Acellus! It is the best!
Thank you Dr. Billings!
Wow I did not know that WD-40 could do that much stuff. I’m definitely gonna try some of that