Vacuum Tube Amplifier
January 14, 2026 • EPISODE 293
📌 Science Fair Idea – R-51 Radio
What’s a vacuum tube amplifier? Come explore with Dr. Roger Billings on Science LIVE! Learn about the technology that made it possible to boost electrical signals and amplify sound. Discover how vacuum tubes control electron flow, why they powered early radios, audio systems, and computers, and how they shaped modern electronics. And get ready for something super exciting: carbon nanotubes – super-strong, lightweight materials that might one day help build a space elevator, opening new ways to reach space!
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 »
I love science live i love that it teaches me about things that most kids probably don’t know about.
We can do so much with science why don’t we do more!
Hello! It was cool to learn something new! #Science Live!
This episode was fire!!
This episode was fire!!!
What is a carbon
I loved this episode 🙂 carbon tubes seem pretty awesome!!
I love science
What made you interested in hydrogen?
The carbon tubes are really interesting. This live was great.
Vacuum tubes are cool.
This was a cool video. Thanks 😊
great episode
So much awesome information! I really enjoy watching science life.
I really enjoy watching science live. Today’s science life was so awesome so much useful information.
This episode was fire!
Science live is the highlight of my week!!
Carbon is a very strong structure. When we burn Hydrogen, we get water. The amplifier boosts the signals and make these much stronger. It is helpful in the concert when the sounds are much clearer and more cheerful.
This is so cool😎
Science live is so cool! I love learning so many new thing.
I liked learning about carbon nano tubes.
Thank you for all the good lessons in science live! Hearing all the stories is really inspiring and I want to try making something for science too. The story about honesty meant a lot. I’ve been trying to be more honest with my parents and they’ve been able to help me with stuff instead of trying to fix it on my own
It is cool how you can run a big light with a simple battery combined with other things.
I never knew that it made more then a gas car.
This episode was awesome!!
Love this
Another really cool lesson!
Science live is so cool! I wish i could go in a hydrogen car!
That would be so cool!
This is very interesting
there has never been a time I’ve watched one of these and not been amazed
So funny 🤣
Other then science is there any subjects you have to study to be a scientist
My mom and did the cup and string experiment and I loved it
I would really like to try the cup and string experiment to see if it works.
learn something new everyday you know
Love this episode!
Science is awesome!!
the sherlock holmes joke was funny
Really liked learning about amplifiers!
i love R51
I really like how each of the teachers explains each topic in detail.
Pollution free cars are so important.
Thank you for doing these for us every week.
my favorite part is when Dr.John talked about the nano carbon tubes.
But how old were you when you had your first flight?
This knowledge is invaluable!
The cup phone was so cool
I love science
Science Live is so cool! I always learn something new and better every time!
I love R51 !
how long has acellus been running for?
Learning about how vacuum tube amplifiers work was really nice. And it’s really cool how, in a way, its history goes so far back, all the way to the 1800s.
I always love Tobis’s story’s I loved the flash drive and Dr. B story are great also I learn new things thank you
International science fair?! That’s so cool. I know there will be a ton of cool inventions there.
i love watching these
Thank you for the opportunity!
Loved learning about hydrogen cars!
R-51 always makes my day!
Carbon looks like carpet up close.
Love this Science Live, Especially the Lesson on the Vacuum tube amplifier. I liked how the Edison Effect and the Vacuum Tube amplifier are connected.
Science live is the best because i learn new stuff every day
i love you thank you so much for acellus you’re the best
Great episode I’m interested in learning more about the science fair
this episode was great love laugh learn science
R 51 I love these videos lol!
I bet no one from the late ’90s thought that 2 TB of data can be held on the tip of your finger just nearly 23 years after their first introduction with just 8 MB.
I would love to go to a science fair!
Me and my friends use to make cup phones all the time!
That is so good, want to watch it again.
i love learning each week something new to discuss with my family
Hydrogen cars are so cool! I love that i learn about stuff like this in these lives!!!
Great Science Live. The carbon nano tube sounds really cool.
An amplifier works pretty cool!
These lives are always so entertaining!!
I wonder if it feels different to ride in a Hydrogen Car???
I liked to learn about how they grow carbon nanotubes.
I love my acellus classes and learning new things on science live.
Can we learn how to make a hydrogen car?
I loved learning about Dov Moran with Dr. Tobias! Thank you for this weeks lecture! Have a great week!
Will secret service agencies be able to use nanobots like in the movies?
I’m excited to learn from Dr. Billings!
This episode was really good! I can’t wait for next weeks!
I’m trying to imagine a world where you didn’t have pictures immediately!
I’ve Learned SO much!!
I love how dedicated you are to your job and to teach us about your knowledge!
My favorite part of Science Live is hearing Dr. Billings past and how interesting he is and how inspiring it is to see how much one person can achieve.
Science live is such an amazing class.
I wonder what made the people in Japan think to study bacteria from a hot springs for the development of sunscreen.
We use sunscreen all the time in the summer.
I enjoyed learnimg how an amplifier works.
Learning something new everyday.
R-51 got me laughing like crazy! And indeed, sound waves are very important still.
awesome video, its amazing how technology grows everyday. A space elevator would be epic!
Hello from MAINE!
Where is the science fair located?
It’s interesting how the USB was created to have a backup file copy.
The protégés segment is very fun, I like the way they explain concepts!
Thank you so much everyone at Science live!
Will you make a hydrogen motorcycle some day, and also thank you for these awesome vids
In the video, they talk about a vacuum tube amplifier and what it is. A vacuum tube amplifier is an electronic amplifier that uses vacuum tubes to increase the amplitude or power of a signal.
dr rodger billings is actually so smart i wanna be smart like him one day
usb drives are so useful
Dov Moran is an intelligent guy!
How long did it take for the usb to be fully designed and patented?
Enjoyed this episode – Dr. Billing’s hydrogen engine stories are always so interesting!
The nano tube was really exctied to hear about and a hydrogen car sounds super call honeslty I want one! This was a amazing episode. And the body armor was excited also to learn about!
I loved that Sherlock Holmes joke! I lived on Guam when I was little. Carbon nano tubes are stronger than steel but I guess it makes sense when you think about diamonds. Crazy that they are so lightweight! Didn’t know about the space elevator … HOW COOL IS THAT?! Binary is so interesting that it only uses 1s and 0s!
R 51 made me laugh a lot!!!!!!!!!
I watch with my brother and we think you are really smart.
congrats to the Luhan family on graduating and wow on the weightlifting!
I like David and Caleb teaching something in the video, and the vacuum tube amplifier was really cool.
I think one of the coolest parts was when Dr. Joseph talked about the new sunscreen scientist are trying to make using bacteria.
Science is my favorite subject!
how long did it take Dr. billings to make the car
I enjoyed learning about Don Moran and all the ways people were and are still able to now use devices to carry around portable files. I use USB often for my gaming videos to keep them saved on to.
THIS IS COOL
Could you plz bring Mr. Isaac on the show
This is my first time watching i love Acellus
I love Acellus too!
I am also an emotional person!! I wish we could edit real life. Thank you for this scholarship!
Addison checking in from RI!
I have always wanted to do a Science fair. With my old school I had to build a pasta tower that held a lot of weight and mine was one of the winners!
Does the r 51 radio actually work? Does it amplify the sound?
Vacume tube amplifier is neat! im watching from Newfoundland Canada .
I liked the story about roger billings he tried and did not give up and I also liked that he followed his dreams from grade three it was very intresting to me.
watching from Idaho
How does the cup and string radio make enough energy for the other person to hear?
I used to think cup phone was a myth from the movies!
ciao from New Hampshire!
It’s so interesting I love learning with acellus 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
It was so cool hearing from the graduate.
Wish I could go to see Science Live IRL.
Every time I watch these, my mind is craving to learn more and more!
I really liked this episode! Everything they taught was something I didn’t know and I love when science live teaches me so many new things 🙂
I learn a lot from science live, and I think its a really good show for young scientists!
I loved Science Live today! It was fun to learn more about hydrogen cars and flash memory.
I think R51 is funny
It’s interesting how computer storage has changed.
We wanted to go to Acellus World this year but I live in Florida and my family could only make it in the summer. Maybe next time, but we will watch the clips!
I love science live so much!!!
hi happy Wednesday
Learned a lot from this live. The way vacuum tubes control electrons to boost sound was interesting, and the carbon nanotube part really got me thinking about the future.
Hi from Montana!
This is my first Science Live. I really liked it!
We all listen and learn in Science live, the whole family! Very interesting!
This episode helped me understand how vacuum tube amplifiers work by controlling the flow of electrons to make weak signals louder. It was cool learning how this technology was used back then and how it’s being used now.
Acellus Bot plushies?
Wow this was cool, you should cover the vacuum of space!!
Hydrogen cars look and sound amazing!
i love r51
My mom told me she was the last generation to have floppy drive and CDs
I love science so much that I asked for a science experiment kit for Christmas and have been doing all kind of experiments.
The vacuum tube amplifier is such an interesting piece of technology
The whole idea of an hydrogen car in the first place was complete genius!
hi from Namibia
I love Acellus!!!
What is the difference between an amplifier and a loudspeaker? Or is it the same?
vacuum tubes are incredible I must say indeed. I really enjoyed this video thanks Dr.B
SCIENCE IS AMAZING !
R51 was definitely my favorite part!
I wonder if we have hydrogen cars in Israel. I only know of electric cars.
pollution is horrible
I always enjoy Science Live!!
Dr Roger Billings is my favorite
I wonder how advanced electronics will be in the future!
Learned a lot thank u so much!
I want to ride a space elevator. A hydrogen car is so cool. imagine going to space. I love the R51
Hydrogen cars!?! Wow!
I can’t wait for the next broadcast! I love tuning in every week!
Congrats to the family in Guam!
I don’t think there will ever be a science live I DON’T enjoy.
Cool as always! 😀
love the amplifier and the cup phones
I’ve never heard of Carbon Nano tubes till this episode! It was cool learning about them
It turns out we can hear the singer’s voice thanks to the amplifier. Thank Acellus!
Amazing! Will watch again this week!
Thank you roger Billings for the video!
Doing a science fair project would be very fun!
Enjoying science live here in Raleigh!
I would love to hear more about technological advancements like the flash drive in science lives. great episode!!
I really appreciate all the time and effort they put into Science Live each week. Thank you!
Very educational, I learned a lot!
What I found interesting is the Carbon Nano tube I’ve never heard of it before and found it interesting. The Carbon Nano tubes were discovered back in the 90s, Carbon Nano tubes can be used to make smaller transistors and faster and high performance for computers but that’s only if they can figure out how to make a well enough Carbon Nano tube.
From this video, I gained an understanding of how a vacuum tube can act as an electron controller, steering and switching and amplifying electrical signals, my guiding the flow of electrons in a vacuum.
I love science live gives me something to watch and I learn a lot too.
I always enjoy watching “Science Live”. My dad is trying to encourage me to make a science project, so I might have an entry in the science fair in the future.
I’m so excited about the Science Fair news. I will start planning what I can do my project on!
the segment about carbon nano tubes was very interesting
This is an amazing lesson. Now I understand the basic parts of vacuum tube aplifier and why it was important in early electronics. Thank you
I love listening to moments in science with Dr. Tobias. I thinks it’s amazing how something simple such as the flash drive was once an idea that someone was willing to make a reality. It reminds me that everything around us was just a random idea that turned into something bigger.
So grateful to be able to do Acellus. I love being able to move around freely, and without having to ask to get up. Thanks Acellus!
Flash drives are so handy