How does a Telephone work?
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And now it's time for Who Smarted? Hey, smarty pants, trusty narrator here. Say, is that my phone ringing? Or is your phone ringing? Or is that all of our phones ringing at once? Oh boy, it's a cacophony of telephones. Actually, what we have here is a celebration of telephones. Get it? Sell, as in sell phones. But also I'm here to sell you a phone. Ha!

Welcome to the phone zone, where you can purchase any kind of phone, from vintage classics to the latest smartphone technology. The name's Tully. I'm what you'd call a teleficionado. Get it? I'm an aficionado or super fan of telephones. And what should I call you? Get it? Call you? Like on a telephone. But also, what's your name, partner?

Oh, um, I'm the trusty narrator. You know, I actually just came in here to use the bathroom. Wow, is there any chance someone could answer one or more of those phones? What? You don't like the sound of telephones ringing? By that, there's music to my ears. Just listen to all that mix of old school, classic, and modern ringtones. Ooh!

Yeah, I get it. And while I do love my phone, I don't need to hear phones ringing constantly. Is there any chance you could make it stop? For you, my friend, anything. Hey, I'm with a customer. I'll call you back. So, did I hear you right? Did you really not enter the phone zone to buy a phone? No.

I do love a good cell-abration. Plus, a lot of smarty pants have written in to us asking if we'd do an episode on telephones. And since you are a teleficionado, you might be the perfect person to answer some questions about telephones. Like, who really invented the telephone? How do telephones work? And how did we go from phones in our homes to phones in our pockets? Ooh!

Ooh, good questions. I'm sure I can dial up the answers. Get it? Yes, I get it. Now, it's time to get ready for a big whiff of Science and History on... Who Smarted? Who Smarted? Who Smart? Is it you? Is it me? Is it science? Or history? Listen up, everyone.

Have you ever looked up at the stars and wondered, is there life on other planets? From Disney and Pixar. Welcome to the community-verse. Allow me to adjust your gravity. Gravity off. Are not alone. Are you gonna eat me?

Ew, what kind of alien are you? Disney and Pixar's Elio, rated PG. Parental guidance suggested. Only in theaters June 20th. Tickets available now. Ah, the phones are all going off again. Yep! Isn't it great? Not for doing a podcast. Also, maybe we should start at the beginning. In a world without phones? I know, I know. It's hard to imagine, right?

No ringtones, no staring at screens, no texting, no games or apps. If you wanted to communicate with your grandma, you'd have to physically go see her. Or you could write her a letter, which you would send in the mail, where it could take days, weeks, or even months to reach her.

and then you wouldn't even know if she got it until she wrote you back, which could also take days, weeks, or months. Dear trustee, I got your letter. Thanks. When are you coming over for meatcake? Fortunately, many inventors decided there has to be a way to make communicating faster and easier.

Probably because they wanted to talk to their grandmas, too. Maybe they really liked meatcake. Could be. After all, faster communication makes our world more connected and brings friends, families, and meatcake closer together. Well, sad trusty. By the 1830s, Samuel Morse invented a telegraph system that revolutionized how we communicate over long distances. Telegraph? Wait, I thought we were talking about telephones.

We are, but the telegraph paved the way for the invention of the telephone by transmitting messages over long distances using electrical signals. Person A would input a message into a telegraph machine or transmitter using a special code. This code was made up of dots and dashes that represented letters, numbers, and punctuation marks.

Ooh, smarty pants. Do you know what that is called? Here's a hint. It was named after the inventor that we just mentioned. If you said Morse code, you're right. A message tapped out in Morse code was converted into electrical signals and transmitted along telegraph wires.

When it was received by person B, the electrical signals were decoded into a written message called a telegram. Morse's invention inspired other inventors to start thinking up ways to send not just coded messages, but actual voices over long distances. Gotcha. So, Smarty Pants, do you know who is credited with inventing the telephone?

Was it A, Thomas Edison, B, Nikola Tesla, or C, Alexander Graham Bell? While all three of these names might ring a bell, the answer is C. Yep, Alexander Graham Bell is credited with inventing the telephone in 1876. It turns out Bell had a personal interest in sound and speech. His wife, Mabel, was deaf, and his mother, Eliza, also lost her hearing later in life.

Bell was not only an inventor, but a teacher of deaf people. And he was fascinated by the science of sound. So how did Graham Bell figure out how to send sound over long distances? Smarty Pants, do you know?

I have no idea. Well, like other inventors, Bell was inspired by the telegraph. While experimenting, he realized sound waves produced by a human voice could also be transformed into electrical signals. And just like with a telegraph, these signals could be sent through wires and then changed back into sound waves on the other end, where they could be heard as a voice.

voice. Whoa. Whoa is right. Alexander Graham Bell was a true smarty pants. Yes, but he wasn't the only smarty pants. Bell is often referred to as the father of the telephone, but the truth is other inventors developed talking telegraphs too.

People like Antonio Miucci and Elisha Gray deserve some credit as well. But Bell was the first inventor to receive a telephone patent, which is an official government document saying you are the inventor of a product. I see. I actually have a patent pending for smarty pants, pants that make you feel smarter. My invention hasn't really taken off yet, but Bell's invention of the telephone sure did. Ah!

Oh, yeah. And Bell's first phone call was to his assistant, Thomas Watson, on March 10th, 1876. Smarty Pants, can you guess what Bell said to his assistant during this historic first telephone call? Was it A, Mr. Watson, can you hear me now? B, Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you. Or C, what's up? The answer is elementary, my dear Smarties. It's B, Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.

And then he hung up. Wow, it must have been really exciting to hear someone's voice on a telephone for the very first time. Ooh, it sure was. By 1915, people could make telephone calls across the United States. And in 1927, the first call was made across the Atlantic from New York City to London. Back then, you found phone numbers in a phone book.

And a telephone operator would connect calls using a switchboard. Operator, how may I help you? But eventually, automated switching systems replaced telephone operators. Goodbye. Alexander Graham Bell stayed very involved in the development of the telephone. When he died in 1922, all phones stopped ringing for one minute to honor him. Wow, that's off the hook. Literally. Speaking of smarts,

Smarty Pants, off the hook, originally meant when the handset of an old phone was not in its base, so you couldn't make a call.

These days, off the hook is slang for something that's exciting or out of control. Obviously, the smartphones most of us carry around with us just turn on and off with a button, so no need to hang it up on a base. Oh, say true or false. There are more mobile phones than people in the world today. Ooh, that's a tricky question. What do you think, smarty pants? The answer is coming right up after this quick break and a word from our sponsors.

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Yes, I'll come by later for some meatcake. Love ya! Bye! Where was I, smarty pants? Oh, right. Telly the Teleficinato asked whether there are more mobile phones than people in the world today.

What do you think? Is that true or false? The answer is... Ring, ring, ring. I'll get it. True! According to the International Telecommunication Union, in 2022, there were more than 8.58 billion mobile subscriptions in use worldwide, compared to a global population of 7.95 billion people.

So there are more mobile phones than people. That's off the hook. Woo-hoo! But before we get to mobile phones, maybe you could briefly walk us through the evolution of the phone. Oh, I can do better than that. I can perform the opening scene from my one-man show, Telephone Home. Oh, you don't have to do all that. I know, but I want to. Cue the music!

Phones have changed a lot since A.G. Bell. The first phone was a box on the wall, pretty swell. In the late 1880s, pay phones were invented too. You inserted a coin to make a call, which was pretty hip and new. In 1891, the rotary phone made a new spin on dialing. Until 1963, when the touch-tone keypad had us all styling.

In the 1960s and 70s, cordless phones used radio waves instead of wires. People thought the idea of no cords was pretty fire. Then engineer Martin Cooper had an idea that was truly noble. In 1973, they invented the first wireless phone that was truly mobile. Wow, Telly, that was interesting, but also informative.

So these mobile phones, which are also called cell phones, don't use any wires. So how do they make calls? Smarties, do you know?

Because I don't. Cell phones send and receive calls using radio waves. Traditional telephones use a landline connection via wires that were installed on telephone poles or underground. But cell phones use a network of cell phone towers that send out and receive radio waves. The term cell refers to the geographic areas served by cellular towers. Smarty pants. True or false? Not a lot of people used early cell phones when they were first invented.

The answer is, bro! Old cell phones were very expensive and quite hefty, especially compared to the pocket-sized cell phones you're used to seeing today, huh?

The prototype of the mobile phone Martin Cooper invented for Motorola in 1973 weighed about two and a half pounds and measured around nine inches long, about the size of an eggplant. That's huge. No wonder people didn't use them that much at first.

Exactly. Not to mention it cost about $4,000, which is equal to about $11,000 today. Wow. You can get a used car for less than that. Eventually, cell phones got smaller and cheaper. The first handheld cell phone was sold in 1983, and the flip phone came out in the early 1990s. It was also called the clamshell phone because it opened and closed like a clamshell.

By the 1990s, cell phones could make calls and send text messages. And digital cellular networks using digital technology improved service and expanded coverage to more locations. So when did cell phones become smartphones? Or, as I like to call it, a smarty phone? I've got a patent pending on that too, just...

FYI. Smartphones are smart because they combine the functions of a cell phone with the technology of an advanced computer. In 2007, Apple introduced the first iPhone, a smartphone which revolutionized mobile phone technology.

It had a touch screen rather than a keyboard like older cell phones. You could make calls and send and receive text messages, email, browse the internet, take photos and video, listen to music, and use software applications known as... As what, smarty pants?

Did you say apps? Of course you did. Wow, it really is like carrying a little computer around in your hand. And now, over 86% of the world's population use smartphones, which is why it's always a celebration here at the Phone Zone. I see. And here.

Well, thanks for the history lesson, Telly. And when it's time to buy a new phone, I will definitely come back to the phone zone. In the meantime, mind if I use the bathroom? Sorry, it's out of service.

A triple shout out to Smarty fans, Sindra, Ensley, and Dacklin in Maryland. We're so happy to hear you love the name of the show, the theme song, and all the cool stuff you learn. Thanks for including Who Smarted in your homeschooling. And keep on smarting, you three smarty pants. Pants. Pants. Pants.

This episode, Telephones, was written by Leanne FaceTime French and voiced by Beau, Leave a Message, Marie, Adam, Ringtones Davis, Kim, Call Me Maybe, Davis, and Jerry Colbert. Technical direction and sound design by Josh, Hanging Up, Han.

Our associate producer is Max Callback-Kamasky. The theme song is by Brian. My own speaker, Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex-Davis. Who Smarted? was created and produced by Adam Tex-Davis and Jerry Kolber. This has been an Atomic Entertainment production. Who Smarted?