Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 15 – Faraday · Verses Across
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Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 15Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 (part 15)
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Literature · Science
Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 15
Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 (part 15)
FaradayEnglish
1147. With the rolled zinc the fall in force soon appeared to become constant, i.e. to proceed no further. But with the cast zinc plates belonging to the porcelain troughs, it appeared to continue, until at last, with the same charge, each plate lost above twice as much zinc for a given amount of action as at first. These troughs were, however, so irregular that I could not always determine the circumstances affecting the amount of electrolytic action.
1148. Vicinity of the copper and zinc.--The importance of this point in the construction of voltaic arrangements, and the greater power, as to immediate action, which is obtained when the zinc and copper surfaces are near to each other than when removed further apart, are well known. I find that the power is not only greater on the instant, but also that the sum of transferable power, in relation to the whole sum of chemical action at the plates, is much increased. The cause of this gain is very evident. Whatever tends to retard the circulation of the transferable force, (i.e. the electricity,) diminishes the proportion of such force, and increases the proportion of that which is local (996. 1120.). Now the liquid in the cells possesses this retarding power, and therefore acts injuriously, in greater or less proportion, according to the quantity of it between the zinc and copper plates, i.e. according to the distances between their surfaces. A trough, therefore, in which the plates are only half the distance asunder at which they are placed in another, will produce more transferable, and less local, force than the latter; and thus, because the electrolyte in the cells can transmit the current more readily; both the intensity and quantity of electricity is increased for a given consumption of zinc. To this circumstance mainly I attribute the superiority of the trough I have described (1134.).
1149. The superiority of double coppers over single plates also depends in part upon diminishing the resistance offered by the electrolyte between the metals. For, in fact, with double coppers the sectional area of the interposed acid becomes nearly double that with single coppers, and therefore it more freely transfers the electricity. Double coppers are, however, effective, mainly because they virtually double the acting surface of the zinc, or nearly so; for in a trough with single copper plates and the usual construction of cells, that surface of zinc which is not opposed to a copper surface is thrown almost entirely out of voltaic action, yet the acid continues to act upon it and the metal is dissolved, producing very little more than local effect (947. 996). But when by doubling the copper, that metal is opposed to the second surface of the zinc plate, then a great part of the action upon the latter is converted into transferable force, and thus the power of the trough as to quantity of electricity is highly exalted.
1150. First immersion of the plates.--The great effect produced at the first immersion of the plates, (apart from their being new or used (1146.),) I have attributed elsewhere to the unchanged condition of the acid in contact with the zinc plate (1003. 1037.): as the acid becomes neutralized, its exciting power is proportionally diminished. Hare's form of trough secures much advantage of this kind, by mingling the liquid, and bringing what may be considered as a fresh surface of acid against the plates every time it is used immediately after a rest.
1151. Number of plates.--The most advantageous number of plates in a battery used for chemical decomposition, depends almost entirely upon the resistance to be overcome at the place of action; but whatever that resistance may be, there is a certain number which is more economical than either a greater or a less. Ten pairs of four-inch plates in a porcelain trough of the ordinary construction, acting in the volta-electrometer (1126.) upon dilute sulphuric acid of spec. grav. 1.314, gave an average consumption of 15.4 equivalents per plate, or 154 equivalents on the whole. Twenty pairs of the same plates, with the same acid, gave only a consumption of 5.5 per plate, or 110 equivalents upon the whole. When forty pairs of the same plates were used, the consumption was 3.54 equivalents per plate, or 141.6 upon the whole battery. Thus the consumption of zinc arranged as twenty plates was more advantageous than if arranged either as ten or as forty.
Gay-Lussac and Thenard, Recherches Physico-Chimiques, tom. i. p. 29.
1152. Again, ten pairs of my four-inch plates (1129.) lost 6.76 each, or the whole ten 67.6 equivalents of zinc, in effecting decomposition; whilst twenty pairs of the same plates, excited by the same acid, lost 3.7 equivalents each, or on the whole 74 equivalents. In other comparative experiments of numbers, ten pairs of the three inch-plates, (1125.) lost 3.725, or 37.25 equivalents upon the whole; whilst twenty pairs lost 2.53 each, or 50.6 in all; and forty pairs lost on an average 2.21, or 88.4 altogether. In both these cases, therefore, increase of numbers had not been advantageous as to the effective production of transferable chemical power from the whole quantity of chemical force active at the surfaces of excitation (1120.).
1153. But if I had used a weaker acid or a worse conductor in the volta-electrometer, then the number of plates which would produce the most advantageous effect would have risen; or if I had used a better conductor than that really employed in the volta-electrometer, I might have reduced the number even to one; as, for instance, when a thick wire is used to complete the circuit (865., &c.). And the cause of these variations is very evident, when it is considered that each successive plate in the voltaic apparatus does not add anything to the quantity of transferable power or electricity which the first plate can put into motion, provided a good conductor be present, but tends only to exalt the intensity of that quantity, so as to make it more able to overcome the obstruction of bad conductors (994. 1158.).
1154. Large or small plates.--The advantageous use of large or small plates for electrolyzations will evidently depend upon the facility with which the transferable power of electricity can pass. If in a particular case the most effectual number of plates is known (1151.), then the addition of more zinc would be most advantageously made in increasing the size of the plates, and not their number. At the same time, large increase in the size of the plates would raise in a small degree the most favourable number.
Gay-Lussac and Thenard, Recherches Physico-Chimiques, tom, i. p. 20.
1155. Large and small plates should not be used together in the same battery: the small ones occasion a loss of the power of the large ones, unless they be excited by an acid proportionably more powerful; for with a certain acid they cannot transmit the same portion of electricity in a given time which the same acid can evolve by action on the larger plates.
1156. Simultaneous decompositions.--When the number of plates in a battery much surpasses the most favourable proportion (1151--1153.), two or more decompositions may be effected simultaneously with advantage. Thus my forty pairs of plates (1124.) produced in one volta-electrometer 22.8 cubic inches of gas. Being recharged exactly in the same manner, they produced in each of two volta-electrometers 21 cubical inches. In the first experiment the whole consumption of zinc was 88.4 equivalents, and in the second only 48.28 equivalents, for the whole of the water decomposed in both volta-electrometers.
1157. But when the twenty pairs of four-inch plates (1129.) were tried in a similar manner, the results were in the opposite direction. With one volta-electrometer 52 cubic inches of gas were obtained; with two, only 14.6 cubic inches from each. The quantity of charge was not the same in both cases, though it was of the same strength; but on rendering the results comparative by reducing them to equivalents (1126.), it was found that the consumption of metal in the first case was 74, and in the second case 97, equivalents for the whole of the water decomposed. These results of course depend upon the same circumstances of retardation, &c., which have been referred to in speaking of the proper number of plates (1151.).
1158. That the transferring, or, as it is usually called, conducting, power of an electrolyte which is to be decomposed, or other interposed body, should be rendered as good as possible, is very evident (1020. 1120.). With a perfectly good conductor and a good battery, nearly all the electricity is passed, i.e. nearly all the chemical power becomes transferable, even with a single pair of plates (807.). With an interposed nonconductor none of the chemical power becomes transferable. With an imperfect conductor more or less of the chemical power becomes transferable as the circumstances favouring the transfer of forces across the imperfect conductor are exalted or diminished: these circumstances are, actual increase or improvement of the conducting power, enlargement of the electrodes, approximation of the electrodes, and increased intensity of the passing current.
Gay-Lussac and Thenard, Recherches Physico-Chimiques, tom. i. pp. 13, 15, 22.
1159. The introduction of common spring water in place of one of the volta-electrometers used with twenty pairs of four-inch plates (1156.) caused such obstruction as not to allow one-fifteenth of the transferable force to pass which would have circulated without it. Thus fourteen-fifteenths of the available force of the battery were destroyed, local force, (which was rendered evident by the evolution of gas from the being converted into zincs,) and yet the platina electrodes in the water were three inches long, nearly an inch wide, and not a quarter of an inch apart.
1160. These points, i.e. the increase of conducting power, the enlargement of the electrodes, and their approximation, should be especially attended to in volta-electrometers. The principles upon which their utility depend are so evident that there can be no occasion for further development of them here.
_Royal Institution,
October 11, 1834._
ELEVENTH SERIES.
§ 18. On Induction. ¶ i. Induction an action of contiguous particles. ¶ ii. Absolute charge of matter. ¶ iii. Electrometer and inductive apparatus employed. ¶ iv. Induction in curved lines. ¶ v. Specific inductive capacity. ¶ vi. General results as to induction.
Received November 30,--Read December 21, 1837.
¶ i. Induction an action of contiguous particles.
1161. The science of electricity is in that state in which every part of it requires experimental investigation; not merely for the discovery of new effects, but what is just now of far more importance, the development of the means by which the old effects are produced, and the consequent more accurate determination of the first principles of action of the most extraordinary and universal power in nature:--and to those philosophers who pursue the inquiry zealously yet cautiously, combining experiment with analogy, suspicious of their preconceived notions, paying more respect to a fact than a theory, not too hasty to generalize, and above all things, willing at every step to cross-examine their own opinions, both by reasoning and experiment, no branch of knowledge can afford so fine and ready a field for discovery as this. Such is most abundantly shown to be the case by the progress which electricity has made in the last thirty years: Chemistry and Magnetism have successively acknowledged its over-ruling influence; and it is probable that every effect depending upon the powers of inorganic matter, and perhaps most of those related to vegetable and animal life, will ultimately be found subordinate to it.
1162. Amongst the actions of different kinds into which electricity has conventionally been subdivided, there is, I think, none which excels, or even equals in importance, that called Induction. It is of the most general influence in electrical phenomena, appearing to be concerned in every one of them, and has in reality the character of a first, essential, and fundamental principle. Its comprehension is so important, that I think we cannot proceed much further in the investigation of the laws of electricity without a more thorough understanding of its nature; how otherwise can we hope to comprehend the harmony and even unity of action which doubtless governs electrical excitement by friction, by chemical means, by heat, by magnetic influence, by evaporation, and even by the living being?
1163. In the long-continued course of experimental inquiry in which I have been engaged, this general result has pressed upon me constantly, namely, the necessity of admitting two forces, or two forms or directions of a force (516. 517.), combined with the impossibility of separating these two forces (or electricities) from each other, either in the phenomena of statical electricity or those of the current. In association with this, the impossibility under any circumstances, as yet, of absolutely charging matter of any kind with one or the other electricity only, dwelt on my mind, and made me wish and search for a clearer view than any that I was acquainted with, of the way in which electrical powers and the particles of matter are related; especially in inductive actions, upon which almost all others appeared to rest.
1164. When I discovered the general fact that electrolytes refused to yield their elements to a current when in the solid state, though they gave them forth freely if in the liquid condition (380. 394. 402.), I thought I saw an opening to the elucidation of inductive action, and the possible subjugation of many dissimilar phenomena to one law. For let the electrolyte be water, a plate of ice being coated with platina foil on its two surfaces, and these coatings connected with any continued source of the two electrical powers, the ice will charge like a Leyden arrangement, presenting a case of common induction, but no current will pass. If the ice be liquefied, the induction will fall to a certain degree, because a current can now pass; but its passing is dependent upon a peculiar molecular arrangement of the particles consistent with the transfer of the elements of the electrolyte in opposite directions, the degree of discharge and the quantity of elements evolved being exactly proportioned to each other (377. 783.). Whether the charging of the metallic coating be effected by a powerful electrical machine, a strong and large voltaic battery, or a single pair of plates, makes no difference in the principle, but only in the degree of action (360). Common induction takes place in each case if the electrolyte be solid, or if fluid, chemical action and decomposition ensue, provided opposing actions do not interfere; and it is of high importance occasionally thus to compare effects in their extreme degrees, for the purpose of enabling us to comprehend the nature of an action in its weak state, which may be only sufficiently evident to us in its stronger condition (451.). As, therefore, in the electrolytic action, induction appeared to be the first step, and decomposition the second (the power of separating these steps from each other by giving the solid or fluid condition to the electrolyte being in our hands); as the induction was the same in its nature as that through air, glass, wax, &c. produced by any of the ordinary means; and as the whole effect in the electrolyte appeared to be an action of the particles thrown into a peculiar or polarized state, I was led to suspect that common induction itself was in all cases an action of contiguous particles, and that electrical action at a distance (i.e. ordinary inductive action) never occurred except through the influence of the intervening matter.
The word contiguous is perhaps not the best that might have been used here and elsewhere; for as particles do not touch each other it is not strictly correct. I was induced to employ it, because in its common acceptation it enabled me to state the theory plainly and with facility. By contiguous particles I mean those which are next.--Dec. 1838.
1165. The respect which I entertain towards the names of Epinus, Cavendish, Poisson, and other most eminent men, all of whose theories I believe consider induction as an action at a distance and in straight lines, long indisposed me to the view I have just stated; and though I always watched for opportunities to prove the opposite opinion, and made such experiments occasionally as seemed to bear directly on the point, as, for instance, the examination of electrolytes, solid and fluid, whilst under induction by polarized light (951. 955.), it is only of late, and by degrees, that the extreme generality of the subject has urged me still further to extend my experiments and publish my view. At present I believe ordinary induction in all cases to be an action of contiguous particles consisting in a species of polarity, instead of being an action of either particles or masses at sensible distances; and if this be true, the distinction and establishment of such a truth must be of the greatest consequence to our further progress in the investigation of the nature of electric forces. The linked condition of electrical induction with chemical decomposition; of voltaic excitement with chemical action; the transfer of elements in an electrolyte; the original cause of excitement in all cases; the nature and relation of conduction and insulation of the direct and lateral or transverse action constituting electricity and magnetism; with many other things more or less incomprehensible at present, would all be affected by it, and perhaps receive a full explication in their reduction under one general law.
1166. I searched for an unexceptionable test of my view, not merely in the accordance of known facts with it, but in the consequences which would flow from it if true; especially in those which would not be consistent with the theory of action at a distance. Such a consequence seemed to me to present itself in the direction in which inductive action could be exerted. If in straight lines only, though not perhaps decisive, it would be against my view; but if in curved lines also, that would be a natural result of the action of contiguous particles, but, as I think, utterly incompatible with action at a distance, as assumed by the received theories, which, according to every fact and analogy we are acquainted with, is always in straight lines.
1167. Again, if induction be an action of contiguous particles, and also the first step in the process of electrolyzation (1164. 919.), there seemed reason to expect some particular relation of it to the different kinds of matter through which it would be exerted, or something equivalent to a specific electric induction for different bodies, which, if it existed, would unequivocally prove the dependence of induction on the particles; and though this, in the theory of Poisson and others, has never been supposed to be the case, I was soon led to doubt the received opinion, and have taken great pains in subjecting this point to close experimental examination.
1168. Another ever-present question on my mind has been, whether electricity has an actual and independent existence as a fluid or fluids, or was a mere power of matter, like what we conceive of the attraction of gravitation. If determined either way it would be an enormous advance in our knowledge; and as having the most direct and influential bearing on my notions, I have always sought for experiments which would in any way tend to elucidate that great inquiry. It was in attempts to prove the existence of electricity separate from matter, by giving an independent charge of either positive or negative power only, to some one substance, and the utter failure of all such attempts, whatever substance was used or whatever means of exciting or evolving electricity were employed, that first drove me to look upon induction as an action of the particles of matter, each having both forces developed in it in exactly equal amount. It is this circumstance, in connection with others, which makes me desirous of placing the remarks on absolute charge first, in the order of proof and argument, which I am about to adduce in favour of my view, that electric induction is an action of the contiguous particles of the insulating medium or dielectric.
I use the word dielectric to express that substance through or across which the electric forces are acting.--Dec. 1838.
¶ ii. On the absolute charge of matter.
1169. Can matter, either conducting or non-conducting, be charged with one electric force independently of the other, in any degree, either in a sensible or latent state?
1170. The beautiful experiments of Coulomb upon the equality of action of conductors, whatever their substance, and the residence of all the electricity upon their surfaces, are sufficient, if properly viewed, to prove that conductors cannot be bodily charged; and as yet no means of communicating electricity to a conductor so as to place its particles in relation to one electricity, and not at the same time to the other in exactly equal amount, has been discovered.
Mémoires de l'Académie, 1786, pp. 67. 69. 72; 1787, p. 452.
1171. With regard to electrics or non-conductors, the conclusion does not at first seem so clear. They may easily be electrified bodily, either by communication (1247.) or excitement; but being so charged, every case in succession, when examined, came out to be a case of induction, and not of absolute charge. Thus, glass within conductors could easily have parts not in contact with the conductor brought into an excited state; but it was always found that a portion of the inner surface of the conductor was in an opposite and equivalent state, or that another part of the glass itself was in an equally opposite state, an inductive charge and not an absolute charge having been acquired.
1172. Well-purified oil of turpentine, which I find to be an excellent liquid insulator for most purposes, was put into a metallic vessel, and, being insulated, an endeavour was made to charge its particles, sometimes by contact of the metal with the electrical machine, and at others by a wire dipping into the fluid within; but whatever the mode of communication, no electricity of one kind only was retained by the arrangement, except what appeared on the exterior surface of the metal, that portion being present there only by an inductive action through the air to the surrounding conductors. When the oil of turpentine was confined in glass vessels, there were at first some appearances as if the fluid did receive an absolute charge of electricity from the charging wire, but these were quickly reduced to cases of common induction jointly through the fluid, the glass, and the surrounding air.
1173. I carried these experiments on with air to a very great extent. I had a chamber built, being a cube of twelve feet. A slight cubical wooden frame was constructed, and copper wire passed along and across it in various directions, so as to make the sides a large net-work, and then all was covered in with paper, placed in close connexion with the wires, and supplied in every direction with bands of tin foil, that the whole might be brought into good metallic communication, and rendered a free conductor in every part. This chamber was insulated in the lecture-room of the Royal Institution; a glass tube about six feet in length was passed through its side, leaving about four feet within and two feet on the outside, and through this a wire passed from the large electrical machine (290.) to the air within. By working the machine, the air in this chamber could be brought into what is considered a highly electrified state (being, in fact, the same state as that of the air of a room in which a powerful machine is in operation), and at the same time the outside of the insulated cube was everywhere strongly charged. But putting the chamber in communication with the perfect discharging train described in a former series (292.), and working the machine so as to bring the air within to its utmost degree of charge if I quickly cut off the connexion with the machine, and at the same moment or instantly after insulated the cube, the air within had not the least power to communicate a further charge to it. If any portion of the air was electrified, as glass or other insulators may be charged (1171.), it was accompanied by a corresponding opposite action within the cube, the whole effect being merely a case of induction. Every attempt to charge air bodily and independently with the least portion of either electricity failed.
1174 I put a delicate gold-leaf electrometer within the cube, and then charged the whole by an outside communication, very strongly, for some time together; but neither during the charge or after the discharge did the electrometer or air within show the least signs of electricity. I charged and discharged the whole arrangement in various ways, but in no case could I obtain the least indication of an absolute charge; or of one by induction in which the electricity of one kind had the smallest superiority in quantity over the other. I went into the cube and lived in it, and using lighted candles, electrometers, and all other tests of electrical states, I could not find the least influence upon them, or indication of any thing particular given by them, though all the time the outside of the cube was powerfully charged, and large sparks and brushes were darting off from every part of its outer surface. The conclusion I have come to is, that non-conductors, as well as conductors, have never yet had an absolute and independent charge of one electricity communicated to them, and that to all appearance such a state of matter is impossible.
1175. There is another view of this question which may be taken under the supposition of the existence of an electric fluid or fluids. It may be impossible to have one fluid or state in a free condition without its producing by induction the other, and yet possible to have cases in which an isolated portion of matter in one condition being uncharged, shall, by a change of state, evolve one electricity or the other: and though such evolved electricity might immediately induce the opposite state in its neighbourhood, yet the mere evolution of one electricity without the other in the first instance, would be a very important fact in the theories which assume a fluid or fluids; these theories as I understand them assigning not the slightest reason why such an effect should not occur.
1176. But on searching for such cases I cannot find one. Evolution by friction, as is well known, gives both powers in equal proportion. So does evolution by chemical action, notwithstanding the great diversity of bodies which may be employed, and the enormous quantity of electricity which can in this manner be evolved (371. 376. 861. 868. 961.). The more promising cases of change of state, whether by evaporation, fusion, or the reverse processes, still give both forms of the power in equal proportion; and the cases of splitting of mica and other crystals, the breaking of sulphur, &c., are subject to the same law of limitation.
1177. As far as experiment has proceeded, it appears, therefore, impossible either to evolve or make disappear one electric force without equal and corresponding change in the other. It is also equally impossible experimentally to charge a portion of matter with one electric force independently of the other. Charge always implies induction, for it can in no instance be effected without; and also the presence of the two forms of power, equally at the moment of the development and afterwards. There is no absolute charge of matter with one fluid; no latency of a single electricity. This though a negative result is an exceedingly important one, being probably the consequence of a natural impossibility, which will become clear to us when we understand the true condition and theory of the electric power.
1178. The preceding considerations already point to the following conclusions: bodies cannot be charged absolutely, but only relatively, and by a principle which is the same with that of induction. All charge is sustained by induction. All phenomena of intensity include the principle of induction. All excitation is dependent on or directly related to induction. All currents involve previous intensity and therefore previous induction. INDUCTION appears to be the essential function both the first development and the consequent phenomena of electricity.
¶ iii. Electrometer and inductive apparatus employed.
1179. Leaving for a time the further consideration of the preceding facts until they can be collated with other results bearing directly on the great question of the nature of induction, I will now describe the apparatus I have had occasion to use; and in proportion to the importance of the principles sought to be established is the necessity of doing this so clearly, as to leave no doubt of the results behind.
1180. Electrometer.--The measuring instrument I have employed has been the torsion balance electrometer of Coulomb, constructed, generally, according to his directions, but with certain variations and additions, which I will briefly describe. The lower part was a glass cylinder eight inches in height and eight inches in diameter; the tube for the torsion thread was seventeen inches in length. The torsion thread itself was not of metal, but glass, according to the excellent suggestion of the late Dr. Ritchie. It was twenty inches in length, and of such tenuity that when the shell-lac lever and attached ball, &c. were connected with it, they made about ten vibrations in a minute. It would bear torsion through four revolutions or 1440°, and yet, when released, return accurately to its position; probably it would have borne considerably more than this without injury. The repelled ball was of pith, gilt, and was 0.3 of an inch in diameter. The horizontal stem or lever supporting it was of shell-lac, according to Coulomb's direction, the arm carrying the ball being 2.4 inches long, and the other only 1.2 inches: to this was attached the vane, also described by Coulomb, which I found to answer admirably its purpose of quickly destroying vibrations. That the inductive action within the electrometer might be uniform in all positions of the repelled ball and in all states of the apparatus, two bands of tin foil, about an inch wide each, were attached to the inner surface of the glass cylinder, going entirely round it, at the distance of 0.4 of an inch from each other, and at such a height that the intermediate clear surface was in the same horizontal plane with the lever and ball. These bands were connected with each other and with the earth, and, being perfect conductors, always exerted a uniform influence on the electrified balls within, which the glass surface, from its irregularity of condition at different times, I found, did not. For the purpose of keeping the air within the electrometer in a constant state as to dryness, a glass dish, of such size as to enter easily within the cylinder, had a layer of fused potash placed within it, and this being covered with a disc of fine wire-gauze to render its inductive action uniform at all parts, was placed within the instrument at the bottom and left there.
Mémoires de l'Académie, 1785, p. 570.
Philosophical Transactions, 1830.
1181. The moveable ball used to take and measure the portion of electricity under examination, and which may be called the repelling, or the carrier, ball, was of soft alder wood, well and smoothly gilt. It was attached to a fine shell-lac stem, and introduced through a hole into the electrometer according to Coulomb's method: the stem was fixed at its upper end in a block or vice, supported on three short feet; and on the surface of the glass cover above was a plate of lead with stops on it, so that when the carrier ball was adjusted in its right position, with the vice above bearing at the same time against these stops, it was perfectly easy to bring away the carrier-ball and restore it to its place again very accurately, without any loss of time.
1182. It is quite necessary to attend to certain precautions respecting these balls. If of pith alone they are bad; for when very dry, that substance is so imperfect a conductor that it neither receives nor gives a charge freely, and so, after contact with a charged conductor, it is liable to be in an uncertain condition. Again, it is difficult to turn pith so smooth as to leave the ball, even when gilt, so free from irregularities of form, as to retain its charge undiminished for a considerable length of time. When, therefore, the balls are finally prepared and gilt they should be examined; and being electrified, unless they can hold their charge with very little diminution for a considerable time, and yet be discharged instantly and perfectly by the touch of an uninsulated conductor, they should be dismissed.
1183. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to refer to the graduation of the instrument, further than to explain how the observations were made. On a circle or ring of paper on the outside of the glass cylinder, fixed so as to cover the internal lower ring of tinfoil, were marked four points corresponding to angles of 90°; four other points exactly corresponding to these points being marked on the upper ring of tinfoil within. By these and the adjusting screws on which the whole instrument stands, the glass torsion thread could be brought accurately into the centre of the instrument and of the graduations on it. From one of the four points on the exterior of the cylinder a graduation of 90° was set off, and a corresponding graduation was placed upon the upper tinfoil on the opposite side of the cylinder within; and a dot being marked on that point of the surface of the repelled ball nearest to the side of the electrometer, it was easy, by observing the line which this dot made with the lines of the two graduations just referred to, to ascertain accurately the position of the ball. The upper end of the glass thread was attached, as in Coulomb's original electrometer, to an index, which had its appropriate graduated circle, upon which the degree of torsion was ultimately to be read off.
1184. After the levelling of the instrument and adjustment of the glass thread, the blocks which determine the place of the carrier ball are to be regulated (1181.) so that, when the carrier arrangement is placed against them, the centre of the ball may be in the radius of the instrument corresponding to 0° on the lower graduation or that on the side of the electrometer, and at the same level and distance from the centre as the repelled ball on the suspended torsion lever. Then the torsion index is to be turned until the ball connected with it (the repelled ball) is accurately at 30°, and finally the graduated arc belonging to the torsion index is to be adjusted so as to bring 0° upon it to the index. This state of the instrument was adopted as that which gave the most direct expression of the experimental results, and in the form having fewest variable errors; the angular distance of 30° being always retained as the standard distance to which the balls were in every case to be brought, and the whole of the torsion being read off at once on the graduated circle above. Under these circumstances the distance of the balls from each other was not merely the same in degree, but their position in the instrument, and in relation to every part of it, was actually the same every time that a measurement was made; so that all irregularities arising from slight difference of form and action in the instrument and the bodies around were avoided. The only difference which could occur in the position of anything within, consisted in the deflexion of the torsion thread from a vertical position, more or less, according to the force of repulsion of the balls; but this was so slight as to cause no interfering difference in the symmetry of form within the instrument, and gave no error in the amount of torsion force indicated on the graduation above.
1185. Although the constant angular distance of 30° between the centres of the balls was adopted, and found abundantly sensible, for all ordinary purposes, yet the facility of rendering the instrument far more sensible by diminishing this distance was at perfect command; the results at different distances being very easily compared with each other either by experiment, or, as they are inversely as the squares of the distances, by calculation.
1186. The Coulomb balance electrometer requires experience to be understood; but I think it a very valuable instrument in the hands of those who will take pains by practice and attention to learn the precautions needful in its use. Its insulating condition varies with circumstances, and should be examined before it is employed in experiments. In an ordinary and fair condition, when the balls were so electrified as to give a repulsive torsion force of 100° at the standard distance of 30°, it took nearly four hours to sink to 50° at the same distance; the average loss from 400° to 300° being at the rate of 2°.7 per minute, from 300° to 200° of 1°.7 per minute, from 200° to 100° of 1°.3 per minute, and from 100° to 50° of 0°.87 per minute. As a complete measurement by the instrument may be made in much less than a minute, the amount of loss in that time is but small, and can easily be taken into account.
1187. The inductive apparatus.--My object was to examine inductive action carefully when taking place through different media, for which purpose it was necessary to subject these media to it in exactly similar circumstances, and in such quantities as should suffice to eliminate any variations they might present. The requisites of the apparatus to be constructed were, therefore, that the inducing surfaces of the conductors should have a constant form and state, and be at a constant distance from each other; and that either solids, fluids, or gases might be placed and retained between these surfaces with readiness and certainty, and for any length of time.
1188. The apparatus used may be described in general terms as consisting of two metallic spheres of unequal diameter, placed, the smaller within the larger, and concentric with it; the interval between the two being the space through which the induction was to take place. A section of it is given (Plate VII. fig. 104.) on a scale of one-half: a, a are the two halves of a brass sphere, with an air-tight joint at b, like that of the Magdeburg hemispheres, made perfectly flush and smooth inside so as to present no irregularity; c is a connecting piece by which the apparatus is joined to a good stop-cock d, which is itself attached either to the metallic foot e, or to an air-pump. The aperture within the hemisphere at f is very small: g is a brass collar fitted to the upper hemisphere, through which the shell-lac support of the inner ball and its stem passes; h is the inner ball, also of brass; it screws on to a brass stem i, terminated above by a brass ball B, l, l is a mass of shell-lac, moulded carefully on to i, and serving both to support and insulate it and its balls h, B. The shell-lac stem l is fitted into the socket g, by a little ordinary resinous cement, more fusible than shell-lac, applied at mm in such a way as to give sufficient strength and render the apparatus air-tight there, yet leave as much as possible of the lower part of the shell-lac stem untouched, as an insulation between the ball h and the surrounding sphere a, a. The ball h has a small aperture at n, so that when the apparatus is exhausted of one gas and filled with another, the ball h may itself also be exhausted and filled, that no variation of the gas in the interval o may occur during the course of an experiment.
1189. It will be unnecessary to give the dimensions of all the parts, since the drawing is to a scale of one-half: the inner ball has a diameter 2.33 inches, and the surrounding sphere an internal diameter of 3.57 inches. Hence the width of the intervening space, through which the induction is to take place, is 0.62 of an inch; and the extent of this place or plate, i.e. the surface of a medium sphere, may be taken as twenty-seven square inches, a quantity considered as sufficiently large for the comparison of different substances. Great care was taken in finishing well the inducing surfaces of the ball h and sphere a, a; and no varnish or lacquer was applied to them, or to any part of the metal of the apparatus.
1190. The attachment and adjustment of the shell-lac stem was a matter requiring considerable care, especially as, in consequence of its cracking, it had frequently to be renewed. The best lac was chosen and applied to the wire i, so as to be in good contact with it everywhere, and in perfect continuity throughout its own mass. It was not smaller than is given by scale in the drawing, for when less it frequently cracked within a few hours after it was cold. I think that very slow cooling or annealing improved its quality in this respect. The collar g was made as thin as could be, that the lac might be as wide there as possible. In order that at every re-attachment of the stem to the upper hemisphere the ball h might have the same relative position, a gauge p (fig. 105.) was made of wood, and this being applied to the ball and hemisphere whilst the cement at m was still soft, the bearings of the ball at qq, and the hemisphere at rr, were forced home, and the whole left until cold. Thus all difficulty in the adjustment of the ball in the sphere was avoided.
1191. I had occasion at first to attach the stem to the socket by other means, as a band of paper or a plugging of white silk thread; but these were very inferior to the cement, interfering much with the insulating power of the apparatus.
1192. The retentive power of this apparatus was, when in good condition, better than that of the electrometer (1186.), i.e. the proportion of loss of power was less. Thus when the apparatus was electrified, and also the balls in the electrometer, to such a degree, that after the inner ball had been in contact with the top k of the ball of the apparatus, it caused a repulsion indicated by 600° of torsion force, then in falling from 600° to 400° the average loss was 8°.6 per minute; from 400° to 300° the average loss was 2°.6 per minute; from 300° to 200° it was 1°.7 per minute; from 200° to 170° it was 1° per minute. This was after the apparatus had been charged for a short time; at the first instant of charging there is an apparent loss of electricity, which can only be comprehended hereafter (1207. 1250.).
1193. When the apparatus loses its insulating power suddenly, it is almost always from a crack near to or within the brass socket. These cracks are usually transverse to the stem. If they occur at the part attached by common cement to the socket, the air cannot enter, and thus constituting vacua, they conduct away the electricity and lower the charge, as fast almost as if a piece of metal had been introduced there. Occasionally stems in this state, being taken out and cleared from the common cement, may, by the careful application of the heat of a spirit-lamp, be so far softened and melted as to restore the perfect continuity of the parts; but if that does not succeed in replacing things in a good condition, the remedy is a new shell-lac stem.
1194. The apparatus when in order could easily be exhausted of air and filled with any given gas; but when that gas was acid or alkaline, it could not properly be removed by the air-pump, and yet required to be perfectly cleared away. In such cases the apparatus was opened and emptied of gas; and with respect to the inner ball h, it was washed out two or three times with distilled water introduced at the screw-hole, and then being heated above 212°, air was blown through to render the interior perfectly dry.
1195. The inductive apparatus described is evidently a Leyden phial, with the advantage, however, of having the dielectric or insulating medium changed at pleasure. The balls h and B, with the connecting wire i, constitute the charged conductor, upon the surface of which all the electric force is resident by virtue of induction (1178.). Now though the largest portion of this induction is between the ball h and the surrounding sphere aa, yet the wire i and the ball B determine a part of the induction from their surfaces towards the external surrounding conductors. Still, as all things in that respect remain the same, whilst the medium within at oo, may be varied, any changes exhibited by the whole apparatus will in such cases depend upon the variations made in the interior; and these were the changes I was in search of, the negation or establishment of such differences being the great object of my inquiry. I considered that these differences, if they existed, would be most distinctly set forth by having two apparatus of the kind described, precisely similar in every respect; and then, different insulating media being within, to charge one and measure it, and after dividing the charge with the other, to observe what the ultimate conditions of both were. If insulating media really had any specific differences in favouring or opposing inductive action through them, such differences, I conceived, could not fail of being developed by such a process.
1196. I will wind up this description of the apparatus, and explain the precautions necessary to their use, by describing the form and order of the experiments made to prove their equality when both contained common air. In order to facilitate reference I will distinguish the two by the terms App. i. and App. ii.
1197. The electrometer is first to be adjusted and examined (1184.), and the app. i. and ii. are to be perfectly discharged. A Leyden phial is to be charged to such a degree that it would give a spark of about one-sixteenth or one-twentieth of an inch in length between two balls of half an inch diameter; and the carrier ball of the electrometer being charged by this phial, is to be introduced into the electrometer, and the lever ball brought by the motion of the torsion index against it; the charge is thus divided between the balls, and repulsion ensues. It is useful then to bring the repelled ball to the standard distance of 30° by the motion of the torsion index, and observe the force in degrees required for this purpose; this force will in future experiments be called repulsion of the balls.
1198. One of the inductive apparatus, as, for instance, app. i., is now to be charged from the Leyden phial, the latter being in the state it was in when used to charge the balls; the carrier ball is to be brought into contact with the top of its upper ball (k, fig. 104.), then introduced into the electrometer, and the repulsive force (at the distance of 30°) measured. Again, the carrier should be applied to the app. i. and the measurement repeated; the apparatus i. and ii. are then to be joined, so as to divide the charge, and afterwards the force of each measured by the carrier ball, applied as before, and the results carefully noted. After this both i. and ii. are to be discharged; then app. ii. charged, measured, divided with app. i., and the force of each again measured and noted. If in each case the half charges of app. i. and ii. are equal, and are together equal to the whole charge before division, then it may be considered as proved that the two apparatus are precisely equal in power, and fit to be used in cases of comparison between different insulating media or dielectrics.
1199. But the precautions necessary to obtain accurate results are numerous. The apparatus i. and ii. must always be placed on a thoroughly uninsulating medium. A mahogany table, for instance, is far from satisfactory in this respect, and therefore a sheet of tinfoil, connected with an extensive discharging train (292.), is what I have used. They must be so placed also as not to be too near each other, and yet equally exposed to the inductive influence of surrounding objects; and these objects, again, should not be disturbed in their position during an experiment, or else variations of induction upon the external ball B of the apparatus may occur, and so errors be introduced into the results. The carrier ball, when receiving its portion of electricity from the apparatus, should always be applied at the same part of the ball, as, for instance, the summit k, and always in the same way; variable induction from the vicinity of the head, hands, &c. being avoided, and the ball after contact being withdrawn upwards in a regular and constant manner.
1200. As the stem had occasionally to be changed (1190.), and the change might occasion slight variations in the position of the ball within, I made such a variation purposely, to the amount of an eighth of an inch (which is far more than ever could occur in practice), but did not find that it sensibly altered the relation of the apparatus, or its inductive condition as a whole. Another trial of the apparatus was made as to the effect of dampness in the air, one being filled with very dry air, and the other with air from over water. Though this produced no change in the result, except an occasional tendency to more rapid dissipation, yet the precaution was always taken when working with gases (1290.) to dry them perfectly.
1201. It is essential that the interior of the apparatus should be perfectly free from dust or small loose particles, for these very rapidly lower the charge and interfere on occasions when their presence and action would hardly be expected. To breathe on the interior of the apparatus and wipe it out quietly with a clean silk handkerchief, is an effectual way of removing them; but then the intrusion of other particles should be carefully guarded against, and a dusty atmosphere should for this and several other reasons be avoided.
1202. The shell-lac stem requires occasionally to be well-wiped, to remove, in the first instance, the film of wax and adhering matter which is upon it; and afterwards to displace dirt and dust which will gradually attach to it in the course of experiments. I have found much to depend upon this precaution, and a silk handkerchief is the best wiper.
1203. But wiping and some other circumstances tend to give a charge to the surface of the shell-lac stem. This should be removed, for, if allowed to remain, it very seriously affects the degree of charge given to the carrier ball by the apparatus (1232.). This condition of the stem is best observed by discharging the apparatus, applying the carrier ball to the stem, touching it with the finger, insulating and removing it, and examining whether it has received any charge (by induction) from the stem; if it has, the stem itself is in a charged state. The best method of removing the charge I have found to be, to cover the finger with a single fold of a silk handkerchief, and breathing on the stem, to wipe it immediately after with the finger; the ball B and its connected wire, &c. being at the same time uninsulated: the wiping place of the silk must not be changed; it then becomes sufficiently damp not to excite the stem, and is yet dry enough to leave it in a clean and excellent insulating condition. If the air be dusty, it will be found that a single charge of the apparatus will bring on an electric state of the outside of the stem, in consequence of the carrying power of the particles of dust; whereas in the morning, and in a room which has been left quiet, several experiments can be made in succession without the stem assuming the least degree of charge.
1204. Experiments should not be made by candle or lamp light except with much care, for flames have great and yet unsteady powers of affecting and dissipating electrical charges.
1205. As a final observation on the state of the apparatus, they should retain their charges well and uniformly, and alike for both, and at the same time allow of a perfect and instantaneous discharge, giving afterwards no charge to the carrier ball, whatever part of the ball B it may be applied to (1218.).
1206. With respect to the balance electrometer, all the precautions that need be mentioned, are, that the carrier ball is to be preserved during the first part of an experiment in its electrified state, the loss of electricity which would follow upon its discharge being avoided; and that in introducing it into the electrometer through the hole in the glass plate above, care should be taken that it do not touch, or even come near to, the edge of the glass.
1207. When the whole charge in one apparatus is divided between the two, the gradual fall, apparently from dissipation, in the apparatus which has received the half charge is greater than in the one originally charged. This is due to a peculiar effect to be described hereafter (1250. 1251.), the interfering influence of which may be avoided to a great extent by going through the steps of the process regularly and quickly; therefore, after the original charge has been measured, in app. i. for instance, i. and ii. are to be symmetrically joined by their balls B, the carrier touching one of these balls at the same time; it is first to be removed, and then the apparatus separated from each other; app. ii. is next quickly to be measured by the carrier, then app. i.; lastly, ii. is to be discharged, and the discharged carrier applied to it to ascertain whether any residual effect is present (1205.), and app. i. being discharged is also to be examined in the same manner and for the same purpose.
1208. The following is an example of the division of a charge by the two apparatus, air being the dielectric in both of them. The observations are set down one under the other in the order in which they were taken, the left-hand numbers representing the observations made on app. i., and the right-hand numbers those on app. ii. App. i. is that which was originally charged, and after two measurements, the charge was divided with app. ii.
App. i. App. ii.
Balls 160°
. . . . 0°
254° . . . .
250 . . . .
divided and instantly taken
. . . . 122
124 . . . .
1 . . . . after being discharged.
. . . . 2 after being discharged.
1209. Without endeavouring to allow for the loss which must have been gradually going on during the time of the experiment, let us observe the results of the numbers as they stand. As 1° remained in app. i. in an undischargeable state, 249° may be taken as the utmost amount of the transferable or divisible charge, the half of which is 124°.5. As app. ii. was free of charge in the first instance, and immediately after the division was found with 122°, this amount at least may be taken as what it had received. On the other hand 124° minus 1°, or 123°, may be taken as the half of the transferable charge retained by app. i. Now these do not differ much from each other, or from 124°.5, the half of the full amount of transferable charge; and when the gradual loss of charge evident in the difference between 254° and 250° of app. i. is also taken into account, there is every reason to admit the result as showing an equal division of charge, unattended by any disappearance of power except that due to dissipation.
1210. I will give another result, in which app. ii. was first charged, and where the residual action of that apparatus was greater than in the former case.
App. i. App. ii.
Balls 150°
. . . . 152°
. . . . 148
divided and instantly taken
70° . . . .
. . . . 78
. . . . 5 immediately after discharge.
0 . . . . immediately after discharge.
1211. The transferable charge being 148° - 5°, its half is 71°.5, which is not far removed from 70°, the half charge of i.; or from 73°, the half charge of ii.: these half charges again making up the sum of 143°, or just the amount of the whole transferable charge. Considering the errors of experiment, therefore, these results may again be received as showing that the apparatus were equal in inductive capacity, or in their powers of receiving charges.
1212. The experiments were repeated with charges of negative electricity with the same general results.
1213. That I might be sure of the sensibility and action of the apparatus, I made such a change in one as ought upon principle to increase its inductive force, i.e. I put a metallic lining into the lower hemisphere of app. i., so as to diminish the thickness of the intervening air in that part, from 0.62 to 0.435 of an inch: this lining was carefully shaped and rounded so that it should not present a sudden projection within at its edge, but a gradual transition from the reduced interval in the lower part of the sphere to the larger one in the upper.
1214. This change immediately caused app. i. to produce effects indicating that it had a greater aptness or capacity for induction than app. ii. Thus, when a transferable charge in app. ii. of 469° was divided with app. i., the former retained a charge of 225°, whilst the latter showed one of 227°, i.e. the former had lost 244° in communicating 227° to the latter: on the other hand, when app. i. had a transferable charge in it of 381° divided by contact with app. ii., it lost 181° only, whilst it gave to app. ii. as many as 194:--the sum of the divided forces being in the first instance less, and in the second instance greater than the original undivided charge. These results are the more striking, as only one-half of the interior of app. i. was modified, and they show that the instruments are capable of bringing out differences in inductive force from amongst the errors of experiment, when these differences are much less than that produced by the alteration made in the present instance.
¶ iv. Induction in curved lines.
1215. Amongst those results deduced from the molecular view of induction (1166.), which, being of a peculiar nature, are the best tests of the truth or error of the theory, the expected action in curved lines is, I think, the most important at present; for, if shown to take place in an unexceptionable manner, I do not see how the old theory of action at a distance and in straight lines can stand, or how the conclusion that ordinary induction is an action of contiguous particles can be resisted.
1216. There are many forms of old experiments which might be quoted as favourable to, and consistent with the view I have adopted. Such are most cases of electro-chemical decomposition, electrical brushes, auras, sparks, &c.; but as these might be considered equivocal evidence, inasmuch as they include a current and discharge, (though they have long been to me indications of prior molecular action (1230.)) I endeavoured to devise such experiments for first proofs as should not include transfer, but relate altogether to the pure simple inductive action of statical electricity.
1217. It was also of importance to make these experiments in the simplest possible manner, using not more than one insulating medium or dielectric at a time, lest differences of slow conduction should produce effects which might erroneously be supposed to result from induction in curved lines. It will be unnecessary to describe the steps of the investigation minutely; I will at once proceed to the simplest mode of proving the facts, first in air and then in other insulating media.
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Literature · Science
Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 16
