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THE STORY OF ELECTRICITY

BY JOHN MUNRO

AUTHOR OF ELECTRICITY AND ITS USES, PIONEERS OF ELECTRICITY, HEROES OF THE TELEGRAPH, ETC., AND JOINT AUTHOR OF MUNRO AND JAMIESON'S POCKET-BOOK OF ELECTRICAL RULES AND TABLES



PREFACE.

A work on electricity needs little recommendation to stimulate the interest of the general reader. Electricity in its manifold applications is so large a factor in the comfort and convenience of our daily life, so essential to the industrial organization which embraces every dweller in a civilized land, so important in the development and extension of civilization itself, that a knowledge of its principles and the means through which they are directed to the service of mankind should be a part of the mental equipment of everyone who pretends to education in its truest sense. Let anyone stop to consider how he individually would be affected if all electrical service were suddenly to cease, and he cannot fail to appreciate the claims of electricity to attentive study.

The purpose of this little book is to present the essential facts of electrical science in a popular and interesting way, as befits the scheme of the series to which it belongs. Electrical phenomena have been observed since the first man viewed one of the most spectacular and magnificent of them all in the thunderstorm, but the services of electricity which we enjoy are the product solely of scientific achievement in the nineteenth century. It is to these services that the main part of the following discussion is devoted. The introductory chapters deal with various sources of electrical energy, in friction, chemical action, heat and magnetism. The rest of the book describes the applications of electricity in electroplating, communication by telegraph, telephone, and wireless telegraphy, the production of light and heat, the transmission of power, transportation over rails and in vehicles, and the multitude of other uses.

July, 1915.



PUBLISHERS' NOTE.

For our edition of this work the terminology has been altered to conform with American usage, some new matter has been added, and a few of the cuts have been changed and some new ones introduced, in order to adapt the book fully to the practical requirements of American readers.



CONTENTS.

I. THE ELECTRICITY OF FRICTION II. THE ELECTRICITY OF CHEMISTRY III. THE ELECTRICITY OF HEAT IV. THE ELECTRICITY OF MAGNETISM V. ELECTROLYSIS VI. THE TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE VII. ELECTRIC LIGHT AND HEAT VIII. ELECTRIC POWER IX. MINOR USES OF ELECTRICITY X. THE WIRELESS TELEGRAPH XI. ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY AND ELECTRO-METALLURGY XII. ELECTRIC RAILWAYS APPENDIX



THE STORY OF ELECTRICITY.



CHAPTER I.

THE ELECTRICITY OF FRICTION.

A schoolboy who rubs a stick of sealing-wax on the sleeve of his jacket, then holds it over dusty shreds or bits of straw to see them fly up and cling to the wax, repeats without knowing it the fundamental experiment of electricity. In rubbing the wax on his coat he has electrified it, and the dry dust or bits of wool are attracted to it by reason of a mysterious process which is called "induction."

Electricity, like fire, was probably discovered by some primeval savage. According to Humboldt, the Indians of the Orinoco sometimes amuse themselves by rubbing certain beans to make them attract wisps of the wild cotton, and the custom is doubtless very old. Certainly the ancient Greeks knew that a piece of amber had when rubbed the property of attracting light bodies. Thales of Miletus, wisest of the Seven Sages, and father of Greek philosophy, explained this curious effect by the presence of a "soul" in the amber, whatever he meant by that. Thales flourished 600 years before the Christian era, while Croesus reigned in Lydia, and Cyrus the Great, in Persia, when the renowned Solon gave his laws to Athens, and Necos, King of Egypt, made war on Josiah, King of Judah, and after defeating him at Megiddo, dedicated the corslet he had worn during the battle to Apollo Didymaeus in the temple of Branchidas, near Miletus.

Amber, the fossil resin of a pine tree, was found in Sicily, the shores of the Baltic, and other parts of Europe. It was a precious stone then as now, and an article of trade with the Phoenicians, those early merchants of the Mediterranean. The attractive power might enhance the value of the gem in the eyes of the superstitious ancients, but they do not seem to have investigated it, and beyond the speculation of Thales, they have told us nothing more about it.

Towards the end of the sixteenth century Dr. Gilbert of Colchester, physician to Queen Elizabeth, made this property the subject of experiment, and showed that, far from being peculiar to amber, it was possessed by sulphur, wax, glass, and many other bodies which he called electrics, from the Greek word elektron, signifying amber. This great discovery was the starting-point of the modern science of electricity. That feeble and mysterious force which had been the wonder of the simple and the amusement of the vain could not be slighted any longer as a curious freak of nature, but assuredly none dreamt that a day was dawning in which it would transform the world.

Otto von Guericke, burgomaster of Magdeburg, was the first to invent a machine for exciting the electric power in larger quantities by simply turning a ball of sulphur between the bare hands. Improved by Sir Isaac Newton and others, who employed glass rubbed with silk, it created sparks several inches long. The ordinary frictional machine as now made is illustrated in figure i, where P is a disc of plate glass mounted on a spindle and turned by hand. Rubbers of silk R, smeared with an amalgam of mercury and tin, to increase their efficiency, press the rim of the plate between them as it revolves, and a brass conductor C, insulated on glass posts, is fitted with points like the teeth of a comb, which, as the electrified surface of the plate passes by, collect the electricity and charge the conductor with positive electricity. Machines of this sort have been made with plates 7 feet in diameter, and yielding sparks nearly 2 feet long.

The properties of the "electric fire," as it was now called, were chiefly investigated by Dufay. To refine on the primitive experiment let us replace the shreds by a pithball hung from a support by a silk thread, as in figure 2. If we rub the glass rod vigorously with a silk handkerchief and hold it near, the ball will fly toward the rod. Similarly we may rub a stick of sealing wax, a bar of sulphur, indeed, a great variety of substances, and by this easy test we shall find them electrified. Glass rubbed with glass will not show any sign of electrification, nor will wax rubbed on wax; but when the rubber is of a different material to the thing rubbed, we shall find, on using proper precautions, that electricity is developed. In fact, the property which was once thought peculiar to amber is found to belong to all bodies. ANY SUBSTANCE, WHEN RUBBED WITH A DIFFERENT SUBSTANCE, BECOMES ELECTRIFIED.

The electricity thus produced is termed frictional electricity. Of course there are some materials, such as amber, glass, and wax, which display the effect much better than others, and hence its original discovery.

In dry frosty weather the friction of a tortoise-shell comb will electrify the hair and make it cling to the teeth. Sometimes persons emit sparks in pulling off their flannels or silk stockings. The fur of a cat, or even of a garment, stroked in the dark with a warm dry hand will be seen to glow, and perhaps heard to crackle. During winter a person can electrify himself by shuffling in his slippers over the carpet, and light the gas with a spark from his finger. Glass and sealing-wax are, however, the most convenient means for investigating the electricity of friction.

A glass rod when rubbed with a silk handkerchief becomes, as we have seen, highly electric, and will attract a pithball (fig. 2). Moreover, if we substitute the handkerchief for the rod it will also attract the ball (fig. 3). Clearly, then, the handkerchief which rubbed the rod as well as the rod itself is electrified. At first we might suppose that the handkerchief had merely rubbed off some of the electricity from the rod, but a little investigation will soon show that is not the case. If we allow the pithball to touch the glass rod it will steal some of the electricity on the rod, and we shall now find the ball REPELLED by the rod, as illustrated in figure 4. Then, if we withdraw the rod and bring forward the handkerchief, we shall find the ball ATTRACTED by it. Evidently, therefore, the electricity of the handkerchief is of a different kind from that of the rod.

Again, if we allow the ball to touch the handkerchief and rub off some of its electricity, the ball will be REPELLED by the handkerchief and ATTRACTED by the rod. Thus we arrive at the conclusion that whereas the glass rod is charged with one kind of electricity, the handkerchief which rubbed it is charged with another kind, and, judging by their contrary effects on the charged ball or indicator, they are of opposite kinds. To distinguish the two sorts, one is called POSITIVE and the other NEGATIVE electricity.

Further experiments with other substances will show that sometimes the rod is negative while the rubber is positive. Thus, if we rub the glass rod with cat's fur instead of silk, we shall find the glass negative and the fur positive. Again, if we rub a stick of sealing-wax with the silk handkerchief, we shall find the wax negative and the silk positive. But in every case one is the opposite of the other, and moreover, an equal quantity of both sorts of electricity is developed, one kind on the rod and the other on the rubber. Hence we conclude that EQUAL AND OPPOSITE QUANTITIES OF ELECTRICITY ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY DEVELOPED BY FRICTION.

If any two of the following materials be rubbed together, that higher in the list becomes positively and the other negatively electrified:—

POSITIVE (+).

Cats' fur. Polished glass. Wool. Cork, at ordinary temperature. Coarse brown paper. Cork, heated. White silk. Black silk. Shellac. Rough glass.

NEGATIVE (-).

The list shows that quality, as well as kind, of material affects the production of electricity. Thus polished glass when rubbed with silk is positive, whereas rough glass is negative. Cork at ordinary temperature is positive when rubbed with hot cork. Black silk is negative to white silk, and it has been observed that the best radiator and absorber of light and heat is the most negative. Black cloth, for instance, is a better radiator than white, hence in the Arctic regions, where the body is much warmer than the surrounding air, many wild animals get a white coat in winter, and in the tropics, where the sunshine is hotter than the body, the European dons a white suit.

The experiments of figures 1, 2, and 3 have also shown us that when the pithball is charged with the positive electricity of the glass rod it is REPELLED by the like charge upon the rod, and ATTRACTED by the negative or unlike charge on the handkerchief. Again, when it is charged with the negative electricity of the handkerchief it is REPELLED by the like charge on the handkerchief and ATTRACTED by the positive or unlike charge on the rod. Therefore it is usual to say that LIKE ELECTRICITIES REPEL AND UNLIKE ELECTRICITIES ATTRACT EACH OTHER.

We have said that all bodies yield electricity under the friction of dissimilar bodies; but this cannot be proved for every body by simply holding it in one hand and rubbing it with the excitor, as may be done in the case of glass. For instance, if we take a brass rod in the hand and apply the rubber vigorously, it will fail to attract the pithball, for there is no trace of electricity upon it. This is because the metal differs from the glass in another electrical property, and they must therefore be differently treated. Brass, in fact, is a conductor of electricity and glass is not. In other words, electricity is conducted or led away by brass, so that, as soon as it is generated by the friction, it flows through the hand and body of the experimenter, which are also conductors, and is lost in the ground. Glass on the other hand, is an INSULATOR, and the electricity remains on the surface of it. If, however, we attach a glass handle to the rod and hold it by that whilst rubbing it, the electricity cannot then escape to the earth, and the brass rod will attract the pith-ball.

All bodies are conductors of electricity in some degree, but they vary so enormously in this respect that it has been found convenient to divide them into two extreme classes—conductors and insulators. These run into each other through an intermediate group, which are neither good conductors nor good insulators. The following are the chief examples of these classes:—

CONDUCTORS.—All the metals, carbon.

INTERMEDIATE (bad conductors and bad insulators).—Water, aqueous solutions, moist bodies; wood, cotton, hemp, and paper in any but a dry atmosphere; liquid acids, rarefied gases.

INSULATORS.—Paraffin (solid or liquid), ozokerit, turpentine, silk, resin, sealing-wax or shellac, india-rubber, gutta-percha, ebonite, ivory, dry wood, dry glass or porcelain, mica, ice, air at ordinary pressures.

It is remarkable that the best conductors of electricity, that is to say, the substances which offer least resistance to its passage, for instance the metals, are also the best conductors of heat, and that insulators made red hot become conductors. Air is an excellent insulator, and hence we are able to perform our experiments on frictional electricity in it. We can also run bare telegraph wires through it, by taking care to insulate them with glass or porcelain from the wooden poles which support them above the ground. Water, on the other hand, is a partial conductor, and a great enemy to the storage or conveyance of electricity, from its habit of soaking into porous metals, or depositing in a film of dew on the cold surfaces of insulators such as glass, porcelain, or ebonite. The remedy is to exclude it, or keep the insulators warm and dry, or coat them with shellac varnish, wax, or paraffin. Submarine telegraph wires running under the sea are usually insulated from the surrounding water by india-rubber or gutta-percha.

The distinction between conductors and non-conductors or insulators was first observed by Stephen Gray, a pensioner of the Charter-house. Gray actually transmitted a charge of electricity along a pack-thread insulated with silk, to a distance of several hundred yards, and thus took an important step in the direction of the electric telegraph.

It has since been found that FRICTIONAL ELECTRICITY APPEARS ONLY ON THE EXTERNAL SURFACE OF CONDUCTORS.

This is well shown by a device of Faraday resembling a small butterfly net insulated by a glass handle (fig. 5). If the net be charged it is found that the electrification is only outside, and if it be suddenly drawn outside in, as shown by the dotted line, the electrification is still found outside, proving that the charge has shifted from the inner to the outer surface. In the same way if a hollow conductor is charged with electricity, none is discoverable in the interior. Moreover, its distribution on the exterior is influenced by the shape of the outer surface. On a sphere or ball it is evenly distributed all round, but it accumulates on sharp edges or corners, and most of all on points, from which it is easily discharged.

A neutral body can, as we have seen (fig. 4), be charged by CONTACT with an electrified body: but it can also be charged by INDUCTION, or the influence of the electrified body at a distance.

Thus if we electrify a glass rod positively () and bring it near a neutral or unelectrified brass ball, insulated on a glass support, as in figure 6, we shall find the side of the ball next the rod no longer neutral but negatively electrified (-), and the side away from the rod positively electrified ().

If we take away the rod again the ball will return to its neutral or non-electric state, showing that the charge was temporarily induced by the presence of the electrified rod. Again, if, as in figure 7, we have two insulated balls touching each other, and bring the rod up, that nearest the rod will become negative and that farthest from it positive. It appears from these facts that electricity has the power of disturbing or decomposing the neutral state of a neighbouring conductor, and attracting the unlike while it repels the like induced charge. Hence, too, it is that the electrified amber or sealing-wax is able to attract a light straw or pithball. The effect supplies a simple way of developing a large amount of electricity from a small initial charge. For if in figure 6 the positive side of the ball be connected for a moment to earth by a conductor, its positive charge will escape, leaving the negative on the ball, and as there is no longer an equal positive charge to recombine with it when the exciting rod is withdrawn, it remains as a negative charge on the ball. Similarly, if we separate the two balls in figure 7, we gain two equal charges—one positive, the other negative. These processes have only to be repeated by a machine in order to develop very strong charges from a feeble source.

Faraday saw that the intervening air played a part in this action at a distance, and proved conclusively that the value of the induction depended on the nature of the medium between the induced and the inducing charge. He showed, for example, that the induction through an intervening cake of sulphur is greater than through an equal thickness of air. This property of the medium is termed its INDUCTIVE CAPACITY.

The Electrophorus, or carrier of electricity, is a simple device for developing and conveying a charge on the principle of induction. It consists, as shown in figure 8, of a metal plate B having an insulating handle of glass H, and a flat cake of resin or ebonite R. If the resin is laid on a table and briskly rubbed with cat's fur it becomes negatively electrified. The brass plate is then lifted by the handle and laid upon the cake. It touches the electrified surface at a few points, takes a minute charge from these by contact. The rest of it, however, is insulated from the resin by the air. In the main, therefore, the negative charge of the resin is free to induce an opposite or positive charge on the lower surface and a negative charge on the upper surface of the plate. By touching this upper surface with the finger, as shown in figure 8, the negative charge will escape through the body to the ground or "earth," as it is technically called, and the positive charge will remain on the plate. We can withdraw it by lifting the plate, and prove its existence by drawing a spark from it with the knuckle. The process can be repeated as long as the negative charge continues on the resin.

These tiny sparks from the electrophorus, or the bigger discharges of an electrical machine, can be stored in a simple apparatus called a Leyden jar, which was discovered by accident. One day Cuneus, a pupil of Muschenbroeck, professor in the University of Leyden, was trying to charge some water in a glass bottle by connecting it with a chain to the sparkling knob of an electrical machine. Holding the bottle in one hand, he undid the chain with the other, and received a violent shock which cast the bottle on the floor. Muschenbroeck, eager to verify the phenomenon, repeated the experiment, with a still more lively and convincing result. His. nerves were shaken for two days, and he afterwards protested that he would not suffer another shock for the whole kingdom of France.

The Leyden jar is illustrated in figure 9, and consists in general of a glass bottle partly coated inside and out with tinfoil F, and having a brass knob K connecting with its internal coat. When the charged plate or conductor of the electrophorus touches the knob the inner foil takes a positive charge, which induces a negative charge in the outer foil through the glass. The corresponding positive charge induced at the same time escapes through the hand to the ground or "earth." The inner coating is now positively and the outer coating negatively electrified, and these two opposite charges bind or hold each other by mutual attraction. The bottle will therefore continue charged for a long time; in short, until it is purposely discharged or the two electricities combine by leakage over the surface of the glass.

To discharge the jar we need only connect the two foils by a conductor, and thus allow the separated charges to combine. This should be done by joining the OUTER to the INNER coat with a stout wire, or, better still, the discharging tongs T, as shown in the figure. Otherwise, if the tongs are first applied to the inner coat, the operator will receive the charge through his arms and chest in the manner of Cuneus and Muschenbroeck.

Leyden jars can be connected together in "batteries," so as to give very powerful effects. One method is to join the inner coat of one to the outer coat of the next. This is known as connecting in "series," and gives a very long spark. Another method is to join the inner coat of one to the inner coat of the next, and similarly all the outer coats together. This is called connecting "in parallel," or quantity, and gives a big, but not a long spark.

Of late years the principle of induction, which is the secret of the Leyden jar and electrophorus, has been applied in constructing "influence" machines for generating electricity. Perhaps the most effective of these is the Wimshurst, which we illustrate in figure 10, where PP are two circular glass plates which rotate in opposite directions on turning the handle. On the outer rim of each is cemented a row of radial slips of metal at equal intervals. The slips at opposite ends of a diameter are connected together twice during each revolution of the plates by wire brushes S, and collecting combs TT serve to charge the positive and negative conductors CC, which yield very powerful sparks at the knobs K above. The given theory of this machine may be open to question, but there can be no doubt of its wonderful performance. A small one produces a violent spark 8 or 10 inches long after a few turns of the handle.

The electricity of friction is so unmanageable that it has not been applied in practice to any great extent. In 1753 Mr. Charles Morrison, of Greenock, published the first plan of an electric telegraph in the Scots Magazine, and proposed to charge an insulated wire at the near end so as to make it attract printed letters of the alphabet at the far end. Sir Francis Ronalds also invented a telegraph actuated by this kind of electricity, but neither of these came into use. Morrison, an obscure genius, was before his age, and Ronalds was politely informed by the Government of his day that "telegraphs of any kind were wholly unnecessary." Little instruments for lighting gas by means of the spark are, however, made, and the noxious fumes of chemical and lead works are condensed and laid by the discharge from the Wimshurst machine. The electricity shed in the air causes the dust and smoke to adhere by induction and settle in flakes upon the sides of the flues. Perhaps the old remark that "smuts" or "blacks" falling to the ground on a sultry day are a sign of thunder is traceable to a similar action.

The most important practical result of the early experiments with frictional electricity was Benjamin Franklin's great discovery of the identity of lightning and the electric spark. One day in June, 1792, he went to the common at Philadelphia and flew a kite beneath a thundercloud, taking care to insulate his body from the cord. After a shower had wetted the string and made it a conductor, he was able to draw sparks from it with a key and to charge a Leyden jar. The man who had "robbed Jupiter of his thunderbolts" became celebrated throughout the world, and lightning rods or conductors for the protection of life and property were soon brought out. These, in their simplest form, are tapes or stranded wires of iron or copper attached to the walls of the building. The lower end of the conductor is soldered to a copper plate buried in the moist subsoil, or, if the ground is rather dry, in a pit containing coke. Sometimes it is merely soldered to the water mains of the house. The upper end rises above the highest chimney, turret, or spire of the edifice, and branches into points tipped with incorrosive metal, such as platinum. It is usual to connect all the outside metal of the house, such as the gutters and finials to the rod by means of soldered joints, so as to form one continuous metallic network or artery for the discharge.

When a thundercloud charged with electricity passes over the ground, it induces a charge of an opposite kind upon it. The cloud and earth with air between are analogous to the charged foils of the Leyden jar separated by the glass. The two electricities of the jar, we know, attract each other, and if the insulating glass is too weak to hold them asunder, the spark will pierce it. Similarly, if the insulating air cannot resist the attraction between the thundercloud and the earth, it will be ruptured by a flash of lightning. The metal rod, however, tends to allow the two charges of the cloud and earth to combine quietly or to shunt the discharge past the house.



CHAPTER II.

THE ELECTRICITY OF CHEMISTRY.

A more tractable kind of electricity than that of friction was discovered at the beginning of the present century. The story goes that some edible frogs were skinned to make a soup for Madame Galvani, wife of the professor of anatomy in the University of Bologna, who was in delicate health. As the frogs were lying in the laboratory of the professor they were observed to twitch each time a spark was drawn from an electrical machine that stood by. A similar twitching was also noticed when the limbs were hung by copper skewers from an iron rail. Galvani thought the spasms were due to electricity in the animal, and produced them at will by touching the nerve of a limb with a rod of zinc, and the muscle with a rod of copper in contact with the zinc. It was proved, however, by Alessanjra Volta, professor of physics in the University of Pavia, that the electricity was not in the animal but generated by the contact of the two dissimilar metals and the moisture of the flesh. Going a step further, in the year 1800 he invented a new source of electricity on this principle, which is known as "Volta's pile." It consists of plates or discs of zinc and copper separated by a wafer of cloth moistened with acidulated water. When the zinc and copper are joined externally by a wire, a CURRENT of electricity is found in the wire One pair of plates with the liquid between makes a "couple" or element; and two or more, built one above another in the same order of zinc, copper, zinc, copper, make the pile. The extreme zinc and copper plates, when joined by a wire, are found to deliver a current.

This form of the voltaic, or, as it is sometimes called, galvanic battery, has given place to the "cell" shown in figure II, where the two plates Z C are immersed in acidulated water within the vessel, and connected outside by the wire W. The zinc plate has a positive and the copper a negative charge. The positive current flows from the zinc to the copper inside the cell and from the copper to the zinc outside the cell, as shown by the arrows. It thus makes a complete round, which is called the voltaic "circuit," and if the circuit is broken anywhere it will not flow at all. The positive electricity of the zinc appears to traverse the liquid to the copper, from which it flows through the wire to the zinc. The effect is that the end of the wire attached to the copper is positive (+), and called the positive "pole" or electrode, while the end attached to the zinc is negative (-), and called the negative pole or electrode. "A simple and easy way to avoid confusion as to the direction of the current, is to remember that the POSITIVE current flows FROM the COPPER TO the ZINC at the point of METALLIC contact." The generation of this current is accompanied by chemical action in the cell. Experiment shows that the mere CONTACT of dissimilar materials, such as copper and zinc, electrifies them—zinc being positive and copper negative; but contact alone does not yield a continuous current of electricity. When we plunge the two metals, still in contact, either directly or through a wire, into water preferably acidulated, a chemical action is set up, the water is decomposed, and the zinc is consumed. Water, as is well known, consists of oxygen and hydrogen. The oxygen combines with the zinc to form oxide of zinc, and the hydrogen is set free as gas at the surface of the copper plate. So long as this process goes on, that is to say, as long as there is zinc and water left, we get an electric current in the circuit. The existence of such a current may be proved by a very simple experiment. Place a penny above and a dime below the tip of the tongue, then bring their edges into contact, and you will feel an acid taste in the mouth.

Figure 12 illustrates the supposed chemical action in the cell. On the left hand are the zinc and copper plates (Z C) disconnected in the liquid. The atoms of zinc are shown by small circles; the molecules of water, that is, oxygen, and hydrogen (H2O) by lozenges of unequal size. On the right hand the plates are connected by a wire outside the cell; the current starts, and the chemical action begins. An atom of zinc unites with an atom of oxygen, leaving two atoms of hydrogen thus set free to combine with another atom of oxygen, which in turn frees two atoms of hydrogen. This interchange of atoms goes on until the two atoms of hydrogen which are freed last abide on the surface of the copper. The "contact electricity" of the zinc and copper probably begins the process, and the chemical action keeps it up. Oxygen, being an "electro-negative" element in chemistry, is attracted to the zinc, and hydrogen, being "electro-positive," is attracted to the copper.

The difference of electrical condition or "potential" between the plates by which the current is started has been called the electromotive force, or force which puts the electricity in motion. The obstruction or hindrance which the electricity overcomes in passing through its conductor is known as the RESISTANCE. Obviously the higher the electromotive force and the lower the resistance, the stronger will be the current in the conductor. Hence it is desirable to have a cell which will give a high electromotive force and a low internal resistance.

Voltaic cells are grouped together in the mode of Leyden jars. Figure 13 shows how they are joined "in series," the zinc or negative pole of one being connected by wire to the copper or positive pole of the next. This arrangement multiplies alike the electromotive force and the resistance. The electromotive force of the battery is the sum of the electromotive forces of all the cells, and the resistance of the battery is the sum of the resistances of all the cells. High electromotive forces or "pressures" capable of overcoming high resistances outside the battery can be obtained in this way.

Figure 14 shows how the zincs are joined "in parallel," the zinc or negative pole of one being connected by wire to the zinc or negative pole of the rest, and all the copper or positive poles together. This arrangement does not increase the electromotive force, but diminishes the resistance. In fact, the battery is equivalent to a single cell having plates equal in area to the total area of all the plates. Although unable to overcome a high resistance, it can produce a large volume or quantity of electricity.

Numerous voltaic combinations and varieties of cell have been found out. In general, where-ever two metals in contact are placed in a liquid which acts with more chemical energy on one than on the other, as sulphuric acid does on zinc in preference to copper, there is a development of electricity. Readers may have seen how an iron fence post corrodes at its junction with the lead that fixes it in the stone. This decay is owing to the wet forming a voltaic couple with the two dissimilar metals and rusting the iron. In the following list of materials, when any two in contact are plunged in dilute acid, that which is higher in the order becomes the positive plate or negative pole to that which is lower:—

POSITIVE Iron Silver Zinc Nickel Gold Cadmium Bismuth Platinum Tin Antimony Graphite Lead Copper NEGATIVE

There being no chemical union between the hydrogen and copper in the zinc and copper couple, that gas accumulates on the surface of the copper plate, or is liberated in bubbles. Now, hydrogen is positive compared with copper, hence they tend to oppose each other in the combination. The hydrogen diminishes the value of the copper, the current grows weaker, and the cell is said to "polarise." It follows that a simple water cell is not a good arrangement for the supply of a steady current.

The Daniell cell is one of the best, and gives a very constant current. In this battery the copper plate is surrounded by a solution of sulphate of copper (Cu SO4), which the hydrogen decomposes, forming sulphuric acid (H2SO4), thus taking itself out of the way, and leaving pure copper (Cu) to be deposited as a fresh surface on the copper plate. A further improvement is made in the cell by surrounding the zinc plate with a solution of sulphate of zinc (Zn SO4), which is a good conductor. Now, when the oxide of zinc is formed by the oxygen uniting with the zinc, the free sulphuric acid combines with it, forming more sulphate of zinc, and maintaining the CONDUCTIVITY of the cell. It is only necessary to keep up the supply of zinc, water, and sulphate of copper to procure a steady current of electricity.

The Daniell cell is constructed in various ways. In the earlier models the two plates with their solutions were separated by a porous jar or partition, which allowed the solutions to meet without mixing, and the current to pass. Sawdust moistened with the solutions is sometimes used for this porous separator, for instance, on board ships for laying submarine cables, where the rolling of the waves would blend the liquids.

In the "gravity" Daniell the solutions are kept apart by their specific gravities, yet mingle by slow diffusion. Figure 15 illustrates this common type of cell, where Z is the zinc plate in a solution of sulphate of zinc, and C is the copper plate in a solution of sulphate of copper, fed by crystals of the "blue vitriol." The wires to connect the plates are shown at WW. It should be noticed that the zinc is cast like a wheel to expose a larger surface to oxidation, and to reduce the resistance of the cell, thus increasing the yield of current. The extent of surface is not so important in the case of the copper plate, which is not acted on, and in this case is merely a spiral of wire, helping to keep the solutions apart and the crystals down. The Daniell cell is much employed in telegraphy. The Bunsen cell consists of a zinc plate in sulphuric acid, and at carbon plate in nitric acid, with a porous separator between the liquids. During the action of the cell, hydrogen, which is liberated at the carbon plate, is removed by combining with the nitric acid. The Grove cell is a modification of the Bunsen, with platinum instead of carbon. The Smee cell is a zinc plate side by side with a "platinised" silver plate in dilute sulphuric acid. The silver is coated with rough platinum to increase the surface and help to dislodge the hydrogen as bubbles and keep it from polarising the cell. The Bunsen, Grove, and Smee batteries are, however, more used in the laboratory than elsewhere.

The Leclanche is a fairly constant cell, which requires little attention. It "polarises" in action but soon regains its normal strength when allowed to rest, and hence it is useful for working electric bells and telephones. As shown in figure 16, it consists of a zinc rod with its connecting wire Z, and a carbon plate C with its binding screw, between two cakes M M of a mixture of black oxide of manganese, sulphur, and carbon, plunged in a solution of sal-ammoniac. The oxide of manganese relieves the carbon plate of its hydrogen. The strength of the solution is maintained by spare crystals of sal-ammoniac lying on the bottom of the cell, which is closed to prevent evaporation, but has a venthole for the escape of gas.

The Bichromate of Potash cell polarises more than the Leclanche, but yields a more powerful current for a short time. It consists, as shown in figure 17, of a zinc plate Z between two carbon plates C C immersed in a solution of bichromate of potash, sulphuric acid (vitriol), and water. The zinc is always lifted out of the solution when the cell is not in use. The gas which collects in the carbons, and weakens the cell, can be set free by raising the plates out of the liquid when the cell is not wanted. Stirring the solution has a similar effect, and sometimes the constancy of the cell is maintained by a circulation of the liquid. In Fuller's bichromate cell the zinc is amalgamated with mercury, which is kept in a pool beside it by means of a porous pot.

De la Rue's chloride of silver cell (fig. 18) is, from its constancy and small size, well adapted for medical and testing purposes. The "plates" are a little rod or pencil of zinc Z, and a strip or wire of silver S, coated with chloride of silver and sheathed in parchment paper. They are plunged in a solution of ammonium chloride A, contained in a glass phial or beaker, which is closed to suppress evaporation. A tray form of the cell is also made by laying a sheet of silver foil on the bottom of the shallow jar, and strewing it with dry chloride of silver, on which is laid a jelly to support the zinc plate. The jelly is prepared by mixing a solution of chloride of ammonium with "agar-agar," or Ceylon moss. This type permits the use of larger plates, and adapts the battery for lighting small electric lamps. Skrivanoff has modified the De la Rue cell by substituting a solution of caustic potash for the ammonium chloride, and his battery has been used for "star" lights, that is to say, the tiny electric lamps of the ballet. The Schanschieff battery, consisting of zinc and carbon plates in a solution of basic sulphate of mercury, is suitable for reading, mining, and other portable lamps.

The Latimer Clark "standard" cell is used by electricians in testing, as a constant electromotive force. It consists of a pure zinc plate separated from a pool of mercury by a paste of mercurous proto-sulphate and saturated solution of sulphate of zinc. Platinum wires connect with the zinc and mercury and form the poles of the battery, and the mouth of the glass cell is plugged with solid paraffin. As it is apt to polarise, the cell must not be employed to yield a current, and otherwise much care should be taken of it.

Dry cells are more cleanly and portable than wet, they require little or no attention, and are well suited for household or medical purposes. The zinc plate forms the vessel containing the carbon plate and chemical reagents. Figure 19 represents a section of the "E. C. C." variety, where Z is the zinc standing on an insulating sole I, and fitted with a connecting wire or terminal T (-), which is the negative pole. The carbon C is embedded in black paste M, chiefly composed of manganese dioxide, and has a binding screw or terminal T (+), which is the positive pole. The black paste is surrounded by a white paste Z, consisting mainly of lime and sal-ammoniac. There is a layer of silicate cotton S C above the paste, and the mouth is sealed with black pitch P, through which a waste-tube W T allows the gas to escape.

The Hellesen dry cell is like the "E. C. C.," but contains a hollow carbon, and is packed with sawdust in a millboard case. The Leclanche-Barbier dry cell is a modification of the Leclanche wet cell, having a paste of sal-ammoniac instead of a solution.

All the foregoing cells are called "primary," because they are generators of electricity. There are, however, batteries known as "secondary," which store the current as the Leyden jar stores up the discharge from an electrical machine.

In the action of a primary cell, as we have seen, water is split into its constituent gases, oxygen and hydrogen. Moreover, it was discovered by Carlisle and Nicholson in the year 1800 that the current of a battery could decompose water in the outer part of the circuit. Their experiment is usually performed by the. apparatus shown in figure 20, which is termed a voltameter, and consists of a glass vessel V, containing water acidulated with a little sulphuric acid to render it a better conductor, and two glass test-tubes OH inverted over two platinum strips or electrodes, which rise up from the bottom of the vessel and are connected underneath it to wires from the positive and negative poles of the battery C Z. It will be understood that the current enters the water by the positive electrode, and leaves it by the negative electrode.

When the power of the battery is sufficient the water in the vessel is decomposed, and oxygen being the negative element, collects at the positive foil or electrode, which is covered by the tube O. The hydrogen, on the other hand, being positive, collects at the negative foil under the tube H. These facts can be proved by dipping a red-hot wick or taper into the gas of the tube O and seeing it blaze in presence of the oxygen which feeds the combustion, then dipping the lighted taper into the gas of the tube H and watching it burn with the blue flame of hydrogen. The volume of gas at the CATHODE or negative electrode is always twice that at the ANODE or positive electrode, as it should be according to the known composition of water.

Now, if we disconnect the battery and join the two platinum electrodes of the voltameter by a wire, we shall find a current flowing out of the voltameter as though it were a battery, but in the reverse direction to the original current which decomposed the water. This "secondary" or reacting current is evidently due to the polarisation of the foils—that is to say, the electro- positive and electro-negative gases collected on them.

Professor Groves constructed a gas battery on this principle, the plates being of platinum and the two gases surrounding them oxygen and hydrogen, but the most useful development of it is the accumulator or storage battery.

The first practicable secondary battery of Gaston Plante was made of sheet lead plates or electrodes, kept apart by linen cloth soaked in dilute sulphuric acid, after the manner of Volta's pile. It was "charged" by connecting the plates to a primary battery, and peroxide of lead (PbO2) was formed on one plate and spongy lead (Pb) on the other. When the charging current was cut off the peroxide plate became the positive and the spongy plate the negative pole of the secondary cell.

Faure improved the Plante cell by adding a paste of red lead or minium (Pb204) and dilute sulphuric acid (H2SO4), by which a large quantity of peroxide and spongy lead could be formed on the plates. Sellon and Volckmar increased its efficiency by putting the paste into holes cast in the lead. The "E. P. S." accumulator of the Electrical Power Storage Company is illustrated in figure 21, and consists of a glass or teak box containing two sets of leaden grids perforated with holes, which are primed with the paste and steeped in dilute sulphuric acid. Alternate grids are joined to the poles of a charging battery or generator, those connected to the positive pole being converted into peroxide of lead and the others into spongy lead. The terminal of the peroxide plates, being the positive pole of the accumulator, is painted red, and that of the spongy plates or negative pole black. Accumulators of this kind are highly useful as reservoirs of electricity for maintaining the electric light, or working electric motors in tramcars, boats, and other carriages.



CHAPTER III.

THE ELECTRICITY OF HEAT.

In the year 1821 Professor Seebeck, of Berlin, discovered a third source of electricity. Volta had found that two dissimilar metals in contact will produce a current by chemical action, and Seebeck showed that heat might take the place of chemical action. Thus, if a bar of antimony A (fig. 22) and a bar of bismuth S are in contact at one end, and the junction is heated by a spirit lamp to a higher temperature than the rest of the bars, a difference in their electric state or potential will be set up, and if the other ends are joined by a wire W, a current will flow through the wire. The direction of the current, indicated by the arrow, is from the bismuth to the antimony across the joint, and from the antimony to the bismuth through the external wire. This combination, which is called a "thermo-electric couple," is clearly analogous to the voltaic couple, with heat in place of chemical affinity. The direction of the current within and without the couple shows that the bismuth is positive to the antimony. This property of generating a current of electricity by contact under the influence of heat is not confined to bismuth and antimony, or even to the metals, but is common to all dissimilar substances in their degree. In the following list of bodies each is positive to those beneath it, negative to those above it, and the further apart any two are in the scale the greater the effect. Thus bismuth and antimony give a much stronger current with the same heating than copper and iron. Bismuth and selenium produce the best result, but selenium is expensive and not easy to manipulate. Copper and German silver will make a cheap experimental couple:—

POSITIVE Bismuth Cobalt Potassium Nickel Sodium Lead Tin Copper Platinum Silver Zinc Cadmium Arsenic Iron Red phosphorus Antimony Tellurium Selenium NEGATIVE

Other things being equal, the hotter the joint in comparison with the free ends of the bars the stronger the current of electricity. Within certain limits the current is, in fact, proportional to this difference of temperature. It always flows in the same direction if the joint is not overheated, or, in other words, raised above a certain temperature.

The electromotive force and current of a thermo-electric couple is very much smaller than that given by an ordinary voltaic cell. We can, however, multiply the effect by connecting a number of pairs together, and so forming a pile or battery. Thus figure 23 shows three couples joined "in series," the positive pole of one being connected to the negative pole of the next. Now, if all the junctions on the left are hot and those on the right are cool, we will get the united effect of the whole, and the total current will flow through the wire W, joining the extreme bars or positive and negative poles of the battery. It must be borne in mind that although the bismuth and antimony of this thermo-electric battery, like the zinc and copper of the voltaic or chemico-electric battery, are respectively positive and negative to each other, the poles or wires attached to these metals are, on the contrary, negative and positive. This peculiarity arises from the current starting between the bismuth and antimony at the heated junction.

The internal resistance of a "thermo-electric pile" is, of course, very slight, the metals being good conductors, and this fact gives it a certain advantage over the voltaic battery. Moreover, it is cleaner and less troublesome than the chemical battery, for it is only necessary to keep at the required difference of temperature between the hot and cold junctions in order to get a steady current. No solutions or salts are required, and there appears to be little or no waste of the metals. It is important, however, to avoid sudden heating and cooling of the joints, as this tends to destroy them.

Clammond, Gulcher, and others have constructed useful thermo-piles for practical purposes. Figure 24 illustrates a Clammond thermo- pile of 75 couples or elements. The metals forming these pairs are an alloy of bismuth and antimony for one and iron for the other. Prisms of the alloy are cast on strips of iron to form the junctions. They are bent in rings, the junctions in a series making a zig-zag round the circle. The rings are built one over the other in a cylinder of couples, and the inner junctions are heated by a Bunsen gas-burner in the hollow core of the battery. A gas- pipe seen in front leads to the burner, and the wires WW connected to the extreme bars or poles are the electrodes of the pile.

Thermo-piles are interesting from a scientific point of view as a direct means of transforming heat into electricity. A sensitive pile is also a delicate detector of heat by virtue of the current set up, which can be measured with a galvanometer or current meter. Piles of antimony and bismuth are made which can indicate the heat of a lighted match at a distance of several yards, and even the radiation from certain of the stars.

Thermo-batteries have been used in France for working telegraphs, and they are capable of supplying small installations of the electric light or electric motors for domestic purposes.

The action of the thermo-pile, like that of a voltaic cell, can be reversed. By sending a current through the couple from the antimony to the bismuth we shall find the junction cooled. This "Peltier effect," as it is termed, after its discoverer, has been known to freeze water, but no practical application has been made of it.

A very feeble thermo-electric effect can be produced by heating the junction of two different pieces of the same substance, or even by making one part of the same conductor hotter than another. Thus a sensitive galvanometer will show a weak current if a copper wire connected in circuit with it be warmed at one point. Moreover, it has been found by Lord Kelvin that if an iron wire is heated at any point, and an electric current be passed through it, the hot point will shift along the wire in a direction contrary to that of the current.



CHAPTER IV.

THE ELECTRICITY OF MAGNETISM.

We have already seen how electricity was first produced by the simple method of rubbing one body on another, then by the less obvious means of chemical union, and next by the finer agency of heat. In all these, it will be observed, a substantial contact is necessary. We have now to consider a still more subtle process of generation, not requiring actual contact, which, as might be expected, was discovered later, that, mainly through the medium of magnetism.

The curious mineral which has the property of attracting iron was known to the Chinese several thousand years ago, and certainly to the Greeks in the times of Thales, who, as in the case of the rubbed amber, ascribed the property to its possession of a soul.

Lodestone, a magnetic oxide of iron (FE3O4), is found in various parts of China, especially at T'szchou in Southern Chihli, which was formerly known as the "City of the Magnet." It was called by the Chinese the love-stone or thsu-chy, and the stone that snatches iron or ny-thy-chy, and perchance its property of pointing out the north and south direction was discovered by dropping a light piece of the stone, if not a sewing needle made of it, on the surface of still water. At all events, we read in Pere Du Halde's Description de la Chine, that sometime in or about the year 2635 B.C. the great Emperor Hoang-ti, having lost his way in a fog whilst pursuing the rebellious Prince Tchiyeou on the plains of Tchou-lou, constructed a chariot which showed the cardinal points, thus enabling him to overtake and put the prince to death.

A magnetic car preceded the Emperors of China in ceremonies of state during the fourth century of our era. It contained a genius in a feather dress who pointed to the south, and was doubtless moved by a magnet floating in water or turning on a pivot. This rude appliance was afterwards refined into the needle compass for guiding mariners on the sea, and assisting the professors of feng- shui or geomancy in their magic rites.

Magnetite was also found at Heraclea in Lydia, and at Magnesium on the Meander or Magnesium at Sipylos, all in Asia Minor. It was called the "Heraclean Stone" by the people, but came at length to bear the name of "Magnet" after the city of Magnesia or the mythical shepherd Magnes, who was said to have discovered it by the attraction of his iron crook.

The ancients knew that it had the power of communicating its attractive property to iron, for we read in Plato's "Ion" that a number of iron rings can be supported in a chain by the Heraclean Stone. Lucretius also describes an experiment in which iron filings are made to rise up and "rave" in a brass basin by a magnet held underneath. We are told by other writers that images of the gods and goddesses were suspended in the air by lodestone in the ceilings of the temples of Diana of Ephesus, of Serapis at Alexandria, and others. It is surprising, however, that neither the Greeks nor Romans, with all their philosophy, would seem to have discovered its directive property.

During the dark ages pieces of Lodestone mounted as magnets were employed in the "black arts." A small natural magnet of this kind is shown in figure 25, where L is the stone shod with two iron "pole-pieces," which are joined by a "keeper" A or separable bridge of iron carrying a hook for supporting weights.

Apparently it was not until the twelfth century that the compass found its way into Europe from the East. In the Landnammabok of Ari Frode, the Norse historian, we read that Flocke Vildergersen, a renowned viking, sailed from Norway to discover Iceland in the year 868, and took with him two ravens as guides, for in those days the "seamen had no lodestone (that is, no lidar stein, or leading stone) in the northern countries." The Bible, a poem of Guiot de Provins, minstrel at the court of Barbarossa, which was written in or about the year 890, contains the first mention of the magnet in the West. Guiot relates how mariners have an "art which cannot deceive" of finding the position of the polestar, that does not move. After touching a needle with the magnet, "an ugly brown stone which draws iron to itself," he says they put the needle on a straw and float it on water so that its point turns to the hidden star, and enables them to keep their course. Arab traders had probably borrowed the floating needle from the Chinese, for Bailak Kibdjaki, author of the Merchant's Treasure, written in the thirteenth century, speaks of its use in the Syrian sea. The first Crusaders were probably instrumental in bringing it to France, at all events Jacobus de Vitry (1204-15) and Vincent de Beauvais (1250) mention its use, De Beauvais calling the poles of the needle by the Arab words aphron and zohran.

Ere long the needle was mounted on a pivot and provided with a moving card showing the principal directions. The variation of the needle from the true north and south was certainly known in China during the twelfth, and in Europe during the thirteenth century. Columbus also found that the variation changed its value as he sailed towards America on his memorable voyage of 1492. Moreover, in 1576, Norman, a compass maker in London, showed that the north- seeking end of the needle dipped below the horizontal.

In these early days it was supposed that lodestone in the pole- star, that is to say, the "lodestar" of the poets or in mountains of the far north, attracted the trembling needle; but in the year 1600, Dr. Gilbert, the founder of electric science, demonstrated beyond a doubt that the whole earth was a great magnet. A magnet, as is well known, has, like an electric battery, always two poles or centres of attraction, which are situated near its extremities. Sometimes, indeed, when the magnet is imperfect, there are "consequent poles" of weaker force between them. One of the poles is called the "north," and the other the "south," because if the magnet were freely pivotted like a compass needle, the former would turn to the north and the latter to the south.

Either pole will attract iron, but soft or annealed iron does not retain the magnetism nearly so well as steel. Hence a boy's test for the steel of his knife is only efficacious when the blade itself becomes magnetic after being touched with the magnet. A piece of steel is readily magnetised by stroking it from end to end in one direction with the pole of a magnet, and in this way compass needles and powerful bar magnets can be made.

The poles attract iron at a distance by "induction," just as a charge of electricity, be it positive or negative, will attract a neutral pith ball; and Dr. Gilbert showed that a north pole always repels another north pole and attracts a south pole, while, on the other hand, a south pole always repels a south pole and attracts a north pole. This can be proved by suspending a magnetic needle like a pithball, and approaching another towards it, as illustrated in figure 26, where the north pole N attracts the south S. Obviously there are two opposite kinds of magnetic poles, as of electricity, which always appear together, and like magnetic poles repel, unlike magnetic poles attract each other.

It follows that the magnetic pole of the compass needle which turns to the north must be unlike the north and like the south magnetic pole of the earth. Instead of calling it the "north," it would be less confusing to call it the "north-seeking" pole of the needle.

Gilbert made a "terella," or miniature of the earth, as a magnet, and not only demonstrated how the compass needle sets along the lines joining the north and south magnetic poles, but explained the variation and the dip. He imagined that the magnetic poles coincided with the geographical poles, but, as a matter of fact, they do not, and, moreover, they are slowly moving round the geographical poles, hence the declination of the needle, that is to say its angle of divergence from the true meridian or north and south line, is gradually changing. The north magnetic pole of the earth was actually discovered by Sir John Ross north of British America, on the coast of Boothia (latitude 70 degrees 5' N, longitude 96 degrees 46' W), where, as foreseen, the needle entirely lost its directive property and stood upright, or, so to speak, on its head. The south magnetic pole lies in the Prince Albert range of Victona Land, and was almost reached by Sir James Clark Ross.

The magnetism of the earth is such as might be produced by a powerful magnet inside, but its origin is unknown, although there is reason to believe that masses of lodestone or magnetic iron exist in the crust. Coulomb found that not only iron, but all substances are more or less magnetic, and Faraday showed in 1845 that while some are attracted by a magnet others are repelled. The former he called paramagnetic and the latter diamagnetic bodies.

The following is a list of these.—

Paramagnetic Diamagnetic Iron Bismuth Nickel Phosphorus Cobalt Antimony Aluminium Zinc Manganese Mercury Chromium Lead Cerium Silver Titanium Copper Platinum Water Many ores and Alcohol salts of the Tellurium above metals Selenium Oxygen Sulphur Thallium Hydrogen Air

We have theories of magnetism that reduce it to a phenomenon of electricity, though we are ignorant of the real nature of both. If we take a thin bar magnet and break it in two, we find that we have now two shorter magnets, each with its "north" and "south" poles, that is to say, poles of the same kind as the south and north—magnetic poles of the earth. If we break each of these again, we get four smaller magnets, and we can repeat the process as often as we like. It is supposed, therefore, that every atom of the bar is a little magnet in itself having its two opposite poles, and that in magnetising the bar we have merely partially turned all these atoms in one direction, that is to say, with their north poles pointing one way and their south poles the other way, as shown in figure 27. The polarity of the bar only shows itself at the ends, where the molecular poles are, so to speak, free.

There are many experiments which support this view. For example, if we heat a magnet red hot it loses its magnetism, perhaps because the heat has disarranged the particles and set the molecular poles in all directions. Again, if we magnetise a piece of soft iron we can destroy its magnetism by striking it so as to agitate its atoms and throw them out of line. In steel, which is iron with a small admixture of carbon, the atoms are not so free as in soft iron, and hence, while iron easily loses its magnetism, steel retains it, even under a shock, but not under a cherry red- heat. Nevertheless, if we put the atoms of soft iron under a strain by bending it, we shall find it retain its magnetism more like a bit of steel.

It has been found, too, that the atoms show an indisposition to be moved by the magnetising force which is known as HYSTERESIS. They have a certain inertia, which can be overcome by a slight shock, as though they had a difficulty of turning in the ranks to take up their new positions. Even if this molecular theory is true, however, it does not help us to explain why a molecule of matter is a tiny magnet. We have only pushed the mystery back to the atom. Something more is wanted, and electricians look for it in the constitution of the atom, and in the luminiferous ether which is believed to surround the atoms of matter, and to propagate not merely the waves of light, but induction from one electrified body to another.

We know in proof of this ethereal action that the space around a magnet is magnetic. Thus, if we lay a horse-shoe magnet on a table and sprinkle iron filings round it, they will arrange themselves in curving lines between the poles, as shown in figure 28. Each filing has become a little magnet, and these set themselves end to end as the molecules in the metal are supposed to do. The "field" about the magnet is replete with these lines, which follow certain curves depending on the arrangement of the poles. In the horse- shoe magnet, as seen, they chiefly issue from one pole and sweep round to the other. They are never broken, and apparently they are lines of stress in the circumambient ether. A pivoted magnet tends to range itself along these lines, and thus the compass guides the sailor on the ocean by keeping itself in the line between the north and south magnetic poles of the earth. Faraday called them lines of magnetic force, and said that the stronger the magnet the more of these lines pass through a given space. Along them "magnetic induction" is supposed to be propagated, and a magnet is thus enabled to attract iron or any other magnetic substance. The pole induces an opposite pole to itself in the nearest part of the induced body and a like pole in the remote part. Consequently, as unlike poles attract and like repel, the soft iron is attracted by the inducing pole much as a pithball is attracted by an electric charge.

The resemblances of electricity and magnetism did not escape attention, and the derangement of the compass needle by the lightning flash, formerly so disastrous at sea, pointed to an intimate connection between them, which was ultimately disclosed by Professor Oersted, of Copenhagen, in the year 1820. Oersted was on the outlook for the required clue, and a happy chance is said to have rewarded him. His experiment is shown in figure 29, where a wire conveying a current of electricity flowing in the direction of the arrow is held over a pivoted magnetic needle so that the current flows from south to north. The needle will tend to set itself at right angles to the wire, its north or north-seeking pole moving towards the west. If the direction of the current is reversed, the needle is deflected in the opposite direction, its north pole moving towards the east. Further, if the wire is held below the needle, in the first place, the north pole will turn towards the east, and if the current be reversed it will move towards the west.

The direction of a current can thus be told with the aid of a compass needle. When the wire is wound many times round the needle on a bobbin, the whole forms what is called a galvanoscope, as shown in figure 30, where N is the needle and B the bobbin. When a proper scale is added to the needle by which its deflections can be accurately read, the instrument becomes a current measurer or galvanometer, for within certain limits the deflection of the needle is proportional to the strength of the current in the wire.

A rule commonly given for remembering the movement of the needle is as follows:—Imagine yourself laid along the wire so that the current flows from your feet to your head; then if you face the needle you will see its north pole go to the left and its south pole to the right. I find it simpler to recollect that if the current flows from your head to your feet a north pole will move round you from left to right in front. Or, again, if a current flows from north to south, a north pole will move round it like the sun round the earth.

The influence of the current on the needle implies a magnetic action, and if we dust iron filings around the wire we shall find they cling to it in concentric layers, showing that circular lines of magnetic force enclose it like the water waves caused by a stone dropped into a pond. Figure 31 represents the section of a wire carrying a current, with the iron filings arranged in circles round it. Since a magnetic pole tends to move in the direction of the lines of force, we now see why a north or south pole tends to move ROUND a current, and why a compass needle tries to set itself at right angles to a current, as in the original experiment of Oersted. The needle, having two opposite poles, is pulled in opposite directions by the lines, and being pivoted, sets itself tangentically to them. Were it free and flexible, it would curve itself along one of the lines. Did it consist of a single pole, it would revolve round the wire.

Action and re-action are equal and opposite, hence if the needle is fixed and the wire free the current will move round the magnet; and if both are free they will circle round each other. Applying the above rule we shall find that when the north pole moves from left to right the current moves from right to left. Ampere of Paris, following Oersted, promptly showed that two parallel wires carrying currents attracted each other when the currents flowed in the same direction, and repelled each other when they flowed in opposite directions. Thus, in figure 32, if A and B are the two parallel wires, and A is mounted on pivots and free to move in liquid "contacts" of mercury, it will be attracted or repelled by B according as the two currents flow in the same or in opposite directions. If the wires cross each other at right angles there is no attraction or repulsion. If they cross at an acute angle, they will tend to become parallel like two compass needles, when the currents are in one direction, and to open to a right angle and close up the other way when the currents are in opposite directions, always tending to arrange themselves parallel and flowing in the same direction. These effects arise from the circular lines of force around the wire. When the currents are similar the lines act as unlike magnetic poles and attract, but when the currents are dissimilar the lines act as like magnetic poles and repel each other.

Another important discovery of Ampere is that a circular current behaves like a magnet; and it has been suggested by him that the atoms are magnets because each has a circular current flowing round it. A series of circular currents, such as the spiral S in figure 33 gives, when connected to a battery C Z, is in fact a skeleton ELECTRO-MAGNET having its north and south poles at the extremities. If a rod or core of soft iron I be suspended by fibres from a support, it will be sucked towards the middle of the coil as into a vortex, by the circular magnetic lines of every spire or turn of the coil. Such a combination is sometimes called a solenoid, and is useful in practice.

When the core gains the interior of the coil it becomes a veritable electromagnet, as found by Arago, having a north pole at one end and a south pole at the other. Figure 34 illustrates a common poker magnetised in the same way, and supporting nails at both ends. The poker has become the core of the electromagnet. On reversing the direction of the current through the spiral we reverse the poles of the core, for the poker being of soft or wrought iron, does not retain its magnetism like steel. If we stop the current altogether it ceases to be a magnet, and the nails will drop away from it.

Ampere's experiment in figure 32 has shown us that two currents, more or less parallel, influence each other; but in 1831 Professor Faraday of the Royal Institution, London, also found that when a current is started and stopped in a wire, it induces a momentary and opposite current in a parallel wire. Thus, if a current is STARTED in the wire B (fig. 32) in direction of the arrow, it will induce or give rise to a momentary current in the wire A, flowing in a contrary direction to itself. Again, if the current in B be STOPEED, a momentary current is set up in the wire A in a direction the same as that of the exciting current in B. While the current in B is quietly flowing there is no induced current in A; and it is only at the start or the stoppage of the inducing or PRIMARY current that the induced or SECONDARY current is set up. Here again we have the influence of the magnetic field around the wire conveying a current.

This is the principle of the "induction coil" so much employed in medical electricity, and of the "transformer" or "converter" used in electric illumination. It consists essentially, as shown in figure 35, of two coils of wire, one enclosing the other, and both parallel or concentric. The inner or primary coil P C is of short thick wire of low resistance, and is traversed by the inducing current of a battery B. To increase its inductive effect a core of soft iron I C occupies its middle. The outer or secondary coil S C is of long thin wire terminating in two discharging points D1 D2. An interrupter or hammer "key" interrupts or "makes and breaks" the circuit of the primary coil very rapidly, so as to excite a great many induced currents in the secondary coil per second, and produce energetic sparks between the terminals D1 D2. The interrupter is actuated automatically by the magnetism of the iron core I C, for the hammer H has a soft iron head which is attracted by the core when the latter is magnetised, and being thus drawn away from the contact screw C S the circuit of the primary is broken, and the current is stopped. The iron core then ceases to be a magnet, the hammer H springs back to the contact screw, and the current again flows in the primary circuit only to be interrupted again as before. In this way the current in the primary coil is rapidly started and stopped many times a second, and this, as we know, induces corresponding currents in the secondary which appear as sparks at the discharging points. The effect of the apparatus is enhanced by interpolating a "condenser" C C in the primary circuit. A condenser is a form of Leyden jar, suitable for current electricity, and consists of layers of tinfoil separated from each other by sheets of paraffin paper, mica, or some other convenient insulator, and alternate foils are connected together. The wires joining each set of plates are the poles of the condenser, and when these are connected in the circuit of a current the condenser is charged. It can be discharged by joining its two poles with a wire, and letting the two opposite electricities on its plates rush together. Now, the sudden discharge of the condenser C C through the primary coil P C enhances the inductive effect of the current. The battery B, here shown by the conventional symbol [Electrical Symbol] where the thick dash is the negative and the thin dash the positive pole, is connected between the terminals T1 T2, and a COMMUTATOR or pole- changer R, turned with a handle, permits the direction of the current to be reversed at will.

Figure 36 represents the exterior of an ordinary induction coil of the Ruhmkorff pattern, with its two coils, one over the other C, its commutator R, and its sparkling points D1D2, the whole being mounted on a mahogany base, which holds the condenser.

The intermittent, or rather alternating, currents from the secondary coil are often applied to the body in certain nervous disorders. When sent through glass tubes filled with rarefied gases, sometimes called "Geissler tubes," they elicit glows of many colours, vieing in beauty with the fleeting tints of the aurora polaris, which, indeed, is probably a similar effect of electrical discharges in the atmosphere.

The action of the induction is reversible. We can not only send a current of low "pressure" from a generator of weak electromotive force through the primary coil, and thus excite a current of high pressure in the secondary coil, but we can send a current of high pressure through the secondary coil and provoke a current of low pressure in the primary coil The transformer or converter, a modified induction coil used in distributing electricity to electric lamps and motors, can not only transform a low pressure current into a high, but a high pressure current into a low. As the high pressure currents are best able to overcome the resistance of the wire convening them, it is customary to transmit high pressure currents from the generator to the distant place where they are wanted by means of small wires, and there transform them into currents of the pressure required to light the lamps or drive the motors.

We come now to another consequence of Oersted's great discovery, which is doubtless the most important of all, namely, the generation of electricity from magnetism, or, as it is usually called, magneto-electric induction. In the year 1831 the illustrious Michael Faraday further succeeded in demonstrating that when a magnet M is thrust into a hollow coil of wire C, as shown in figure 37, a current of electricity is set up in the coil whilst the motion lasts. When the magnet is withdrawn again another current is induced in the reverse direction to the first. If the coil be closed through a small galvanometer G the movements of the needle to one side or the other will indicate these temporary currents. It follows from the principle of action and reaction that if the magnet is kept still and the coil thrust over it similar currents will be induced in the coil. All that is necessary is for the wires to cut the lines of magnetic force around the magnet, or, in other words, the lines of force in a magnetic field We have seen already that a wire conveying a current can move a magnetic pole, and we are therefore prepared to find that a magnetic pole moved near a wire can excite a current in it.

Figure 38 illustrates the conditions of this remarkable effect, where N and S are two magnetic poles with lines of force between them, and W is a wire crossing these lines at right angles, which is the best position. If, now, this wire be moved so as to sink bodily through the paper away from the reader, an electric current flowing in the direction of the arrow will be induced in it. If, on the contrary, the wire be moved across the lines of force towards the reader, the induced current will flow oppositely to the arrow. Moreover, if the poles of the magnet N and S exchange places, the directions of the induced currents will also be reversed. This is the fundamental principle of the well known dynamo-electric machine, popularly called a dynamo.

Again, if we send a current from some external source through the wire in the direction of the arrow, the wire will move OF ITSELF across the lines of force away from the reader, that is to say, in the direction it would need to be moved in order to excite such a current; and if, on the other hand, the current be sent through it in the reverse direction to the arrow, it will move towards the reader. This is the principle of the equally well-known electric motor. Figure 39 shows a simple method of remembering these directions.

Let the right hand rest on the north pole of a magnet and the forefinger be extended in the direction of the lines of force, then the outstretched thumb will indicate the direction in which the wire or conductor moves and the bent middle finger the direction of the current. These three digits, as will be noticed, are all at right angles to each other, and this relation is the best for inducing the strongest current in a dynamo or the most energetic movement of the conductor in an electric motor.

Of course in a dynamo-electric generator the stronger the magnetic field, the less the resistance of the conductor, and the faster it is moved across the lines of force, that is to say, the more lines it cuts in a second the stronger is the current produced. Similarly in an electric motor, the stronger the current and magnetic field the faster will the conductor move.

The most convenient motion to give the conductor in practice is one of rotation, and hence the dynamo usually consists of a coil or series of coils of insulated wire termed the "armature," which is mounted on a spindle and rapidly rotated in a strong magnetic field between the poles of powerful magnets. Currents are generated in the coils, now in one direction then in another, as they revolve or cross different parts of the field; and, by means of a device termed a commutator, these currents can be collected or sifted at will, and led away by wires to an electric lamp, an accumulator, or an electric motor, as desired. The character of the electricity is precisely the same as that generated in the voltaic battery.

The commutator may only collect the currents as they are generated, and supply what is called an alternating current, that is to say, a current which alternates or changes its direction several hundred times a second, or it may sift the currents as they are produced and supply what is termed a continuous current, that is, a current always in the same direction, like that of a voltaic battery. Some machines are made to supply alternating currents, others continuous currents. Either class of current will do for electric lamps, but only continuous currents are used for electo-plating, or, in general, for electric motors.

In the "magneto-electric" machine the FIELD MAGNETS are simply steel bars permanently magnetised, but in the ordinary dynamo the field magnets are electro-magnets excited to a high pitch by means of the current generated in the moving conductor or armature. In the "series-wound" machine the whole of the current generated in the armature also goes through the coils of the field magnets. Such a machine is sketched in figure 40, where A is the armature, consisting of an iron core surrounded by coils of wire and rotating in the field of a powerful electro-magnet NS in the direction of the arrows. For the sake of simplicity only twelve coils are represented. They are all in circuit one with another, and a wire connects the ends of each coil to corresponding metal bars on the commutator C. These bars are insulated from each other on the spindle X of the armature. Now, as each coil passes through the magnetic field in turn, a current is excited in it. Each coil therefore resembles an individual cell of a voltaic battery, connected in series. The current is drawn off from the ring by two copper "brushes" b, be which rub upon the bars of the commutator at opposite ends of a diameter, as shown. One brush is the positive pole of the dynamo, the other is the negative, and the current will flow through any wire or external circuit which may be connected with these, whether electric lamps, motors, accumulators, electro-plating baths, or other device. The small arrows show the movements of the current throughout the machine, and the terminals are marked (+) positive and (-) negative.

It will be observed that the current excited in the armature also flows through the coils of the electro-magnets, and thus keeps up their strength. When the machine is first started the current is feeble, because the field of the magnets in which the armature revolves is merely that due to the dregs or "residual magnetism" left in the soft iron cores of the magnet since the last time the machine was used. But this feeble current exalts the strength of the field-magnets, producing a stronger field, which in turn excites a still stronger current in the armature, and this process of give and take goes on until the full strength or "saturation" of the magnets is attained.

Such is the "series" dynamo, of which the well-known Gramme machine is a type. Figure 41 illustrates this machine as it is actually made, A being the armature revolving between the poles NS of the field-magnets M, M, M' M', on a spindle which is driven by means of a belt on the pulley P from a separate engine The brushes b b' of the commutator C collect the current, which in this case is continuous, or constant in its direction.

The current of the series machine varies with the resistance of the external or working circuit, because that is included in the circuit of the field magnets and the armature. Thus, if we vary the number of electric lamps fed by the machine, we shall vary the current it is capable of yielding. With arc lamps in series, by adding to the number in circuit we increase the resistance of the outer circuit, and therefore diminish the strength of the current yielded by the machine, because the current, weakened by the increase of resistance, fails to excite the field magnets as strongly as before. On the other hand, with glow lamps arranged in parallel, the reverse is the case, and putting more lamps in circuit increases the power of the machine, by diminishing the resistance of the outer circuit in providing more cross-cuts for the current. This, of course, is a drawback to the series machine in places where the number of lamps to be lighted varies from time to time. In the "shunt-wound" machine the field magnets are excited by diverting a small portion of the main current from the armature through them, by means of a "shunt" or loop circuit. Thus in figure 42 where C is the commutator and b b' the brushes, M is a shunt circuit through the magnets, and E is the external or working circuit of the machine.

The small arrows indicate the directions of the currents. With this arrangement the addition of more glow lamps to the external circuit E DIMINISHES the current, because the portion of it which flows through the by-path M, and excites the magnets, is less now that the alternative route for the current through E is of lower resistance than before. When fewer glow lamps are in the external circuit E, and its resistance therefore higher, the current in the shunt circuit M is greater than before, the magnets become stronger, and the electromotive force of the armature is increased. The Edison machine is of this type, and is illustrated in figure 43, where M M' are the field magnets with their poles N S, between which the armature A is revolved by means of the belt B, and a pulley seen behind. The leading wires W W convey the current from the brushes of the commutator to the external circuit. In this machine the conductors of the armature are not coils of wire, but separate bars of copper.

In shunt machines the variation of current due to a varying number of lamps in use occasions a rise and fall in the brightness of the lamps which is undesirable, and hence a third class of dynamo has been devised, which combines the principles of both the series and shunt machines. This is the "compound-wound" machine, in which the magnets are wound partly in shunt and partly in series with the armature, in such a manner that the strength of the field-magnets and the electromotive force of the current do not vary much, whatever be the number of lamps in circuit. In alternate current machines the electromotive force keeps constant, as the field- magnets are excited by a separate machine, giving a continuous current.

We have already seen that the action of the dynamo is reversible, and that just as a wire moved across a magnetic field supplies an electric current, so a wire at rest, but conducting a current across a magnetic field, will move. The electric motor is therefore essentially a dynamo, which on being traversed by an electric current from an external source puts itself in motion. Thus, if a current be sent through the armature of the Gramme machine, shown in figure 41, the armature will revolve, and the spindle, by means of a belt on the pulley P, can communicate its energy to another machine.

Hence the electric motor can be employed to work lathes, hoists, lifts, drive the screws of boats or the wheels of carriages, and for many other purposes. There are numerous types of electric motor as of the dynamo in use, but they are all modifications of the simple continuous or alternating current dynamo.

Obviously, since mechanical power can be converted into electricity by the dynamo, and reconverted into mechanical power by the motor, it is sufficient to connect a dynamo and motor together by insulated wire in order to transmit mechanical power, whether it be derived from wind, water, or fuel, to any reasonable distance.



CHAPTER V.

ELECTROLYSIS.

Having seen how electricity can be generated and stored in considerable quantity, let us now turn to its practical uses. Of these by far the most important are based on its property of developing light and heat as in the electric spark, chemical action as m the voltameter, and magnetism as in the electromagnet.

The words "current," "pressure," and so on point to a certain analogy between electricity and water, which helps the imagination to figure what can neither be seen nor handled, though it must not be traced too far. 'Water, for example, runs by the force of gravity from a place of higher to a place of lower level. The pressure of the stream is greater the more the difference of level or "head of water" The strength of the current or quantity of water flowing per second is greater the higher the pressure, and the less the resistance of its channel. The power of the water or its rate of doing mechanical work is greater the higher the pressure and the stronger the current. So, too, electricity flows by the electromotive force from a place of higher to a place of lower electric level or potential. The electric pressure is greater the more the difference of potential or electromotive force. The strength of the electric current or quantity of electricity flowing per second is greater the higher the pressure or electromotive force and the less the resistance of the circuit The power of the electricity or its rate of doing work is greater the higher the electromotive force and the stronger the current.

It follows that a small quantity of water or electricity at a high pressure will give us the same amount of energy as a large quantity at a low pressure, and our choice of one or the other will depend on the purpose we have in view. As a rule, however, a large current at a comparatively low or moderate pressure is found the more convenient in practice.

The electricity of friction belongs to the former category, and the electricity of chemistry, heat, and magnetism to the latter. The spark of a factional or influence machine can be compared to a highland cataract of lofty height but small volume, which is more picturesque than useful, and the current from a voltaic battery, a thermopile, or a dynamo to a lowland river which can be dammed to turn a mill. It is the difference between a skittish gelding and a tame carthorse.

Not the spark from an induction coil or Leyden jar, but a strong and steady current at a low pressure, is adapted for electrolysis or electrodeposition, and hence the voltaic battery or a special form of dynamo is usually employed in this work. A flash of lightning is the very symbol of terrific power, and yet, according to the illustrious Faraday, it contains a smaller amount of electricity than the feeble current required to decompose a single drop of rain.

In our simile of the mill dam and the battery or dynamo, the dam corresponds to the positive pole and the river or sea below the mill to the negative pole. The mill-race will stand for the wire joining the poles, that is to say, the external circuit, and the mill-wheel for the work to be done in the circuit, whether it be a chemical for decomposition, a telegraph instrument, an electric lamp, or any other appliance. As the current in the race depends on the "head of water," or difference of level between the dam and the sea as well as on the resistance of the channel, so the current in the circuit depends on the "electromotive force," or difference of potential between the positive and negative poles, as well as on the resistance of the circuit. The relation between these is expressed by the well-known law of Ohm, which runs: A current of electricity is directly proportional to the electromotive force and inversely proportional to the resistance of the circuit.