A History of Science — Volume 3Williams, Henry Smith
History
A History of Science — Volume 3
Williams, Henry Smith
Science -- History
To Faraday these experiments explained the phenomenon of Arago's
rotating disk, the disk inducing the current from the magnet, and, in
reacting, deflecting the needle. To prove this, he constructed a disk
that revolved between the poles of an electro-magnet, connecting the
axis and the edge of the disk with a galvanometer. "... A disk of
copper, twelve inches in diameter, fixed upon a brass axis," he says,
"was mounted in frames so as to be revolved either vertically or
horizontally, its edge being at the same time introduced more or less
between the magnetic poles. The edge of the plate was well amalgamated
for the purpose of obtaining good but movable contact; a part round the
axis was also prepared in a similar manner.
"Conductors or collectors of copper and lead were constructed so as to
come in contact with the edge of the copper disk, or with other forms
of plates hereafter to be described. These conductors we're about four
inches long, one-third of an inch wide, and one-fifth of an inch thick;
one end of each was slightly grooved, to allow of more exact adaptation
to the somewhat convex edge of the plates, and then amalgamated. Copper
wires, one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness, attached in the ordinary
manner by convolutions to the other ends of these conductors, passed
away to the galvanometer.
"All these arrangements being made, the copper disk was adjusted, the
small magnetic poles being about one-half an inch apart, and the edge
of the plate inserted about half their width between them. One of the
galvanometer wires was passed twice or thrice loosely round the brass
axis of the plate, and the other attached to a conductor, which itself
was retained by the hand in contact with the amalgamated edge of the
disk at the part immediately between the magnetic poles. Under these
circumstances all was quiescent, and the galvanometer exhibited no
effect. But the instant the plate moved the galvanometer was influenced,
and by revolving the plate quickly the needle could be deflected ninety
degrees or more."(4)
This rotating disk was really a dynamo electric machine in miniature,
the first ever constructed, but whose direct descendants are the
ordinary dynamos. Modern dynamos range in power from little machines
operating machinery requiring only fractions of a horsepower to great
dynamos operating street-car lines and lighting cities; but all
are built on the same principle as Faraday's rotating disk. By this
discovery the use of electricity as a practical and economical motive
power became possible.
STORAGE BATTERIES
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