Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency: A Lecture Delivered before the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London — John Shaqi
Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency: A Lecture Delivered before the Institution of Electrical Engineers, LondonTesla, Nikola
Science
Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency: A Lecture Delivered before the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London
Tesla, Nikola
Electric currents, Alternating; Electric discharges; Incandescent lamps; Telegraph, Wireless
Of course, this rotation in one direction may be due to the action of
two elements of the same current upon each other, or to the action of
the field produced by one of the elements upon the other, as in a
series motor, without necessarily one impulse being stronger than the
other. The fact that the brush turns, as far as I could observe, in
any position, would speak for this view. In such case it would turn
at any point of the earth's surface. But, on the other hand, it is
then hard to explain why a permanent magnet should reverse the
rotation, and one must assume the preponderance of impulses of one
kind.
As to the causes of the formation of the brush or stream, I think it
is due to the electrostatic action of the globe and the dissymmetry of
the parts. If the small bulb s and the globe L were perfect concentric
spheres, and the glass throughout of the same thickness and quality, I
think the brush would not form, as the tendency to pass would be equal
on all sides. That the formation of the stream is due to an
irregularity is apparent from the fact that it has the tendency to
remain in one position, and rotation occurs most generally only when
it is brought out of this position by electrostatic or magnetic
influence. When in an extremely sensitive state it rests in one
position, most curious experiments may be performed with it. For
instance, the experimenter may, by selecting a proper position,
approach the hand at a certain considerable distance to the bulb, and
he may cause the brush to pass off by merely stiffening the muscles of
the arm. When it begins to rotate slowly, and the hands are held at a
proper distance, it is impossible to make even the slightest motion
without producing a visible effect upon the brush. A metal plate
connected to the other terminal of the coil affects it at a great
distance, slowing down the rotation often to one turn a second.
I am firmly convinced that such a brush, when we learn how to produce
it properly, will prove a valuable aid in the investigation of the
nature of the forces acting in an electrostatic or magnetic field. If
there is any motion which is measurable going on in the space, such a
brush ought to reveal it. It is, so to speak, a beam of light,
frictionless, devoid of inertia.
I think that it may find practical applications in telegraphy. With
such a brush it would be possible to send dispatches across the
Atlantic, for instance, with any speed, since its sensitiveness may be
so great that the slightest changes will affect it. If it were
possible to make the stream more intense and very narrow, its
deflections could be easily photographed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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