The Machinery of the Universe: Mechanical Conceptions of Physical PhenomenaDolbear, A. E. (Amos Emerson)
Science
The Machinery of the Universe: Mechanical Conceptions of Physical Phenomena
Dolbear, A. E. (Amos Emerson)
Force and energy
The product of the chemical action of the coal is molecular motion,
called heat in the furnace. The product of the heat is mechanical motion
in the engine. The product of the mechanical motion is electricity in
the dynamo. The product of the electric current in the lamp is
light-waves in the ether. No one hesitates for an instant to speak of
the heat as being molecular motion, nor of the motions of the engine as
being mechanical; but when we come to the product of the dynamo, which
we call electricity, behold, nearly every one says, not that he does not
know what it is, but that no one knows! Does any one venture to say he
does not know what heat is, because he cannot describe in detail just
what goes on in a heated body, as it might be described by one who saw
with a microscope the movements of the molecules? Let us go back for a
moment to the proposition stated early in this book, namely, that if any
body of any magnitude moves, it is because some other body in motion and
in contact with it has imparted its motion by mechanical pressure.
Therefore, the ether waves at F (Fig. 11) imply continuous motions of
some sort from A to F. That they are all motions of ordinary matter from
A to E is obvious, because continuous matter is essential for the
maintenance of the actions. At E the motions are handed over to the
ether, and they are radiated away as light-waves.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.]
[Illustration: FIG. 13.]
A puzzling electrical phenomenon has been what has been called its
duality-states, which are spoken of as positive and negative. Thus, we
speak of the positive plate of a battery and the negative pole of a
dynamo; and another troublesome condition to idealize has been, how it
could be that, in an electric circuit, there could be as much energy at
the most remote part as at the source. But, if one will take a limp
rope, 8 or 10 feet long, tie its ends together, and then begin to twist
it at any point, he will see the twist move in a right-handed spiral on
the one hand, and in a left-handed spiral on the other, and each may be
traced quite round the circuit; so there will be as much twist, as much
motion, and as much energy in one part of the rope as in any other; and
if one chooses to call the right-handed twist positive, and the
left-handed twist negative, he will have the mechanical phenomenon of
energy-distribution and the terminology, analogous to what they are in
an electric conductor. (Fig. 13.) Are the cases more dissimilar than the
mechanical analogy would make them seem to be?
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