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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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