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