PART II.
ELECTROKINEMATICS.
CHAPTER I.
THE ELECTRIC CURRENT.
230.] We have seen, in Art. 45, that when a conductor is in electrical equilibrium the potential at every point of the conductor must be the same.
If two conductors and are charged with electricity so that the potential of is higher than that of , then, if they are put in communication by means of a metallic wire touching both of them, part of the charge of will be transferred to , and the potentials of and will become in a very short time equalized.
231.] During this process certain phenomena are observed in the wire , which are called the phenomena of the electric conflict or current.
The first of these phenomena is the transference of positive electrification from to and of negative electrification from to . This transference may be also effected in a slower manner by bringing a small insulated body into contact with and alternately. By this process, which we may call electrical convection, successive small portions of the electrification of each body are transferred to the other. In either case a certain quantity of electricity, or of the state of electrification, passes from one place to another along a certain path in the space between the bodies.
Whatever therefore may be our opinion of the nature of electricity, we must admit that the process which we have described constitutes a current of electricity. This current may be described
