Arts. 362, 366, and 369, which will be explained in treating of Electric Currents.
All the metals are good conductors, though the resistance of lead is 12 times that of copper or silver, that of iron 6 times, and that of mercury 60 times that of copper. The resistance of all metals increases as their temperature rises.
Selenium in its crystalline state may also be regarded as a conductor, though its resistance is 3.7×1012 times that of a piece of copper of the same dimensions. Its resistance increases as the temperature rises. Selenium in the amorphous form is a good insulator, like sulphur.
Many liquids conduct electricity by electrolysis. This mode of conduction will be considered in Part II. For the present, we may regard all liquids containing water and all damp bodies as conductors, far inferior to the metals, but incapable of insulating a charge of electricity for a sufficient time to be observed.
On the other hand, the gases at the atmospheric pressure, whether dry or moist, are insulators so nearly perfect when the electric tension is small that we have as yet obtained no evidence of electricity passing through them by ordinary conduction. The gradual loss of charge by electrified bodies may in every case be traced to imperfect insulation in the supports, the electricity either passing through the substance of the support or creeping over its surface. Hence, when two charged bodies are hung up near each other, they will preserve their charges longer if they are electrified in opposite ways, than if they are electrified in the same way. For though the electromotive force tending to make the electricity pass through the air between them is much greater when they are oppositely electrified, no perceptible loss occurs in this way. The actual loss takes place through the supports, and the electromotive force through the supports is greatest when the bodies are electrified in the same way. The result appears anomalous only when we expect the loss to occur by the passage of electricity through the air between the bodies.
Certain kinds of glass when cold are marvelously perfect insulators, and Sir W. Thomson has preserved charges of electricity for years in bulbs hermetically sealed. The same glass, however, becomes a conductor at a temperature below that of boiling water.
Gutta-percha, caoutchoue, vulcanite, paraffin, and resins are good insulators, the resistance of gutta-percha at 75°F. being about 6×1019 times that of copper.
Ice, crystals, and solidified electrolytes, are also insulators.
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