with a sliding piece, F, by means of which the self-induction of the discharging circuit, and, therefore, the time of an electrical oscillation of the jar, can be adjusted. The inside and outside of this jar are put almost, but not quite, into electrical contact by means of a piece of tin-foil, E, bent over the lip of the jar. The jars are placed face to face so that the circuits B and D are parallel to each other, and approximately at right angles to the line joining their centres. When the electrical machine is in action sparks pass across the air-break in the circuit in A, and by moving the slider F it is possible to find one position for it in which sparks pass from the inside to the outside of C across the tin-foil, while when the slider is moved a short distance on either side of this position the sparks cease.
Hertz found that when he held his detector in the neighbourhood of the vibrator minute sparks passed between the balls. These sparks were not stopped when a large plate of non-conducting substance, such as the wall of a room, was interposed between the vibrator and detector, but a large plate of very thin metal stopped them completely.
To illustrate the analogy between electric waves and waves of light Hertz found another form of apparatus more convenient. The vibrator consisted of two equal brass cylinders, 12 cm. long and 3 cm. in diameter, placed with their axes coincident, and in the focal line of a large zinc parabolic mirror about 2 m. high, with a focal length of 12.5 cm. The ends of the cylinders nearest each other, between which the sparks passed, were carefully polished. The detector, which was placed in the focal line of an equal parabolic mirror, consisted of two lengths of wire, each having a straight piece about 50 cm. long and a curved piece about 15 cm. long bent round at right angles so as to pass through the back of the mirror. The ends which came through the mirror were connected with a spark micrometer, the sparks being observed from behind the mirror. The mirrors are shown, in fig. 3.
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| Fig. 3. |
§ 2. Reflection and Refraction.—To show the reflection of the waves Hertz placed the mirrors side by side, so that their openings looked in the same direction, and their axes converged at a point about 3 m. from the mirrors. No sparks were then observed in the detector when the vibrator was in action. When, however, a large zinc plate about 2 m. square was placed at right angles to the line bisecting the angle between the axes of the mirrors sparks became visible, but disappeared again when the metal plate was twisted through an angle of about 15° to either side. This experiment showed that electric waves are reflected, and that, approximately at any rate, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. To show refraction Hertz used a large prism made of hard pitch, about 1.5 m. high, with a slant side of 1.2 m. and an angle of 30°. When the waves from the vibrator passed through this the sparks in the detector were not excited when the axes of the two mirrors were parallel, but appeared when the axis of the mirror containing the detector made a certain angle with the axis of that containing the vibrator. When the system was adjusted for minimum deviation the sparks were most vigorous when the angle between the axes of the mirrors was 22°. This corresponds to an index of refraction of 1.69.
§ 3. Analogy to a Plate of Tourmaline.—If a screen be made by winding wire round a large rectangular framework, so that the turns of the wire are parallel to one pair of sides of the frame, and if this screen be interposed between the parabolic mirrors when placed so as to face each other, there will be no sparks in the detector when the turns of the wire are parallel to the focal lines of the mirror; but if the frame is turned through a right angle so that the wires are perpendicular to the focal lines of the mirror the sparks will recommence. If the framework is substituted for the metal plate in the experiment on the reflection of electric waves, sparks will appear in the detector when the wires are parallel to the focal lines of the mirrors, and will disappear when the wires are at right angles to these lines. Thus the framework reflects but does not transmit the waves when the electric force in them is parallel to the wires, while it transmits but does not reflect waves in which the electric force is at right angles to the wires. The wire framework behaves towards the electric waves exactly as a plate of tourmaline does to waves of light. Du Bois and Rubens (Wied. Ann. 49, p. 593), by using a framework wound with very fine wire placed very close together, have succeeded in polarizing waves of radiant heat, whose wave length, although longer than that of ordinary light, is very small compared with that of electric waves.
§ 4. Angle of Polarization.—When light polarized at right angles to the plane of incidence falls on a refracting substance at an angle tan−1μ, where μ is the refractive index of the substance, all the light is refracted and none reflected; whereas when light is polarized in the plane of incidence, some of the light is always reflected whatever the angle of incidence. Trouton (Nature, 39, p. 391) showed that similar effects take place with electric waves. From a paraffin wall 3 ft. thick, reflection always took place when the electric force in the incident wave was at right angles to the plane of incidence, whereas at a certain angle of incidence there was no reflection when the vibrator was turned, so that the electric force was in the plane of incidence. This shows that on the electromagnetic theory of light the electric force is at right angles to the plane of polarization.
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| Fig. 4. |
§ 5. Stationary Electrical Vibrations.—Hertz (Wied. Ann. 34, p. 609) made his experiments on these in a large room about 15 m. long. The vibrator, which was of the type first described, was placed at one end of the room, its plates being parallel to the wall, at the other end a piece of sheet zinc about 4 m. by 2 m. was placed vertically against the wall. The detector—the circular ring previously described—was held so that its plane was parallel to the metal plates of the vibrator, its centre on the line at right angles to the metal plate bisecting at right angles the spark gap of the vibrator, and with the spark gap of the detector parallel to that of the vibrator. The following effects were observed when the detector was moved about. When it was close up to the zinc plate there were no sparks, but they began to pass feebly as soon as it was moved forward a little way from the plate, and increased rapidly in brightness until it was about 1.8 m. from the plate, when they attained their maximum. When its distance was still further increased they diminished in brightness, and vanished again at a distance of about 4 m. from the plate. When the distance was still further increased they reappeared, attained another maximum, and so on. They thus exhibited a remarkable periodicity similar to that which occurs when stationary vibrations are produced by the interference of direct waves with those reflected from a surface placed at right angles to the direction of propagation. Similar periodic alterations in the spark were observed by Hertz when the waves, instead of passing freely through the air and being reflected by a metal plate at the end of the room, were led along wires, as in the arrangement shown in fig. 4. L and K are metal plates placed parallel to the plates of the vibrator, long parallel wires being attached to act as guides to the waves which were reflected from the isolated end. (Hertz used only one
