it must be such that the leaves will remain for hours or days in a state of steady divergence when an electrical charge has been given to them.
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| Fig. 5.—Curie’s Electroscope. |
In their researches on radio-activity M. and Mme P. Curie employed an electroscope made as follows:—A metal case (fig. 5), having two holes in its sides, has a vertical brass strip B attached to the inside of the lid by a block of sulphur SS or any other good insulator. Joined to the strip is a transverse wire terminating at one end in a knob C, and at the other end in a condenser plate P′. The strip B carries also a strip of gold-leaf L, and the metal case is connected to earth. If a charge is given to the electroscope, and if any radio-active material is placed on a condenser plate P attached to the outer case, then this substance bestows conductivity on the air between the plates P and P′, and the charge of the electroscope begins to leak away. The collapse of the gold-leaf is observed through an aperture in the case by a microscope, and the time taken by the gold-leaf to fall over a certain distance is proportional to the ionizing current, that is, to the intensity of the radio-activity of the substance.
A very similar form of electroscope was employed by J. P. L. J. Elster and H. F. K. Geitel (fig. 6), and also by C. T. R. Wilson (see Proc. Roy. Soc., 1901, 68, p. 152). A metal box has a metal strip B suspended from a block or insulator by means of a bit of sulphur or amber S, and to it is fastened a strip of gold-leaf L. The electroscope is provided with a charging rod C. In a dry atmosphere sulphur or amber is an early perfect insulator, and hence if the air in the interior of the box is kept dry by calcium chloride, the electroscope will hold its charge for a long time. Any divergence or collapse of the gold-leaf can be viewed by a microscope through an aperture in the side of the case.
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| Fig. 6.—Elster and Geitel Electroscope. |
Fig. 7.—Wilson’s Electroscope. |
Another type of sensitive electroscope is one devised by C. T. R. Wilson (Proc. Cam. Phil. Soc., 1903, 12, part 2). It consists of a metal box placed on a tilting stand (fig. 7). At one end is an insulated plate P kept at a potential of 200 volts or so above the earth by a battery. At the other end is an insulated metal wire having attached to it a thin strip of gold-leaf L. If the plate P is electrified it attracts the strip which stretches out towards it. Before use the strip is for one moment connected to the case, and the arrangement is then tilted until the strip extends at a certain angle. If then the strip of gold-leaf is raised or lowered in potential it moves to or from the plate P, and its movement can be observed by a microscope through a hole in the side of the box. There is a particular angle of tilt of the case which gives a maximum sensitiveness. Wilson found that with the plate electrified to 207 volts and with a tilt of the case of 30°, if the gold-leaf was raised one volt in potential above the case, it moved over 200 divisions of the micrometer scale in the eye-piece of the microscope, 54 divisions being equal to one millimetre. In using the instrument the insulated rod to which the gold-leaf is attached is connected to the conductor, the potential of which is being examined. In the use of all these electroscopic instruments it is essential to bear in mind (as first pointed out by Lord Kelvin) that what a gold-leaf electroscope really indicates is the difference of potential between the gold-leaf and the solid walls enclosing the air space in which they move.[1] If these enclosing walls are made of anything else than perfectly conducting material, then the indications of the instrument may be uncertain and meaningless. As already mentioned, Faraday remedied this defect by coating the inside of the glass vessel in which the gold-leaves were suspended to form an electroscope with tinfoil (see fig. 4). In spite of these admonitions all but a few instrument makers have continued to make the vicious type of instrument consisting of a pair of gold-leaves suspended within a glass shade or bottle, no means being provided for keeping the walls of the vessel continually at zero potential.
See J. Clerk Maxwell, Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, vol. i. p. 300 (2nd ed., Oxford, 1881); H. M. Noad, A Manual of Electricity, vol. i. p. 25 (London, 1855); E. Rutherford, Radio-activity. (J. A. F.)
ELECTROSTATICS, the name given to that department of
electrical science in which the phenomena of electricity at rest
are considered. Besides their ordinary condition all bodies are
capable of being thrown into a physical state in which they are
said to be electrified or charged with electricity. When in this
condition they become sources of electric force, and the space
round them in which this force is manifested is called an “electric
field” (see Electricity). Electrified bodies exert mechanical
forces on each other, creating or tending to create motion, and
also induce electric charges on neighbouring surfaces.
The reader possessed of no previous knowledge of electrical phenomena will best appreciate the meaning of the terms employed by the aid of a few simple experiments. For this purpose the following apparatus should be provided:—(1) two small metal tea-trays and some clean dry tumblers, the latter preferably varnished with shellac varnish made with alcohol free from water; (2) two sheets of ebonite rather larger than the tea-trays; (3) a rod of sealing-wax or ebonite and a glass tube, also some pieces of silk and flannel; (4) a few small gilt pith balls suspended by dry silk threads; (5) a gold-leaf electroscope, and, if possible, a simple form of quadrant electrometer (see Electroscope and Electrometer); (6) some brass balls mounted on the ends of ebonite penholders, and a few tin canisters. With the aid of this apparatus, the principal facts of electrostatics can be experimentally verified, as follows:—
Experiment I.—Place one tea-tray bottom side uppermost upon three warm tumblers as legs. Rub the sheet of ebonite vigorously with warm flannel and lay it rubbed side downwards on the top of the tray. Touch the tray with the finger for an instant, and lift up the ebonite without letting the hand touch the tray a second time. The tray is then found to be electrified. If a suspended gilt pith ball is held near it, the ball will first be attracted and then repelled. If small fragments of paper are scattered on the tray and then the other tray held in the hand over them, they will fly up and down rapidly. If the knuckle is approached to the electrified tray, a small spark will be seen, and afterwards the tray will be found to be discharged or unelectrified. If the electrified tray is touched with the sealing-wax or ebonite rod, it will not be discharged, but if touched with a metal wire, the hand, or a damp thread, it is discharged at once. This shows that some bodies are conductors and others non-conductors or insulators of electricity, and that bodies can be electrified by friction and impart their electric charge to other bodies. A charged conductor supported on a non-conductor retains its charge. It is then said to be insulated.
Experiment II.—Arrange two tea-trays, each on dry tumblers as before. Rub the sheet of ebonite with flannel, lay it face downwards on one tray, touch that tray with the finger for a moment and lift up the ebonite sheet, rub it again, and lay it face downwards on the second tray and leave it there. Then take two suspended gilt pith balls and touch them (a) both against one tray; they will be found to repel each other; (b) touch one against one tray and the other against the other tray, and they will be found to attract each other. This proves the existence of two kinds of electricity, called positive and negative.
- ↑ See Lord Kelvin, "Report on Electrometers and Electrostatic Measurements," Brit. Assoc. Report for 1867, or Lord Kelvin's Reprint of Papers on Electrostatics and Magnetism, p. 260.
