124]

A CONICAL POINT.

53

It appears from the 20th proposition, that if two similar bodies of different sizes are placed at a very great distance from each other, and connected by a slender canal, and overcharged, the force with which a particle of fluid placed close to corresponding parts of their surface is repelled from them, is inversely as the corresponding diameters of the bodies. If the distance of the two bodies is small, there is not so much difference in the force with which the particle is repelled by the two bodies; but still, if the diameters of the two bodies are very different, the particle will be repelled with much more force from the smaller body than from the larger. It is true indeed that a particle placed at a certain distance from the smaller body, will be repelled with less force than if it be placed at the same distance from the greater body; but this distance is, I believe, in most cases pretty considerable; if the bodies are spherical, and the repulsion inversely as the square of the distance, a particle placed at any distance from the surface of the smaller body less than a mean proportional between the radii of the two bodies, will be repelled from it with more force than if it be placed at the same distance from the larger body.

I think therefore that we may be well assured that if two similar bodies are connected together by a slender canal, and are overcharged, the fluid must escape faster from the smaller body than from an equal surface of the larger; but as the surface of the larger body is greatest, I do not know which body ought to lose most electricity in the same time; and indeed it seems impossible to determine positively from this theory which should, as it depends in great measure on the manner in which the air opposes the entrance of the electric fluid into it. Perhaps in some degrees of electrification the smaller body may lose most, and in others the larger.

Fig. 18.

124] Let now ACB (Fig. 18) be a conical point standing on any body DAB, C being the vertex of the cone; and let DAB be overcharged: I imagine that a particle of fluid placed close to the surface of the cone anywhere between b and C, must be repelled with at least as much, if not more, force than it would, if the part AabB of the cone was taken away,

D

O

and the part acb connected to DAB by a slender canal; and con

sequently, from what has been said before, it seems reasonable to suppose that the waste of electricity from the end of the cone must be very great in proportion to its surface; though it does not appear from this reasoning whether the waste of electricity from the whole cone should be greater or less than from a cylinder of the same base and altitude*.

All which has been here said relating to the flowing out of electricity from overcharged bodies, holds equally true with regard to the flowing in of electricity into undercharged bodies.

125] But a circumstance which I believe contributes as much as any thing to the quick discharge of electricity from points, is the swift current of air caused by them, and taken notice of by Mr Wilson and Dr Priestly (vide Priestly, p. 117 and 591); and which is produced in this manner.

If a globular body ABD is overcharged, the air close to it, all round its surface, is rendered overcharged by the electric fluid which flows into it from the body; it will therefore be repelled by the body; but as the air all round the body is repelled with the same force, it is in equilibrio, and has no tendency to fly off from it. If now the conical point ACB be made to stand out from the globe, as the fluid will escape much faster in proportion to the surface from the end of the point than from the rest of the body, the air close to it will be much more overcharged than that close to the rest of the body; it will therefore be repelled with much more force; and consequently a current of air will flow along the sides of the cone, from B towards C; by which means there is a continual supply of fresh air, not much overcharged, brought in contact with the point; whereas otherwise the air adjoining to it would be so much overcharged, that the electricity would have but little disposition to flow from the point into it.

The same current of air is produced in a less degree, without the help of the point, if the body, instead of being globular, is oblong or flat, or has knobs on it, or is otherwise formed in such manner as to make the electricity escape faster from some parts of it than the rest.

In like manner, if the body ABD be undercharged, the air adjoining to it will also be undercharged, and will therefore be

[* Note 9.]

126]

ELECTRIC WIND.

55

repelled by it; but as the air close to the end of the point will be more undercharged than that close to the rest of the body, it will be repelled with much more force; which will cause exactly the same current of air, flowing the same way, as if the body was overcharged; and consequently the velocity with which the electric fluid flows into the body, will be very much increased. I believe indeed that it may be laid down as a constant rule, that the faster the electric fluid escapes from any body when overcharged, the faster will it run into that body when undercharged.

Points are not the only bodies which cause a quick discharge of electricity; in particular, it escapes very fast from the ends of long slender cylinders; and a swift current of air is caused to flow from the middle of the cylinder towards the end: this will easily appear by considering that the redundant fluid is collected in much greater quantity near the ends of the cylinders than near the middle. The same thing may be said, but I believe in a less degree, of the edges of thin plates.

What has been just said concerning the current of air, serves to explain the reason of the revolving motion of Dr Hamilton's and Mr Kinnersley's bent pointed wires, vide Philosophical Trans. Vol. LI., p. 905, and Vol. LIII., p. 86; also Priestly, p. 429: for the same repulsion which impels the air from the thick part of the wire towards the point, tends to impel the wire in the contrary direction.

126] It is well known, that if a body B is positively electrified, and another body A, communicating with the ground, be then brought near it, the electric fluid will escape faster from B, at that part of it which is turned towards A, than before. This is plainly conformable to theory; for as A is thereby rendered undercharged, B will in its turn be made more overcharged, in that part of it which is turned towards A, than it was before. But it is also well known that the fluid will escape faster from B, if A be pointed, than if it be blunt; though B will be less overcharged in this case than in the other; for the broader the surface of A, which is turned towards B, the more effect will it have in increasing the overcharge of B. The cause of this phænomenon is as follows:

If A is pointed, and the pointed end turned towards B, the air close to the point will be very much undercharged, and therefore

will be strongly repelled by A, and attracted by B, which will cause a swift current of air to flow from it towards B; by which means a constant supply of undercharged air will be brought in contact with B, which will accelerate the discharge of electricity from it in a very great degree: and moreover, the more pointed A is, the swifter will be this current. If, on the other hand, that end of A which is turned towards B is so blunt, that the electricity is not disposed to run into A faster than it is to run out of B, the air adjoining to B may be as much overcharged as that adjoining to A is undercharged; and therefore may by the joint repulsion of B and attraction of A, be impelled from B to A, with as much or more force than the air adjoining to A is impelled in the contrary direction; so that what little current of air there is may flow in the contrary direction.

It is easy applying what has been here said to the case in which B is negatively electrified.

127] § 5. In the paper of Mr Canton's, quoted in the second section, and in a paper of Dr Franklin's Philosophical Transactions 1755, p. 300, and Franklin's letters p. 155, are some remarkable experiments, shewing that when an overcharged body is brought near another body, some fluid is driven to the further end of this body, and also some driven out of it, if it is not insulated. The experiments are all strictly conformable to the 11th, 12th, and 13th propositions: but it is needless to point out the agreement, as the explanation given by the authors does it sufficiently.

128] § 6. On the Leyden vial.

The shock produced by the Leyden vial seems owing only to the great quantity of redundant fluid collected on its positive side, and the great deficiency on its negative side; so that if a conductor was prepared of so great a size, as to be able to receive as much additional fluid by the same degree of electrification as the positive side of a Leyden vial, and was positively electrified in the same degree as the vial, I do not doubt but what as great a shock would be produced by making a communication between this conductor and the ground, as between the two surfaces of the Leyden vial, supposing both communications to be made by canals of the same length and same kind.

1291

THE LEYDEN VIAL.

57

It appears plainly from the experiments which have been made on this subject, that the electric fluid is not able to pass through the glass; but yet it seems as if it was able to penetrate without much difficulty to a certain small depth, perhaps I might say an imperceptible depth within the glass; as Dr Franklin's analysis of the Leyden vial shews that its electricity is contained chiefly in the glass itself, and that the coating is not greatly over or undercharged.

It is well known that glass is not the only substance which can be charged in the manner of the Leyden vial; but that the same effect may be produced by any other body, which will not suffer the electricity to pass through it.

B

Fig. 20.

A

M

129] *Hence the phænomena of the vial seem easily explicable by means of the 22nd proposition. For let ACGM, Fig. 20, represent a flat plate of glass or any other substance which will not suffer the electric fluid to pass through it, seen edgeways; and let BbdD, and EefF, or Bd and Ef, as I shall call them for shortness, be two plates of conducting matter of the same size, placed in contact with the glass opposite to each other; and let Bd be positively electrified; and let Ef communicate with the ground; and let the fluid be supposed either able to enter a little way into the glass, but not to pass through it, or unable to enter it at all; and if it is able to enter a little way into it, let bßdd, or bƐ, as I shall call it, represent that part of the glass into which the fluid can enter from the plate Bd, and ep, that which the fluid from Ef can enter. By the abovementioned proposition, if be, the thickness of the glass, is very small in respect of bd, the diameter of the plates, the quantity of redundant fluid forced into the space Bd, or BS, (that is, into the plate Bd, if the fluid is unable to penetrate at all into the glass, or into the plate Bd, and the space bd together, if the fluid is able to penetrate into the glass,)

G

* The following explication is strictly applicable only to that sort of Leyden vial, which consists of a flat plate of glass or other matter. It is evident, however, that the result must be nearly of the same kind, though the glass is made into the shape of a bottle as usual, or into any other form; but I propose to consider those sort of Leyden vials more particularly in a future paper.