VIII. On the electrical resistance of thin liquid films, with a revision of Newton’s table of colours

Abstract

In a preliminary note read before the Royal Society in June, 1877, we stated the results of some observations in which an electric current was used in investigating the properties of soap films. These observations were made in the course of an enquiry (then incomplete) as to whether the resistance offered by a soap film to an electric current is inversely proportional to its thickness, and our object in undertaking this was to obtain, by a novel method, evidence as to the value of previous experiments by which various physicists had from time to time attempted “to obtain from the phenomena of capillarity, or from observations on liquid films, an indication of the magnitude of the radius of molecular attraction.” Since that date we have had but few opportunities of carrying out our research in common (as was necessary), and hence the long delay which has taken place; but we are now in a position to state the results of our later experiments, in which the method has been in several respects altered, and the apparatus considerably improved.