V. Experimental researches in magnetism and electricity

Abstract

1. The principle of the conservation of force, as I apprehend it, is the definite quantitative relation existing between all the phenomena of the universe whatsoever, both in direction and amount, whether such phenomena be considered in the relation of cause and effect, or as antecedent and consequent events. 2. In the particular application of this principle to the advancement of physical science, and also to the invention of new engines and machinery to meet the progressive requirements of society, problems not unfrequently present themselves which involve the consideration of static and dynamic force, from several different aspects; and the solution of these problems often brings out results which are as surprising as they are paradoxical. Of such cases, in which the idea of paradox alluded to is involved, may be mentioned the one contained in the 36th Proposition of Newton’s 'Principia' (Book 2, Cor. 2), and in D. Bernoulli’s 'Hydrodynamica,' p. 279; in which the repulsive force of a jet of Water issuing from a hole in the bottom or side of a vessel with a velocity which a body would acquire in falling freely from the surface, is equal to the weight of a column of water of which the base is equal to the section of the contracted vein and about twice the height of the column which produces the flowing pressure; the static force of reaction being thus double that which, without experiment, had been predicted. An instance in which the quantity of dynamic force is increased paradoxically may be seen in that curious and useful piece of apparatus the injector, by means of which a boiler containing steam of high pressure is able to feed itself with water through a hole in its shell, though this hole is open to the atmosphere; or the steam from a low-pressure boiler is enabled to drive the feed-water through a hole (also open to the atmosphere) into a high-pressure boiler. Although, when rightly interpreted, these examples of paradox, as well as many others of a similar character, are in strict accordance with the principle of conservation, yet they are at the same time contrary to the inferences which are generally drawn from analogical reasonings, and to some of those maxims of science which are framed for the instruction of the unlearned. As the examples cited are only adduced for the purpose of illustrating some analogous phenomena observed in connexion with certain combinations of static and dynamic force in molecular mechanics which form the subject of the present research, it is not my intention to enter into the rationale of either of them, but to direct attention to some new and paradoxical phenomena arising out of Faraday’s important discovery of magneto-electric induction, the close consideration of which has resulted in the discovery of a means of producing dynamic electricity in quantities unattainable by any apparatus hitherto constructed.