ك.رونالدو
03-31-2009, 11:48 AM
Probably the most novel scientific achievement of the last third of the nineteenth century,
theoretical as well as practical, was the domain of electrical phenomena. In 1873 appeared
Clerk Maxwell's great treaties on "Treaties and Magnetism," a classic attempt to make the known
facts of electricity fit the then generally accepted pattern of mechanics. It maintained the theory
that electricity is matter moving in waves like those of light and radiant heat.
Toward the end of the century, two new events of far reaching importance occurred in electrical
science. One was the promulgation of the electron theory. As far back as 1756, Benjamin Franklin
had spoken casually of electrical "particles" and in the 1830s, Faraday had based some interesting
experiments on an atomic theory of electricity but the significance of all this work was long
unperceived. Now, however, Joseph Thomson, working in his celebrated research laboratory at
Cambridge on the conduction of electricity through gases, reached the certain conclusion that
electricity is composed of particles and demonstrated that these were constituent parts of atoms.
Simultaneously, Hendrik Lorentz, a Dutch physicist, pursuing a different line of research, arrived
at much the same conclusion, except that, while Thomson explained electricity in terms of matter,
Lorentz expressed matter in terms of electricity and named the particles "electrons" - a name which
prevailed. At any rate, the converging investigations of these two eminent physicists solved the
problem - old as the Greeks - whether different kinds of matter have a common basis. The answer
at last was an unqualified "yes."
by:c.ronaldo
theoretical as well as practical, was the domain of electrical phenomena. In 1873 appeared
Clerk Maxwell's great treaties on "Treaties and Magnetism," a classic attempt to make the known
facts of electricity fit the then generally accepted pattern of mechanics. It maintained the theory
that electricity is matter moving in waves like those of light and radiant heat.
Toward the end of the century, two new events of far reaching importance occurred in electrical
science. One was the promulgation of the electron theory. As far back as 1756, Benjamin Franklin
had spoken casually of electrical "particles" and in the 1830s, Faraday had based some interesting
experiments on an atomic theory of electricity but the significance of all this work was long
unperceived. Now, however, Joseph Thomson, working in his celebrated research laboratory at
Cambridge on the conduction of electricity through gases, reached the certain conclusion that
electricity is composed of particles and demonstrated that these were constituent parts of atoms.
Simultaneously, Hendrik Lorentz, a Dutch physicist, pursuing a different line of research, arrived
at much the same conclusion, except that, while Thomson explained electricity in terms of matter,
Lorentz expressed matter in terms of electricity and named the particles "electrons" - a name which
prevailed. At any rate, the converging investigations of these two eminent physicists solved the
problem - old as the Greeks - whether different kinds of matter have a common basis. The answer
at last was an unqualified "yes."
by:c.ronaldo