On the Experimental Determination of the Ratio of the Electrical Units
John William Strutt · Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2009
A n able discussion of the principal determinations of the above quantity, usually denoted by ν, has been given in the Reports of the Paris Physical Congress (1900) by H. Abraham—himself a contributor to the series. This ground it is unnecessary to retraverse, but I desire to place on record one or two suggestions which have occurred to me but which I may probably have no opportunity of myself putting into practice. The most approved methods involve the construction either of a condenser or of an electrometer, of which in the first case the capacity, and in the second the potential, can be calculated in electrostatic measure. The first method, on the whole, offers the greatest advantages, and I preferred it when (about 1882, and with the advice of Prof. Stuart) the Cambridge condenser was designed. In this method two currents are compared by a galvanometer. The first is that due to a given electromotive force in a resistance whose value is known in electromagnetic measure. The second is the intermittent current due to the same electromotive force charging n times per second a condenser whose capacity is known from the data of construction in electrostatic measure. The comparison may be conducted by the aid of Wheatstone's bridge. There are, however, one or two matters as to which doubts may arise. Thus it is essential that the commutator by whose action the condenser is periodically charged and discharged, should introduce no electromotive force on its own account.