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Re: [Phys-l] Electrostatic demonstrations



I wasn't clear -- I referred to Desaguliers conjecture on the "leak". {Please note the single *.}

My source refers to about fourteen Watson PT articles including yours, except only to p. 92. [49=>92]
bc

Pat Viele wrote:

I believe this quote is from: A Collection of the Electrical Expeririments Communicated to the Royal Society by Wm. Watson, F. R. S. Read at Several Meetings between October 29. 1747. and Jan. 21. Following
William Watson
Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 45. (1748), pp. 49-120.


At 10:55 PM 7/27/2006, you wrote:

Probably Desaguliers * [1683=> 1744]. However, Wm. Watson
[1715=>1787], "... explained more clearly than Desaguliers had done,
that atmospheric moisture destroyed electricity by conduction *."

* I couldn't find the reference, only the quote above.

** "The leak derives primarily through surface conductivity promoted by
the moisture, not from loss to the air, a point not understood until the
end of the 19th century. Ref: "Conduction of Electricity through
Gasses I", the Thomsons, Cambridge 1928. Quoted: Electricity in
the 17th and 18th Centuries, Heilbron, J. L. UC Press (1979)

bc, collector of miscellany.

Ludwik Kowalski wrote:


When was the the effect of humidity recognized as a factor influencing
electrostatic demonstrations? I suspect that Ben Franklin was already
familiar with the effect of humidity. But I am not sure. Who was the
first to write about this?

Ludwik Kowalski
Let the perfect not be the enemy of the good.
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_______________________________________________
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Patricia T. Viele, Physics & Astronomy Librarian
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Cornell University
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