11.
Hertz's Theory of Moving Bodies
A more
important question than the pseudo problem of the mechanical
interpretation of the ether is that concerning the influence
of the motions of bodies (among which must be counted,
besides matter, the ether) on electromagnetic phenomena.
This brings us back, but from a more general standpoint, to
the investigations which we made earlier
(IV,7)into
the optics of moving bodies. Optics is now a part of
electrodynamics, and the luminiferous ether is identical
with the electromagnetic ether. All the inferences that we
made earlier from the optical observations with regard to
the behaviour of the luminiferous ether must retain their
validity since they are obviously quite independent of the
mechanism of light vibrations; for our investigation
concerned only the geometrical characteristics of a light
wave, namely, frequency (Doppler effect), velocity
(convection), and direction of propagation
(abberation).
/ Page
193 /
We have seen that up to
the time when the electromagnetic theory of light was
developed only quantities of the first order in B
= v
c
were open to measurement. The result of these observations
could be expressed briefly as the "optical principle of
relativity":
Optical events depend on the relative motions of the
involved material bodies that emit, transmit or receive the
light. In a system of reference moving with constant
velocity relative to the ether all inner optical events
occur just as if it were at rest.
Two theories were
proposed to account for this fact. That of Stokes assumed
that the ether inside matter was completely carried along by
the latter; the second, that of Fresnel, assumed only a
partial convection, the amount of which could be derived
from experi-ments. We have seen that Stoke' theory, when
carried to its logical conclusion, became involved in
difficulties, but that Fresnel's represented all the
phenomena satisfactorily.
In the electromagnetic
theory the same two positions are possible, either complete
convection, as advocated by Stokes, or the partial
convection of Fresnel. The question is whether purely
electro-magnetic observations will allow us to come to a
decision about these two hypotheses.
Hertz was the first to
apply the hypothesis of complete convection to Maxwell's
field equations. In doing so, he was fully conscious that
such a procedure could be only provisional, because the
appli-cation to optical events would lead to the same
difficulties as those which brought Stoke's theory to grief.
But the simplicity of a theory which required no distinction
between the motion of ether and that of matter led him to
develop and to discuss it in detail. This brought to light
the fact that the induction phenomena in moving
conductors, which are by far the most important for
experi-mental physics and technical science, are correctly
represented by Hertz's theory. Disagreements with
experimental results occur only in finer experiments in
which the displacements in nonconductors play a part. We
shall investigate all possibilities in succession:
1.
Moving conductors (a) in the electrical field.
(b) in the magnetic field.
2.
Moving insulators (a) in the
electrical field
(b) in the magnetic field.
/ Page 194
1a. A conductor acquires
surface charge in an electric field. If it is moved, it
carries them along with itself. But moving charges must be
equivalent to a current, and hence must produce a
surrounding magnetic field according to the law of Biort and
Savert. To pic-ture this to ourselves we imagine a plate
condenser whose plates are parallel to the xz-plane
(Fig.100).
Let them be be oppositely charged
Fig.100 A
charged plate of a condenser moving with velocity v
perpendicular to the electric
field.
With density of charge
o
on the surface. This means e =
of
is the amount of electricity on an area f of the plate. Now
let one plate be moved with respect to the ether in the
direction of the x-axis with the velocity v. Then a
convection current arises.
The moving plate is displaced with velocity v, that
is, by a length
vr
in the time
t
. If its width in
z-direction is a, then an amount of
electricity e =
oavt passes
in time t
through a plane
that is parallel to
the
yz-plane,
Hence a current J = e =
oav flows. This must exert exactly the
same
t
magnetic action as a conduction current of magnitude J
flowing through the plate when it is at rest.
This was confirmed
experimentally in Helmholtz's laboratory by H. A. Rowland
(1875), and later, more accurately, by
A. Eichenwald. Instead of a plate moving rectilinearly, a
rotating metal disk was used.
1b. When conductors are moved about in a magnetic
field, electric fields arise in them, and hence currents are
produced. This is the
/ Page 195 /
phenomenon of induction
by motion, already discovered by Faraday and investigated
quantitatively by him. The simplest case is this: Let the
magnetic field H produced, say by a horseshoe
magnet be parallel to the z-axis (Fig. 101). Let there be a
straight piece of wire of length l parallel to the
y-axis, and let this be moved with the
velo-city v in the direction of the
x-axis. If the wire is now made part of
Fig.101 Motion
of a wire of length 1, which is part of a closed
circuit, in a magnetic field between the ends of a large
horseshoe magnet.
A closed circuit by sliding it on the two opposite arms of a
U-shaped piece of wire in such a way that the Utakes no part
in the motion (seefigure). Then an induction current
J flows in the wire. This is given most simply by
stating Faraday's law of induction thus: The current induced
in a wire which forms part of a closed circuit is
proportional to the change per second of the number of lines
of force enclosed by the wire loop. This number is measured
by the magnetic displacement per unit area
uH
multipied by the area f of the loop
fuH.
In the section on magnetic induction (p.176) the change of
this quantity was considered to be due to a change of H
by H
in the short time
interval t
Here it is
due to a change of the area f produced by the
movement of the wire. If its length is l and its
velocity perpendicular to its extension is v, then
it sweeps out the
/ Page 196 /
area lv each
second, and this is the change of f. The change of
the number of lines of force per second is therefore
vluH.
According to Faraday's induction law an electric
current J is induced in the wire.
Instead of speaking of the current J it is better
to express the effect in terms of the potential difference
V produced between the ends of the wire. The
experiment gives V proportional to the quan-tity just
discussed,
vluH.
Concerning the factor of proportionality, a remarkable law
of symetry has been revealed. If one measures all quantities
in units here used, this factor turns out to be 1 , so
that
c
one has the equation V=1 v l u H. Seen from
the wire this corres-ponds to an electric field E=
V = v
c l
c u H. If the same piece of wire were to move without
being part of a closed circuit, there would appear charges
at the end of the wire corresponding to this field as long
as the movement went on.
This law is the basis of
all machines and apparatus of physics and electrotechnical
science in which energy of motion is transformed
by induction into electromagnetic energy; these
include, for example, the telephone, and dynamo machines of
every kind. Hence the law may be regarded as having been
confirmed by countless experiments.
Fig.
102 A
charged condenser is filled with a disk-shaped insulator. In
the insulator the displacement has induced charges on the
surface of the disk. One part of the displacement (dipoles
+ ) is caused by the ether, the other part (dipoles
+
) by the
insulator. If the insulator is moved, only the insulator
dipoles are moved with it..
/ Page
197 /
2a.
We suppose the
motion of a nonconductor in an electric field to be realized
thus: A moveable disk composed of the substance of the
non-conductor is placed between the two plates of the
condenser of Fig. 100 (see Fig. 102). The disk shall fill
the space between the condenser plates so that the distance
a marked in Fig. 100 measures also the
corresponding width of the disk. If the condenser is now
charged, an electric field E arises in the disk,
and a displacement*E is induced which is
perpendicular to the plane of the plates, that is, parallel
to the y-direction. This causes the two boundary
faces of the insulating disk to be charged equally and
oppositely to the metal plates facing them respectively. The
surface charge has a density
o
which is
proportional to the displacement D in the
insulator: 4
pio
= D
E. D consists of two parts, De =
E. the displacement of the ether, and D
=D -
e,
the displacement of matter alone.
If the insulating layer
is now moved in the direction of the x-axis with
the velocity v, then, according to Hertz, the ether
in the layer will be carried along completely. Hence the
field E and the charges of density
o
= *E produced by it on the bounding planes will
also be carried
along. 4pi
Therefore the moving charge of a
bounding surface again repre-sents a current
*E av and must generate, according to Biot
and Savert,s law, a magnetic
field. 4pi
W.C. Rontgen proved experimentally
(1885) that this was the case, but the deflection of the
magnet needle that he observed was much smaller than it
should have been from Hertz's theory. Ront-gen's experiments
show that only the excess of the charge density over the
displacement of the ether alone (i.e, D
-
De
= E
(*-)1
=
Dm,
the displacement of the insulator alone) participates in the
motion of the matter. We shall interpret this result later
in a simple way. Here we merely establish that, as was to be
expected according to the well known facts of optics,
Hertz's theory of complete convection also fails to explain
purely electromagnetic phenomena.
Eichenwald (in 1903) confirmed
Rontgen's result very strikingly by allowing the charged
metal plates to take part in the motion. These
give a convection current of the amount
oav
= *E av; according /
4pi
Page
198
1 x 9 x 8 =
72 2
+ 7 =
9 8
+ 9 +1=
18 8
+ 1 =
9
/
to Hertz this insulating
layer ought, on account of the opposite and equal charges,
exactly to compensate this current. But Eichenwald found
that this was not the case. Rather, he obtained a current
which was entirely independent of the material of the
insulator. This is exactly what is to be expected according
to Rontgen's results described above."
The Alizzed removes information for one reason or
another.
Page 198
"he obtained a current
which was entirely independent of the material of the
insulator."
" For the current due to the insulator is
(*E
- E
) av, of which the first
term is compensated by the convection of the
plates, 4pi
4pi
and so we are left with the current
E av, which is
independent of the dielectric constant *.
4 pi
Fig.
103
A piece of an
insulator is moved in a magnetic field to measure the
induced displacement charges at the surface of the
disk.
2b. We assume a magnetic field parallel to the
z-axis, produced, say, by a horseshoe magnet, and a
disk of non-conducting material moving through the field in
the direction of the x-axis ( Fig. 103). Let the
insulator be not magnetizable (u = 1).
Let the two bounding faces of the disk which are
perpendicular to the y-axis be covered with metal,
and let these surface layers be connected to an
electro-meter by means of sliding contacts so that the
charges that arise on them can be measured.
Page
199
This experiment
corresponds exactly with the induction experiment discussed
under (1b), except that a moving dielectric now takes the
place of the moving conductor. The law of induction is
applicable in the same way. It demands the existence of an
electric field E = H v
, acting in the magnetic direction of the y-axis
on the moving insulator. Hence, according to
Hertz's c
theory, the two superficial layers must exhibit opposite
charges of surface density *E
= * H v
4pi
4pi c
which cause a deflection of the electrometer. The experiment
was carried out by H.F. Wilson, in
1905,
with a rotating dielectric, and it did, indeed, confirm the
existence of the charge produced, but again to a lesser
extent, namely, corresponding to a surface
density(*- 1) H v
.
4
pi
c This means that there is only an effect of the moving
matter and none of the ether. Here too, then Hertz's theory
fails. In all these four typical phenomena what counts
is clearly only the relative motion of the field-producing
bodies with respect to the conductor or insulator
investigated. Instead of moving this in the x direction, as
we have done, we could have kept it at rest and moved the
remaining parts of the apparatus in the negative direction
of the x-axis. The result would have been the same.
For Hertz's theory recognisezes only relative motions of
bodies, the ether being also reckoned as a body. In a system
moving with constant velocity everything happens, according
to Hertz, as if it were at rest; that is the classical
principle of relativity holds.
But Hertz's theory is
incompatible with the facts, and it soon had to make way for
another which took exactly the opposite point of view with
regard to relativity."
Hearing a sighting, on the nearside of an outside
sounding wind the Zed Aliz Zed thanked, the me, mi'self, and
I, of the far yonder scribe for the, az iz transcription, of
Brother Born's most important exposition. Telling the wah
scribe that reight or wrong it would be right az ninepence
on the night, and not to hurry a worry.
Page 199
1 x 9 x
9 = 81
8 +
1 = 9
1 + 9 +
9 =
19
1
x 9 = 9
1
+ 9 = 1
1
x 9 = 9
9 +
1 =
One
x
the
NINE of the
that.
12. The Electron
theory of
Lorentz
"It is the theory of H.A. Lorentz (proposed in
1892)
that signi-fied the climax and the final step of the physics
of the material ether.
It is a one-fluid theory of
electricity that had been developed atomistically, and it is
this feature which, as we shall presently see, determines
the part allocated to the ether.
The fact that electric charges have
an atomic structure, that is,
/ Page
200 /
occur in very small
indivisible quantities, was first stated by Helm-holtz (in
1881)
in order to make intelligible Faradays laws of eloctro-lysis
(p.157) Actually, it was only necessary to assume
that every atom in an electrolytic solution enters into a
sort of chemical bond with an atom of electricity or an
electron in order to make intelligible the fact that a
definite amount of electricity always separates out
equivalent amounts of substances.
The atomic structure of electricity
proved of particular value for explaining the phenomena
which are observed in the passage of the electric current
through a rarefied gas. Here it was first discovered that
positive and negative electricity behave quite differently.
If two metal electrodes are introduced into a glass tube and
if a current is made to pass between them
(Fig. 104). Very complicated pheno-mena are produced so long
as gas is still present at an appreciable
Fig.
104
A tube to
produce cathode rays.
K cathode,
A anode.
Pressure in the tube. But if the gas is pumped out more and
more, the phenomena becomes increasingly simple. When the
vacuum is very high, the negative electrode, the cathode K,
emits rays which pass through a hole in the positive pole,
the anode A, and are observed behind
A through fluorescence produced on a
screen (as known from any television set). These rays are
called cathode rays. It was shown that they could
be deflected by a magnet in the manner of a stream of
negative electricity. The greatest share in investigating
the nature of cathode rays was taken by Sir J. J. Thomson
and P.L. Lenard. The negative charge of the rays could also
be directly demonstrated by collecting it in a hollow
conductor. Furthermore, the rays are deflected by an
electric field applied per
/ Page 201 /
pendicular to their path,
and this deflection is opposite to the direc-tion of the
field, which again proves the charge to be negative.
The conviction that the nature of
cathode rays is corpuscular became a certainty when
physicists succeeded in deducing quantita-tive conclusions
concerning their velocity and their charge.
If we picture the cathode ray as a
stream of small particles of mass m
el,
then clearly it will be the less deflected by a definite
elec-tric or magnetic field the greater its velocity - just
as the trajectory of a rifle bullet is straighter the
greater its velocity. Now it is possible to produce cathode
rays that can be bly deflected - that is, slow cathode rays
- by using a small difference of potential between cathode
and anode. If one chooses a b difference of potential
between the two poles, the rays are bly accelerated by the
field from K to A, which may be calculated
from the fundamental equation of
mechanics
m
el
b = K = e E,
where e is the charge and E is the field
strength. We are here clearly dealing with a case analogous
to that of "falling" bodies, in which the acceleration is
not equal to that of gravity g but to
e E. If the
ratio e were known, the velocity v could be
found mel m
el
from the laws for falling bodies. But there are two
unknowns, e and v, and hence
another measurement is necessary if
they mel
are to be determined. This is obtained by applying a lateral
magnetic force. In discussing Hertz's theory (V,11,
1b, p. 194)
we saw that a magnetic field H sets up in a body
moving perpendicular to H an electrical field
E= v H,
c
which is perpendicular both to H and to v.
Hence a deflecting force eE = e v
H will act on every cathode ray particle so
that c
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