In the consideration of this subject it is not my purpose to review the steps of discovery and development of electrical phenomena, but the object of this paper is an effort to explain what electricity is; and having done this, to deduce some reasonable conclusions as to what may be expected of it. And while I am profoundly sensible of the importance of the subject, and the difficulties attending its consideration, still with humble boldness I present this paper and ask for it a serious and careful consideration, hoping that the discussion and investigation resulting therefrom may add to our knowledge of physical science.

It is now a well established fact that matter, per se, is inert, and that its energy is derived from the physical forces; therefore all chemical and physical phenomena observed in the universe are caused by and due to the operations of the physical forces, and matter, of whatever state or condition it may be in, is but the vehicle through or by which the physical forces operate to produce the phenomena.

There are but two physical forces, i.e., the force of attraction and the force of caloric. The force of attraction is inherent in the matter, and tends to draw the particles together and hold them in a state of rest. The force of caloric accompanies the matter and tends to push the particles outward into a state of activity.

The force of attraction being inherent, it abides in the matter continuously and can neither be increased nor diminished; it, however, is present in different elementary bodies in different degrees, and in compound bodies relative to the elements of which they are composed.

The force of caloric is mobile, and is capable of moving from one portion of matter to another; yet under certain conditions a portion of caloric is occluded in the matter by the force of attraction. That portion of caloric which is occluded (known by the misnomer, latent heat) I shall call static caloric, and that portion which is in motion, dynamic caloric.

The force of attraction, as I have said, tends to draw the particles of matter together and hold them in a state of rest; but as this force is inherent, the degree of power thus exerted is in an inverse ratio to the distance of the particles from each other. The effective force so exerted is always balanced by an equivalent amount of the force of caloric, and that modicum of caloric so engaged in balancing the effective force of attraction is static, because occluded in that work.

In solid or fluid bodies, where the molecules are held in a local or near relation to each other, the amount of static caloric will be in direct proportion to the effective force of attraction, but in gaseous bodies the static caloric is in an inverse ratio to the effective force of attraction; hence the amount of static caloric present in solid and fluid bodies will be greatest when the molecules are nearest each other, and greatest in gaseous bodies when the molecules are furthest apart.

Caloric, whether static or dynamic, is not phenomenal; therefore the phenomena of light, temperature, incandescence, luminosity, heat, cold, and motion, as well as all other phenomena, are due to the movement of matter caused by the physical forces. Thus we find that temperature is a phenomenal measure of molecular velocity, as we consider weight to be the measure of matter.

An increase of temperature denotes an increased molecular velocity, and this in solid and liquid bodies unlocks a portion of the static caloric and converts it into dynamic caloric, while an increased temperature of gases occludes additional caloric, thus converting dynamic into static caloric; and a reduction of molecular activity reverses this action. From this we see that a change of temperature either converts static to dynamic or dynamic to static caloric.

Thus we find that the amount of static caloric which a body possesses is in direct relation to its temperature, but, as I have already explained, temperature is a phenomenal indication of molecular velocity, and as increased velocity separates the molecules to a greater distance, which reduces the effective force of attraction and unlocks a portion of caloric, it will be seen that the separation of the molecules from any other cause will have the same effect. I desire now to explain a second method by which the molecules are separated and static caloric is changed to dynamic caloric.

It is not definitely known how much static caloric is occluded in either of the elementary bodies, but it is believed that hydrogen possesses the greatest amount and oxygen the least. Now if we take a molecule of hydrogen containing two atoms, and under proper conditions interpose these atoms between 16 atoms of oxygen (one molecule), the phenomenon of combustion is exhibited, and a molecule of water is formed containing 18 atoms; and if one pound of hydrogen is thus consumed, the atoms of hydrogen are separated from each other to such a distance by the interposing atoms of oxygen as to unlock 34,662 units C. of static, and convert it into dynamic caloric. And if we thus bring a molecule of carbon containing 12 atoms in contact with a molecule of oxygen of 16 atoms, combustion ensues and a molecule of carbonic oxide of 28 atoms is formed, and if we then present another molecule of oxygen, combustion again takes place, and a molecule of carbonic acid, containing 44 atoms, is produced. Now, in the combustion of one pound of carbon in this manner, when the carbon is converted into carbonic oxide (CO), 2,473 units C. of static is converted into dynamic caloric; and when this CO is converted into carbonic acid (CO₂) 5,607 additional units C. are unlocked. Thus by the combustion of one pound of carbon to CO₂, 8,080 units C. of static caloric are changed to dynamic caloric.

When caloric is thus unlocked from its occlusion it escapes with great velocity until an equilibrium is attained, and in doing so it pushes the particles of matter out of its path. In solid bodies this produces such a high degree of molecular movement as to exhibit the phenomena of incandescence and luminosity, and in liquids increased mobility, while in gases the molecular activity may be so great as to produce the phenomena of sound and light; and the more rapidly combustion takes place the greater will be the volume and velocity of dynamic caloric escaping therefrom; consequently with a slow combustion, the phenomena produced by dynamic caloric will be different from those exhibited at a high degree.

Combustion, as I have before shown, is merely the oxidation of the material; nothing is consumed nor annihilated, and, the phenomena vary with the velocity of oxidation. Now, if we take one pound of zinc and place it in the acid cell of an electric battery, the oxygen of the acid attacks the zinc and oxide of zinc is formed. In this operation the Zn molecule containing 65 atoms is united with one molecule of oxygen of 16 atoms, forming a molecule of oxide of zinc (ZnO) of 81 atoms; and owing to the comparatively small number of oxygen atoms interposed between the 65 atoms of zinc, only 1,301 units C. of static caloric are unlocked to the pound of zinc, and the velocity of oxidation is so low, and the insulation of the vessel so perfect, that the dynamic caloric is caused to flow outward through the copper wire.

Electricity.—What is it? Why, it is dynamic caloric. Now let us take this oxide of zinc (ZnO) and place it with charcoal in a reducing apparatus which stands on an insulated table; the apparatus is then heated, the carbon vaporizes, and this vapor of carbon (C) robs the oxide of zinc (ZnO) of its oxygen, leaving metallic zinc (Zn) and carbonic oxide (CO). Now, for every pound of zinc so formed 1,301 units C. of static caloric are transferred from the charcoal to the zinc and occluded in it. Hence we find that the 1,301 units C. of caloric which we took out of the zinc, and which we call electricity, is nothing else but the 1,301 units of static caloric which was contained in the charcoal and from it set free by oxidation and transferred to the zinc in the smelting process. Let us follow this matter a little further. Charcoal is made by burning wood under such conditions as eliminate the water and hydrogen and leave the carbon as a residuum which we call charcoal. Thus we find that the caloric contained in the charcoal, transferred from the charcoal to the zinc, and from it developed into what we call electricity, was previously embodied in the wood; and if we study the laws of vegetation, we find that the atmosphere being charged with carbonic acid (CO₂), the leaves of plants, shrubs, and trees, breathing, take in the CO₂, the sun rays decompose the CO₂, set free the oxygen, and supply the necessary amount of caloric for the condensed state of the carbon. Thus we find that the force which we term electricity, developed from the oxidation of zinc, or any other matter, by oxidation, primarily comes from the sun rays.

Coal is generally supposed to be of vegetable origin, and the caloric occluded in it is derived from the same source as that embodied in charcoal. Now when we burn coal under a steam boiler, the carbon and hydrogen are oxidized, and the static caloric set free. A portion of this caloric passes through the shell or tubes of the boilers, and increases the molecular velocity of the water; increased activity of the molecules tends to separate them to a greater distance from each other. When the molecular velocity of the water acquires the degree indicated by a temperature of 212 degrees F., the water passes from the fluid to the gaseous state, and in doing so expands to 1,696 times its bulk. Now if the steam so developed be confined under a pressure of 105 pounds to the square inch, the water will not vaporize until a molecular velocity is attained indicated by a temperature of 312° F. (Spons' "Engineering," D2, page 418), and then the expansion is only 253 times its bulk. By using this steam, in a steam engine, the caloric in the steam tends to push the molecules of which it is composed into an ultimate expansion of 1,696 times the bulk of the water from which it was generated, and this force acts upon the piston and does the work. Thus we see that the steam engine is driven by the same force which produces the phenomena accredited to electricity.

I have already shown that in what we term combustion not a particle of the ponderable matter is annihilated. Combustion is but a phenomenon resulting from a rearrangement of the particles, and so it is with the imponderable physical force caloric; it is not consumed when light and heat are produced, nor converted into power, as we are sometimes told. But whatever the phenomena produced, the aggregate amount of static and dynamic caloric is always and ever the same.

If we consider the Ritter-Plant-Faure-Battery, which is mentioned as storing electricity, we find that the phenomena exhibited by the use of this apparatus are produced by the same factor. The battery is composed of two sheets of lead, which are covered with a layer of minium (Pb₃O₄). The sheets are laid one upon the other with an intervening layer of felt. The pack is then rolled up in a spiral form and placed in a vessel containing acidulated water. One of the plates is connected with the positive, and the other plate with the negative pole of a battery or generator.

When the current of electricity enters the battery, the Pb₃O₄ on the positive plate is reduced to Pb, and the oxygen so set free attacks the Pb₃O₄ on the negative plate, and oxidizes it to PbO₂. In this chemical action, caloric is occluded in the Pb and unlocked in the PbO₂, but a much greater amount of caloric is locked up than is unlocked, although the amount of oxygen used in both cases is precisely the same, which has been fully explained in the oxidation of carbon.

Now after the battery has been thus charged and the wires disengaged, the chemical action ceases for want of the reducing agent (dynamic caloric), and the apparatus may be held at rest, or transported to any distance required. When it is desired to utilize the force thus stored, the poles are changed by grounding the positive wire, and attaching the other to the conduit through which the electricity is to flow. The chemical action is thus reversed, and the PbO₂ is reduced to Pb₃O₄, the oxygen thus set free attacks the Pb on the other plate, oxidizing it to Pb₃O₄, thus unlocking all the caloric which was occluded by the first action. In a battery of this kind weighing 75 pounds, we are informed by Sir William Thomson, that one million foot pounds of force may be stored, and again set free for use.

Thus we find that the principle upon which the Faure battery is formed is not new, and the prime factor producing the phenomena is the same as has been shown to have caused all other phenomena referred to, and indeed the principle is the same as now employed by the author in the basic dephosphorizing process, i.e., caloric is occluded in phosphorus by smelting in a blast furnace, and unlocked in the converter, for the purpose of securing the fluidity of the metal during treatment. The difference being, that one is done by non-luminous, while the other is by luminous combustion.

If we consider the phenomenon of light, we find that it is due to the same force. As before stated, when we oxidize carbon, or hydrogen, as in the rapid combustion of wood, oil, or coal, the escaping caloric flies off with such great speed as to cause the molecules in the circumambient medium to assume a velocity which exhibits luminosity. Thus the light produced by burning candles, oil, gas, wood, and coal, is caused by the same prime factor, dynamic caloric.

The force of caloric is imponderable and invisible, and is only known by its effects. We do know that it is occluded in metals and other material, because we can unlock it and set it free, or we can transfer it from one body to another, and by measuring its effects, we can determine its quantity. We know that it prefers to travel over one vehicle more than another, and by this knowledge we are able to insulate it, and thus conduct it in any direction desired. The materials through which it passes with the greatest freedom are called conductors, and the materials which most retard its passage, non-conductors; but these terms must be taken in a comparative sense only, as in fact there are no absolute non-conductors of dynamic caloric, or of what we call electricity.

The dynamo-electric generator simply draws the dynamic caloric from the air or earth, or both, and confines it in an insulated path. Now if that path be a No. 10 wire, the conduit may be sufficient to permit the caloric to pass without increasing the molecular velocity of the metal to an appreciable degree, but if we cut the No. 10 wire and insert a piece of No. 40 platinum wire in the path, the amount of caloric flowing through the No. 10 wire cannot pass through the No. 40 wire, and the resistance so caused increases the molecular velocity of the No. 40 wire to such degree as to exhibit the phenomenon of incandescence, and this is the incandescent electric light. And if we consider the carbon light, we find that the current of caloric, in passing from one pencil to the other, produces a molecular velocity of luminosity in the adjoining atmosphere, and in addition a portion of the carbon is consumed, which sets free an additional amount of caloric, at a very high velocity, hence the intensity of the carbon electric light is largely due to the dynamic caloric unlocked from the pencils, and thus we find that the electric light produced by either method is due to the action of dynamic caloric.

Taking this theory based upon physical science, and the facts which we know pertaining to electricity, I conceive that caloric exists in two conditions. Static caloric is what we call latent heat, and dynamic caloric is what we call electricity. Therefore what may we expect of it (electricity) is merely a matter of economy in the development and utilization of dynamic caloric; in other words, can we unlock static caloric by non-luminous combustion, and thus develop dynamic caloric as a first power more economically per foot pound than we now do or can hereafter do by luminous combustion? Second, can we utilize water and wind for the production of dynamic caloric as a first power? Third, can we utilize the differential tension of dynamic caloric in the earth and the atmosphere as a first power? Fourth, will it pay to use luminous combustion as a first power to generate dynamic caloric as a second power?

WHAT MAY WE EXPECT OF IT.

Let us take the steam engine, and see what we are now doing by luminous combustion. Good Pittsburg coal contains 87 per cent. of carbon, 5 per cent. of hydrogen, 2 per cent. of oxygen and 6 per cent. of ash; we therefore have in one pound of such coal:

15,772 × 772² = 12,175,984 foot pounds of energy is occluded in the static caloric contained in one pound of such coal.

A horse-power is estimated as capable of raising 33,000 pounds one foot high per minute, and for this reason it is termed 33,000 foot pounds per minute. So we have 33,000 × 60 = 1,980,000 foot pounds per hour, as a horse-power.

The best class of compound condensing engines,³ with all the modern improvements, require 1.828 pounds of coal per 1 h.p. per hour. Thus we have—

In the ordinary practice of stationary non-condensing engines, from three to four pounds of coal are required per horse-power per hour. Now, taking the best of this class at 3 pounds, we have—

From these facts it may be assumed that after making due allowance for variable qualities of the coal, the steam engine process, as at present practiced, will not utilize more than from 5 to 10 per cent. of the energy contained in the fuel used. It will thus be seen that the process of converting static to dynamic caloric by luminous combustion, by means of the steam engine, is an exceedingly wasteful and costly method, and leaves much room for economy.

Taking an ordinary grade of petroleum as consisting of 13 per cent. hydrogen, 78 carbon, 6 oxygen, 3 nitrogen and ash, we have as its energy in foot pounds per pound of oil—

19,454 × 772 = 15,018,488 foot pounds. Thus, while our best coal contains twelve million, the petroleum contains fifteen million foot pounds of occluded energy in each pound, which is equal to 118,000,000 foot pounds, or 60 horse power for one hour, from one gallon of such oil.

At present electricity is generated by two methods, and both of these are second powers. Metals are smelted by luminous combustion as a first power, and then oxidized by non-luminous combustion as a second power, and coal is consumed by luminous combustion, by which steam is generated as a first power, to drive a dynamo-generator whereby electricity is obtained as a second power. Now, of the two methods, the latter is much the cheaper, and as I have shown that the best compound condensing engines only utilize 8.94, and a fair average single cylinder condensing engine only utilizes 5.42 per cent. of the energy of the fuel consumed, and as at the best not over 70 per cent. of the foot pounds obtained from the engine can be utilized as electricity, from which we must deduct loss by friction, etc., it will be readily seen that not more than 5 per cent. of the energy of the fuel can be developed by the dynamo-generator as electricity by the present method.

The great want of the present age is a process by which the static caloric of carbon or a hydrocarbon maybe set free by non-luminous combustion; or, in other words, a process by which coal or oil may be oxidized at a low degree, within an insulated vessel; if this can be accomplished (and I can see no reason why we should not look for such invention), we would be able to produce from twelve to fifteen million foot pounds of energy (electricity) from one pound of petroleum, or from ten to twelve million foot pounds from one pound of good coal, which would be a saving of from 90 to 95 per cent. of present cost, and leave the steam engine for historical remembrance.

Electricity may be generated by water or wind power to great advantage, and conveyed to a distance for motive power. The practicability of generating electricity at Niagara by which to propel trains to New York and return may be considered almost settled; and I conceive a second invention of importance which is now needed is an apparatus by which the rising and falling tides may be utilized for driving dynamo machines, by which electricity may be generated for lighting the coast cities, and it is not unreasonable to expect that such an apparatus will soon be provided; and in such an event gas companies would suffer.

It is a well known fact among electricians that the volume and tension of electricity vary both in the earth and in the atmosphere at different sections of the earth's surface, and I conceive that we may yet find means of utilizing this differential tension of electricity; indeed, it is reported that during a recent storm the wires of an ocean cable were grounded at both ends and a sufficient current for all practical purpose flowed from the European to the American continent, with all batteries removed, showing that the tension was so much greater in Europe as to cause the electricity to flow through the copper cable to this side in preference to passing through the earth or the sea. It is also said that during an east-going storm it was found impossible to work the telegraph lines between New York and Buffalo, but on taking off the batteries at both ends and looping the ends of the wire in the air, that a constant current of electricity passed from Buffalo to New York, and the line was kept in constant use in that direction without any battery connection until the storm abated. Now, how far or to what advantage we may be able to utilize this differential tension of electricity in the earth and the air, we cannot now say; but I think that we may justly look for valuable developments in this direction.

If, as I verily believe, a process will soon be discovered by which dynamic caloric can be produced by the oxidation of petroleum with non-luminous combustion in an insulated chamber, as we now oxidize zinc, electricity will then be obtained from so small a weight, and at such a low cost, as to insure aerial navigation beyond a doubt. Not with balloons and their cumbrous inflations, but with machines capable of carrying the load, and traveling by displacement of the air at high velocities. Therefore we may expect that aerial navigation will be developed in the near future to be one of the greatest enterprises of the world.

And lastly, will it pay to use luminous combustion as a first power for generating dynamic caloric for use as a second power, as is now practiced?

At the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, gas is consumed in an Otto gas engine, which drives a Gramme generator; and the lecture room is lighted with electricity, and I am informed that the light is both better and cheaper than when they used the gas in the ordinary gas burners. Hence we may expect to see gas consumed to advantage for producing electric lights.

Considering the difficulties of transmitting steam power to a considerable distance, and the comparative great cost of running small engines, it is more than likely that electricity as at present generated will be found to be economical for driving small motors.

Having thus endeavored to explain what electricity is, and the laws which govern the occlusion of static caloric, and the development of dynamic caloric (electricity), in conclusion I call the attention of the inventors of the age to the great need of a process for oxidizing coal or oil at a low degree, within an insulated vessel. With such an invention electricity would be obtained at such a low cost that it would be used exclusively to light and heat our houses, to smelt, refine, and manipulate our metals, to propel our cars, wagons, carriages, and ships, cook our food, and drive all machinery requiring motive power.[1]

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