I have read and re-read Franklin's Experiments and Observation on Electricity for the absolutely astonishing brilliance of its analysis of electrical phenomena. In it he floats the idea of the "electrical fluid or PARTICLES" (emphasis mine), meaning that he anticipated the idea of the electron. There are numerous other surprises in this text that will impress the reader with the near prescience of the great man. In it, he coins the term "cold fusion", although referring to another phenomenon different from that discussed commonly on this list.As an interesting side note, it's quite possible the the American revolution would not have succeeded without the existence of this book. Franklin's credibility as ambassador to France was based almost entirely on European acceptance of his electrical experiments and theories. Because of his electrical experiments he was easily the most famous man in the world at the time. His scientific fame gave him enormous influence in garnering French support for Washinton's armies. Louis XVI was said to be so annoyed with Franklin's fame that he had chamber pots made with Benjamin Franklin's picture at the bottom. Yes, it's odd that all of Franklin's known writings are not available online. What's up with that? You can get the most obscure literary works from sites like Gutenberg, but the writings of Franklin, Faraday, Maxwell, etc. are remarkably scarce.M. --- On Mon, 6/21/10, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> Subject: [Vo]:Franklin's electrical experiments [copy 2] To: [email protected] Date: Monday, June 21, 2010, 12:26 PM [Don't think this posted.] Check out this book: http://books.google.com/books?id=isEKAQAAIAAJ&pg Start around p. 289. (You can jump to that page by filling in the box at the top of the screen). This describes Franklin's experiments with electricity. Bear in mind that he was the first person ever to do most of this work. He discovered positive and negative electricity, the conservation of charge, and a bunch of other stuff. The letters here are like lab notes. This is astounding stuff. You can see why they made him a fellow of the Royal Society. The experiments on p. 290 were done by J. Canton but they are similar to Franklin's work, and they make reference to several of Franklin's hypotheses. I'll bet some modern physicists would be hard pressed to explain some of these findings in detail, such as: Experiment VIII: Having made the Torricellian vacuum about five feet long, after the manner described in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. xlvii. p. 370, if the excited tube be brought within a small distance of it, a light will be seen through more thin half its length; which soon vanishes, if the tube be not brought nearer; but will appear again, as that is moved farther off. -- This may be repeated several times, without exciting the tube afresh. This experiment may be considered as a kind of ocular demonstration of the truth of Mr. Franklin's hypothesis; that when the electrical fluid is condensed on one side of thin glass, it will be repelled from the other, if it meets with no resistance. According to which, at the approach of the excited tube, the fire is supposed to be repelled from the inside of the glass surrounding the vacuum, and to be carried through the columns of mercury; but as the tube is withdrawn, the fire is supposed to return. On p. 292 you see Franklin's experiments performed in Canton's presence, explained by Franklin: PREPARATION. Fix a tassel of fifteen or twenty threads, three inches long, at one end of a tin prime conductor (mine is about five feet long, and four inches diameter) supported by silk lines, Let the threads be a little damp, but not wet. EXPERIMENT I. Pass an excited glass tube near the other end of the prime conductor, so as to give it some sparks, and the threads will diverge.Because each thread, as well as the prime conductor, has acquired an electric atmosphere, which repels and is repelled by the atmospheres of the other threads: if those several atmospheres would readily mix, the threads might unite and hang in the middle of one atmosphere, common to them all. Rub the tube afresh, and approach the prime conductor therewith, crossways, near that end, but not nigh enough to give sparks ; and the threads will diverge a little more. Because the atmosphere of the prime conductor is pressed by the atmosphere of the excited tube, and driven towards the end where the threads are, by which each thread acquires more atmosphere. Withdraw the tube, and they will close as much. They close as much, and no mere; because the atmosphere of the glass tube not having mixed with the atmosphere of the prime conductor, is withdrawn entire, having made no addition to, or diminution from it Bring the excited tube under the tuft of threads, and they will close a little. They close, because the atmosphere of the glass tube repels their atmosphere, and drives part of them back on the prime conductor. Withdraw it, and they will diverge as much. For the portion of atmosphere which they had lost returns to them again. See how they use words from previously known phenomena such as "fire" and "fluid"? People seldom invent brand new words for new phenomena. Franklin and his contemporaries understood that electricity is not a "fluid" in same sense that liquid or gas condensed matter is, but they had to call it something, so they went with "fluid." I expect that in the future if the true nature of cold fusion is discovered, many of the words we use to describe the phenomena will come to sound quaint, borrowed, inexact, or downright wrong. If it turns out that Mills is wrong (which I do not predict or not predict) all this talk about hydrinos will sound like so much phlogiston. - Jed
