Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1901-03-21

Y oSsi LeSeks
From Earth and Distance From the
sun-For.nuIas Must Be Rewritten.
Nikola Tesla announced the other
day another new discovery in cleo
tricity. This time it is a new law, and
by reason OF it, MIR. Tesla asserts, a
large part of technical literature will
have to be rewritten. Ever since any
thing has been known about electricity
scientific men have taken for granted
that the capacity of an electrical con-
ductor is constant When Tesla was
experimenting in Colorado, he found
out that this capacity is not constant,
but variable. Then he determined to
find out the law governing this phe-
nomenon. He did so, and all this he
explained to the New York Sun. Here
is what he said:
For many years scientific men en-
gagged in the study of physics and cleo
trical research have taken it for grant
ed that certain quantities, entering con-
tinuously in their estimates and calcu-
lations are fixed and unalterable. The
exact determination of these quantities
being of particular Importance in cleo
trical vibrations, which are engrossing
more and more the attention of expert
mentors all over the world it seems
to me important to acquaint others
with some of my observations, which
have finally led me to the results now
attracting universal attention. These
observations, with which l have long
been familiar, show that some of the
quantities referred to are variable and
that, owing to this, large portion of
the technical literature is defective. |
shall endeavor to convey the knoWl-
edge of the facts l have discovered in
plain language devoid as much as pos
sible of technicaltes.
cit is well known that an electric cir
cult COMFORTS itself like spring with a
weight attached to it. Such spring
vibrates at definite rate, which is de-
termined by two quantities, the pliabil-
ity of the spring and the mass of the
weight. Similarly an electric circuit
vibrates, and its vibration, too, is de-
pendent on two quantities, designated
as electrostatc capacity and induct-
ance. The capacity of the electric cir
cult corresponds to the pliability of the
spring and the inductance to the mass
of the weight.
Exactly as mechanics and engineers
have taken it for granted that the plia-
blllty Of the spring remains the same,
no matter how it be placed or used so
electricians and physicists have as
sumed that the electrostatic capacity
OF conducting body, say of metallic
sphere which is frequently used in ex-
perlments, remains a fixed and I'M
alterable quantity, and many scientific
results of the greatest Importance are
dependent on this assumption Now,
l have discovered that this capacity is
not fixed and unalterable at all. On
the contrary, it is susceptible to great
changes, SO that under certain con-
dltlons it may amount to many times
its theoretical value, or may eventually
be smaller. inasmuch every electric
al conductor, besides possessing an in
ductance, has also a certain amount Of
capacity, owing to the variations Of the
latter. The inductance, too, is seeming
ly modified by the same causes that
tend to modify the capacity. These
facts | discovered some time before I
gave technical description of my sys-
TEN of energy transmission and teleg-
raphy without wires, which, believe,
became first known through my Bel
gian and British patents.
I'm this system l then explained that
in estimating the wave length Of the
electrical vibration in the transmitting
and receiving circuits due regard must
be had to the velocity with which the
vibration is propagated through each
of the circuits, this velocity being Civ
en- by the product of the wave length
and the number Of vibrations per sec
ond. The rate of vibration being, how
ever, as before stated, dependent on the
capacity and nductance in each case,
obtained diScordant values. Continu-
ing the investigation Of this astonish-
ing phenomenon, l observed that the
capacity varied with the elevation Of
the conducting surface above the
ground, and l soon aScertained the law
of this variation The capacity in
creased as the conducting surface was
elevated in open space from one-half to
three-quarterS of ! per cent per each
foot of elevation. In buildings. how
ever, or near large structures, this in
crease often amounted to 80 per cent
per foot of elevation, and this alone
will show to what an extent many of
the scientific experiments recorded in
technical literature are erroneous. In
determining the length Of the coils, or
conductors, such as l employ in my
system of wireless telcgraphy, for in
stance, the rule which have given is,
in view of the above, important to OBJ
serve.
Far more interesting, however, for
men OF science is the fact l discovered
later-that the capacity undergoes an
annual variation, with a maximum in
summer and a minimum in winter. In
Colorado, where | continued with i'm
proved mpth tho inypSt iTo tionS be-