The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1909-12-17
ELECTRICITY.
why II 10 Difficult For the Layman 70
Understand What II Is.

What is electricity" is a favor
I lite query with people who desire to
get a rise" out of scientific man
And when he fails to answer il in
the same simple fashion that he
might treat the question What is
blscultT the questioner cries out
AHA! You profess to know all
about electricity. Why, you can't
even tell what it is"
Now, to tell what a thing is
that is, to define its to state ia
relations with something more IA
plliar. The particular familiar
thing that the questioner is think
ing of IN this case is ordinary mat
ter. Heat has been explained TO
him as a vibration Of material par
ticles. Light, he mas been told. il
a wave motion in the ether, and he
understands the ether to be a kind
OF matter or substance resem-
bling matter in some particulars.
1t Is not to be denied that no
such simple general relationship
can be stated between electricity II
and matter But, this being so. il
would be Just as correct TO sav that
we do not know what matter is "a
that we do not know what electrici- I
ty Is. As matter Of fact. we do ]
not know what matter is. and the
latest plausible theory of it builds \
It up on an electric basis, so that on ]
this theory the idea Of electricity is
more fundamental than that Of
matter. Unfortunately our senses
have been evolved by contact with
matter and are trained to detect v
only matter. Electricity they know R
only secondarily, through its action 0
lpon matter-the light or heat that
I causes matter to give out. the at @
.ractlon that II causes certain sub lC
tances TO exert, and So on. To the tc
nan IN the street. therefore. matter d.
familiar. and he demesds a state n
nent Of the latter il terri Of tie Il i
ormer. illogical thou~' tits may
e. AFTER the scientist hr statoi NJ
II this the reply comes LEX. o. 10 -
understand all that. and it is n
lost clear, | am sure. but tell ne. III
hen, what is electricity anyway ?" an
Another source of confusion to %
he lay mind is thai scientific men "
0 not always use the word "elec- co
1city to mean the same thing.
he engineer often EMPLOYS it 10 n,
rpress the thing that the theoret- :
al electrician calls electric ener-
v"
To find the energy of electricity ~
that Is, its ability to do work M
he electrician multiplies the guam e !"
ty Of electricity by the potential -,
tension under which it exists. toI
ut to the engineer this product .ac
self measures the thing that he :,
lis electricity" aoo
The work that a pound of water Of of
ay do by falling foot is one foot ~,
,und. The water is the same after
ling as before, though its energy A,
less. So to the electrician
lantity Of electricity at 100 volts r,
precisely the same as at one volt. i 5oii
ough the former is able to do a one
inbred times as much work. , Sn'
This difference in meaning causes l Dsf'
ousands of disputes among stu eo COZ
nts. Electricity is a form of 1srI
ergy," says one, Gust like light , I,ss
heat" ooh, nor is the reply. drsI
t Is not energy at all, though it Pr i
~ possess or convey energy" One III
putant is talking about the cleo in
city of the physical and the other corr cor
out that of the engineer; hence the
Dir dispute is merely a matter of ontI
inition, though they do not know p,o
What wonder that some people -
still content to regard the whole Uni
,ject as civilized Mumbo jun llU|