The Florida star., 1909-02-05
ELECTRICITY.
Why Il ls DifHeuit FOR the LaymsR 20
Understand What u Is.

Understand What u ls.
"What is electricity" is a favor
ite query with people who desire to
get rise" out of scientific man.
And when he fails to answer it in
the same simple fashion that he
might treat the question 'fWhat is
. biscuit2" the questioner cries out:
~AhaI You profess to know all
about electricity. Why, you can't
even tell what it isp
Now, to @tell what a thing is"-
that is, to define it's to state its
relations with something more ia
miliar. 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 has been told, is
Q wave motion in the ether, and he
understands the ether to be a kind
Of matter or q substance resem-
bling matter in some particulars.
1t is not to be denied that no
such simple general relationship
can be stated between electricity
and matter. But, this being so, it
would be just as correct to say that
we do not know what matter is as
that we do not know what electrici-
ty is. As a 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 OH
this theory the idea of electricity is
more fundamental than that oI
matter. Unfortunately our senses
have been evolved by contact with
matter and are trained to detect
only matter. Electricity they know
only secondarily, through its action
upon mstter-the light or heat thai
II causes matter to give out, the at
traction that it causes certain sub
stances to exert, and so on. To the
man in the street, therefore, matter
is familiar, and he demands a state
ment Of the latter in terms of thl
former, illogical though this MAJ
be. After the scientist has stated
all this the reply comes back, eyes
/ understand all that, and it i
most clear, / am sure, but tell me
then, what is electricity anyway"
Another source of confusion I,
the lay mind is that scientific mel
do not always use the word "elec
trlrity" 10 mean the same thing
The engineer often employs it T.
express the thing that the theoret
ical electrician calls electric ener
gy."
To find the energy of electricit,
that is, its ability to do work
the electrician multiplies the guam
tity of electricity by the potentia
or tension under which it exists
But to the engineer this produc
itself measures the thing that h
calls electricity"
The work that a pound of waite
may do by falling a foot is one foo
pound. The water is the same afte
falling as before, though its energ
!. is less. So to the electrician
quantity of electricity at 100 volt
is precisely the same as at one vol
though the former is able to do
hundred times as much work.
This difference in meaning cause
thousands of disputes among stu
dents. ELECTRICITY is a form @
energy" SAYS one, ''just like ligh
or heat" "Oh, now is the repl,
'Tt is not energy at all, though
may possess or convey energy On
disputant is talking about the ele,
tricity of the physical and the othC
about that OF the engineer: henC
their dispute is merely a matter {
definition, though they do not kno
ii. What wonder that some reopl
arr still content to regard the who
siGject as a civilized Mumbo Jun
bot.-St. Louis Republic.