The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1911-12-08
ELECTRICITY.
Why II Is Difficult For the Layman 4.
Understand What II Is.

What is'electricityY' is a favor
lite query with people who desire "a
get a rise out of a scientific man
And when he fails 10 answer it in
the same simple fashion that he
might treat the question ''Nhat is
a biscuit" the questioner cries out
aha! You profess to know all
about electricity. Why, you can't
yen tell what it isv'
Now, TO "tell what a thing is
that is, TO define its 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, ne has been told, is
awave motion in the ether. and he
understands the ether to be a kind
Of matter or n 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 llow what matter is as
that we do net 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 on
this theory the idea Of electricity is
more fundamental than that OF
matter. Unfortunately our senses
have been evolved b. contact with
matter and are trained to detect
only matter. Electricity they know
only secondarily, through its action
upon matter-the light or heat that
1t causes matter to give out, the at
traction that it causes certain sub
stances to exert, and so on. To the
man N the street, therefore, matter
is familiar. and he demands a state
nent of the latter in terms of the
former, illogical though this NAV
be. After the scientist has stated
this the reply comes back. Eyes,
understand all that. and it is
most clear, | am sure, but tell me,
hen, what is electricity anyway"
Another source of confusion to
The lay mind is that scientific men
10 not always use the word ~"elec-
to mean the same thing.
The engineer often employs it to
the thing that the theoret-
electrician calls electric ener-
""
To find the energy of electricity
is, its ability to do work
he electrician multiplies the quan.
ity Of electricity by the potentias
II tension under which it exists.
to the engineer this product
tself measures the thing that he
alls electricity"
The work that a pound Of water
nay do by falling a foot is one foot
'ound. The water is the same after
as before, though its energy
5 less. So to the electrician a
Iuantity of electricity at 100 volts
5 precisely the same as at one volt,
the former is able to do a
hundred times as much work.
This difference in meaning causes
of disputes among stu
electricity is a form of
nergy," says one, Gust like light
II heat" "0h, no." Is the reply.
1t is not energy at all, though it
nay possess or convey energy One
isputant is talking about the cleo
Of the physical and the other
bout that Of the engineer; hence
heir dispute is merely a matter Of
efnition, though they do not know
What wonder that some people
re still content TO regard the whole
as a civilized Mumbo jun