The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1912-11-29
ELECTRICITY.
Why IL 10 Difficult For the layman "a
Understand What r. ls.

why u 10 DtncuI For the IoymaH q
Understand What r. Is.
"What is electricity ?" is favor
ite query with people who desire to
~get rise" out of a scientific man.
And when he fails to answer it in
the same simple fashion that he
might treat the question "What is
9 biscuit?" the questioner cries out:
"Aha! You profess to know all
about electricity. Why, you can't
even tell what it isp'
Now, to "tell what 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 vibration of material par
ticles. Light, he has been told, is
a.wave motion in the ether, and he
understands the ether to be kind
Of matter or a substance resem-
hing matter in some particulars.
It is not to be denied that no
such simple general relationship
can be stated between electricity
and matter. But, this being so, il
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 de
not know what matter is, and the
latest plausible theory of it buildl
It up on an electric basis, 80 that OF
this theory the idea of electricity il
more fundamental than that O
matter. Unfortunately our sense
have been evolved by contact Will
matter and are trained to detec
only matter. Electricity they know
only secondarily, through its actor
upon matter-the light or heat ths
it causes matter to give out, the at
traction that it causes certain sub
stances to exert. and so on. To tn
mar in the street, therefore, matte
Is familiar, and he demands state
rnerlt Of the latter IN terms of tn
former, illogical though. this ma,
be. After the scientist has state,
all this the reply comes back, "Yes
I understand all that, and it
most clear, I am sure, put tell me
then, what is electricity anyway"
Another source of confusion t
the lay mind is that scientific me
do not always use the word "elec
tricity" to mean the same thing
The engineer often employs it t
express the thing that the theore'
ical electrician calls electric enel
gy."
To find the energy of elcctricit
that is, its ability to do work
the electrician multiplies the quar-
tit of electricity bt the potenti'
or tension under which IT exist
But to the engineer ti.is produc
itself mcasures TIE thing that /
calls Electricity
The WORK that i pound of wut'
may Go by falling foot is on fox
pound. The water is the same aft,
falling as before, though its enere
is less. So to the electrician
quantity of electricity at 100 vol
is precisely the same as aAbnr vol
though the former is able to do
hundred times as much work.
This difference in meaning caus
thousands of disputes among st
dents. ELECTRICITY is a form
energy" says one, Gust like ligl
or heat" "Oh, mol" is the repl
'Tt is not energy at ell, though
may possess or convey energy" o.
disputant Is talking about the ele
tricity of the physical and the 9th
about that of the engineer; hen
their dispute is merely g. matter
definition, though they d, not knc
it. What wonder that some peor
are still content to regard the who
subject as civilized Mumbo Jul
be ?-St. Louis Republic.
Difficult TO Catch.