The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1913-11-21
ELECTRICITY.
Why IL 10 Difficult For the Layman 60
Understand What IL ls.

"Wlat is electricity" is a favor
tie query with people who desire to
"get a rise" out of scientific man.
And when he fails to answer it in
the same simple fashion that be
might treat the question "What is
a biscuit?" the questioner cries out:
"Ahal 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 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 rs hra'on of material par
ticles /. ii, he las been told, Is
a wave motion in the ether, and ne
understands the ether to be kind
of matte or substance resem-
bling matter n some particulars.
It is rot to be denied that no
such sin,ie general relationship
can be stated between electricity
and matter. But, this being so, it
would be just as correct to say that
we 90 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 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
only matter. Electricity they know
only secondarily, through its action
upon matter-the light or heat that
It 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 state
ment of the latter In terms of the
former, illogical though this may
be. After the scientist has stated
all this the reply comes back, Eyes,
understand all that, and it is
most clear, / am sure, but tell me,
then, what is electricity anyway"
Another source of confusion to
the lay mind is that scientific men
do not always use the word "elec-
tricity" to mean the same thing.
The engineer often employs it to
express the thing that the theoret-
ical electrician calls Electric ener-
gy."
To find the energy of electricity
that is, its ability to do work.
the electrician multiplies the guam
tity of electricity by the potential
or tension under which it exists.
But to the engineer this product
itself measures the thing that he
calls Electricity"
The work that a pound of water
may do by falling foo. is one foot
pound. The water IS the same after
falling as before, though It's energy
is less. So to the electrician a
Z quantity of electricity at 100 volts
q Is precisely the same as at ono volt,
o though the former is able to do a
hundred times as much work.
> This difference in meaning causes
thousands of disputes among stu
i dents. electricity is a form OF
l, energy" says one, "just like light
t CT heat" "Oh, no." is the reply.
'1t is not energy at all, though il
may possess or convey energy" One
i dhputant is talking about the elec,
10 tricity of the physical and the other
ls about that Of the engineer; hence
, their dispute is merely a matter oi
definition, though they do not know
It. What wonder that some people
Gre still content to regard the whole
subjnct as a ciyiliztd Mumbo Jnm
fo2- st. 10 is Tler tbhA