South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-03-26
Hop Electricity Game Into
Human Service
By GARRETT p. SERVISS.

A reader asks how electricity is
made. We cannot make electricity,
we can only produce it, l. e.. lead
it forth" That is all that is meant
by the phrase generating electrici-
ty." All nature is full of electricity,
and recent investigations tend to-
ward establishing the belief that ev-
cry thing is based on electricity.
To get electricity in the forms in
which we have learned to know it,
We must follow certain processes.
In describing these it is important
TO remember that electricity mani
tests itself in two forms, or states,
one of which we call positive and
the other negative. A body is said
TO be electrified when a quantity of
electricity, called a charge, has been
collected upon it. The charge may
be either positive or nesative. TWO
charges of the same kind appear to
repel one another, and two of OPP
posite kinds 10 attract one another,
just as occurs with the poles and
magnets. Yet magnetism and cleo
tricity are not the same thing. al
though they are intimately related.
Electricity, under proper condi-
tons, appears to flow, as if it We're
a fluid. 1t passes through some
things very readily, and such things
are called conductors Most metals
are conductors. Other tninss. such
as glass and hard rubber. resist the
passage of electricity and are called
non-conductors, or insulators. Dry
air is an insulator The ground
especially when moist, is a ready
conductor.
There are three principal ways Of
producing electricity, or electrical
effects The easiest is by friction.
If you take a glass rod and rub it
with a silk handkerchief the rod
will become charged with positive
electricity. and if YOU bring the end
of II near bits of paper, or sawdust,
or any small objects. they Will fly
TO it. You can also produce mega
tive electricity by a method in
which the house cat may play az
important part, II she will allow you
TO stroke her fur rapidly with rod
OF ebonized indiarubber. Rubbing
the rod with wool will answer, but
cats fur is better.
A little ingenuity on your part
will enable you, by inbuine light,
suspended bodies with opposite
charges of electricity by touching
them with the rods. 10 experiment
for yourself with some OF the laws
OF electricity. and thus to Introduce
an instructive amusement into the
household.
The electrical machines former
Is TO be seen in the equipment OF
all ambitious public schools, act
on the principle or the production
of electricity by friction. But the
small amount OF electricity that
can thus be produced. and the fact
that il does not flow away in cur
rents but distributes itself through
violent sparks, render friction-pro-
duced electricity Of no value as a
source OF mechanical power The
electricity of the thunjer-cloud is OF
this variety, called static electricity
because OF its tendency 10 collect
and stand fast, as it we're. until the
increasing strain causes a ruption.
A second method Of producing
electricify. and one of immense
practical importance, is by chemi-
cal action Strips OF two different
metals. such as copper and zinc. are
immersed in jar OF acidulated wa
ter. each strip being connected with
a metallic wire. which forms a
cou,Dlete circuit OF any desired
length.
AS soon as the metals are lower