The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1920-08-27
ELECTRICITY.
Why u 10 Difficult. FOR tAs Laymss -
UNDERSTAND What IL Is.


lite query with people y ho desire to
Nget q riseV out q a scientific man
And when he falls to answer il in
the same simple fashion that he
might treat the question "What is
q BISCUIT" the qucstioner cries out:
SAha! You profess to know all
about electricity. Why, you can't
e7en tell what it Is"
Now, to "tell what thing is"-
that is, to define its to state tn
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 az vibration of material par
ticles Light, he has been told, is
q wa, motion in the ether, and he
underst ends the ether to be kind
OF matter or a substance resem-
bling matter in some particulars.
1t Is not to be denied that no
such simple general relationship
can be stated between electricit,
and matter. But, this being so, il
would be just as correct to say that
we 90 not know what matter is Ct
that we do not know what electrici-
ty Is. rs matter of fact, we do
not know what matter is, and the
latest plausible theory Of it builds
IL 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 secondarilv, through its action
upon matter-the light or heat thai
it causes matter to give out, the It
traction that it causes certain sub
stances to exert, and so on. To thu
man in the street, therefore, matte
is familiar, and he demands a stat
ment of the latter in terms Of ii
former, illogical though this ma
be. After the scientist has stated
all this the reply comes back, eyes
l understand all that, and it /
most clear, I am sure, but tell me
then, what is electricity anyway"
Another source of confusion (
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 theoret
ical electrician calls "eleetric enc
gy."
To find the enemy Of electricity
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 product
itself measures the thing that he
calls Electricity"
The work that a pound Of water
may do by falling a foot is one foot
pund. The water is the same after
.Iliing as before, though its energy
Is less. So to the electrician q
quantity of electricity at 100 uolts
Is precisely the same as at one volt,
though the former is able to do q
hundred times as much work.
This difference in meaning causes
thousands of disputes among stu
dents. electricity is form OF
energy" says one, ''just like light
OF heat" ooh, mop is the reply
at is not energy at all, though It
may possess or convey energy" One
disputant is talking about the cleo
tricity of the physical and the Other
about that of the engineer; hence
their dispute is merely matter o
definition, though they do not know
It. What wonder that some peopt
{ re still content to regard the whole
sabi It ps civiliu Numbo " IN
'o2- ST. / s lar BIZ