ON THE DISSIPATION OF THE ELECTRICAL ENERGY OF THE HERTZ RESONATOR.

ANYONE who, like myself, has had the pleasure of witnessing the beautiful demonstrations with
vibrating diaphragms which Prof. Bjerknes, exhibited in person at the Paris Exposition in 1880, must
have admired his ability and painstaking care to such a degree, as to have an almost implicit faith in the
correctness of observations made by him. His experiments "On the Dissipation of the Electrical Energy
of the Hertz Resonator," which are described in the issue of Dec. 14, of THE ELECTRICAL ENGINEER, are
prepared in the same ingenious and skillful manner, and the conclusions drawn from them are all the
more interesting as they agree with the theories put forth by the most advanced thinkers. There can not
be the slighest doubt as to the truth of these conclusions, yet the statements which follow may serve to
explain in part the results arrived at in a different manner; and with this object in view I venture to call
attention to a condition with which, in investigations such as those of Prof. Bjerknes, the experimenter
is confronted.
The apparatus, oscillator and resonator, being immersed in air, or other discontinuous medium, there
occurs as I have pointed out in the description of my recent experiments before the English and
French scientific societies dissipation of energy by what I think might be appropriately called
electric sound waves or sound-waves of electrified air. In Prof. Bjerknes's experiments principally this
dissipation in the resonator need be considered, though the sound-waves if this term be permitted
which emanate from the surfaces at the oscillator may considerably affect the observations made at
some distance from the latter. Owing to this dissipation the period of vibration of an air-condenser can
not be accurately determined, and I have already drawn attention to this important fact.
These waves are propagated at right angles from the charged surfaces when their charges are
alternated, and dissipation occurs, even if the surfaces are covered with thick and excellent insulation.
Assuming that the "charge" imparted to a molecule or atom either by direct contact or inductively is
proportionate to the electric density of the surface, the dissipation should be proportionate to the square
of the density and to the number of waves per second. The above assumption, it should be stated, does
not agree with some observations from which it appears that an atom can not take but a certain
maximum charge; hence, the charge imparted may be practically independent of the density of the
surface, but this is immaterial for the present consideration. This and other points will be decided when
accurate quantitative determinations, which are as yet wanting, shall be trade. At present it appears
certain from experiments with, high-frequency currents, that this dissipation of energy from a wire, for
instance, is not very far from being proportionate to the frequency of the alternations, and increases
very rapidly when the diameter of the wire is made exceedingly small. On the latter point the recently
published results of Prof. Ayrton and H. Kilgour on "The Thermal Emissivity of Thin Wires in Air"
throw a curious light. Exceedingly thin wires are capable of dissipating a comparatively very great
amount of energy by the agitation of the surrounding air, when they are connected to a source of
rapidly alternating potential. So in the experiment cited, a thin hot wire is found to be capable of
emitting an extraordinarily great amount of heat, especially at elevated temperatures. In the case of a
hot wire it must of course be assumed that the increased emissivity is due to the more rapid convection
and not, to any, appreciable degree, to an increased radiation. Were the latter demonstrated, it would

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The Electrical Engineer Dec 21, 1892, p. 587
show that a wire, made lint by the application of beat in ordinary ways, behaves in some respects like
one, the charge of which is rapidly alternated, the dissipation of energy per unit of surface kept at a
certain temperature depending on the curvature of the surface. I do not recall any record of experiments
intended to demonstrate this, yet this effect, though probably very small, should certainly be, looked
for.
A number of observations showing the peculiarity, of very thin wires were made in the course of my
experiments. I noted, for instance, that in the well-known Crookes instrument the mica vanes are
repelled with comparatively greater force when the incandescent platinum wire is exceedingly thin.
This observation enabled me to produce the spin of such vanes mounted in a vacuum tube when the
latter was placed in an alternating electrostatic field. This however does not prove anything in regard to
radiation, as in a highly exhausted vessel tile phenomena are principally due to molecular
bombardment or convection.
When I first undertook to produce the incandescence of a wire enclosed in a bulb, by connecting it
to only one of the terminals of a high tension transformer, I could not succeed for a long time. On one
occasion I had mounted in a bulb a thin platinum wire, but my apparatus was not adequate to produce
the incandescence. I made other bulbs, reducing the length of the wire to a small fraction; still I did not
succeed. It then occurred to me that it would be desirable to have the surface of the wire as large as
possible, yet the bulk small, and I provided a bulb with an exceedingly thin wire of a bulk about equal
to that of the short but much thicket wire. On turning the current on the bulb the wire was instantly
fused. A series of subsequent experiments showed, that When the diameter of the wire was exceedingly
small, considerably, more energy would be dissipated per unit surface at all degrees of exhaustion than
was to be expected, even on the assumption that the energy given, off was in proportion to the square of
the electric density. There is likewise evidence which, though not possessing the certainty of an
accurate quantitative determination, is nevertheless reliable because it is the result of a great many
observations, namely, that with the increase of the density the dissipation is more rapid for thin than for
thick wires.
The effects noted in exhausted vessels with high-frequency currents are merely diminished in degree
when the air is at ordinary pressure, but beating and dissipation occurs, as I have demonstrated, under
the ordinary atmospheric conditions. Two very thin wires attached to the terminals of a high-frequency
coil are capable of giving off an appreciable amount of energy. When the density is very great, the
temperature of the wires may be perceptibly raised, and in such case probably the greater portion of the
energy which is dissipated owing to the presence of a discontinuous medium is transformed into heat at
the surface for in close proximity , to the wires: Such heating could not occur in a medium
possessing ,either of the two qualities, namely, perfect incompressibility or perfect elasticity. In fluid
insulators, such as oils, though they are far from being perfectly incompressible or elastic to electric
displacement, the heating is much smaller because of the continuity of the fluid.
When the electric density of the wire surfaces is small, there is no appreciable local beating,
nevertheless energy is dissipated in air, by waves, which differ from ordinary sound-waves only
because the air is electrified. These waves are especially conspicuous when the discharges of a
powerful battery are directed through a short and thick metal bar, the number of discharges per second
being very small. The experimenter may feel the impact of the air at distances of six feet or more from
the bar, especially if be takes the precaution to sprinkle the face or hands with ether. These waves
cannot be entirely stopped by the interposition of an insulated metal plate.
Most of the striking phenomena of mechanical displacement, sound, beat and light which have been
observed, imply the presence of a medium of a gaseous structure that is one consisting of independent
carriers capable of free Motion.
When a glass plate is placed near a condenser the charge of which is alternated, the plate emits a
sound. This sound is due to the rythmical impact of the air against the plate. I have also found that the
ringing of a condenser, first noted by Sir William Thomson, is due to the presence of the air between or
near the charged surfaces.
When a disruptive discharge coil is immersed in oil contained in a tank, it is observed that the
surface of the oil is agitated. This may be thought to be duo to the displacements produced in the oil by
the changing stresses, but such is not the case. It is the air above the oil which is agitated and causes the
motion of the latter; the oil itself would remain at rest. The displacements produced in it by changing
electrostatic stresses are insignificant; to such stresses it may be said to be compressible to but a very
small degree. The action of the air is shown in a curious manner for if a pointed metal bar is taken in
the hand and held with the point close to the oil, a hole two inches deep is formed in the oil by the
molecules of the air, which are violently projected from the point.
The preceding statements may have a general bearing upon investigations in which currents of high
frequency and potential are made use of, but they also have a more direct bearing upon the experiments
of Prof. Bjerknes which are here considered, namely, the "skin effect," is increased by the action of the
air. Imagine a wire immersed in a medium, the conductivity of which would be some function of the
frequency and potential difference but such, that the conductivity increases when either or bout of these
elements are increased. In such a medium, the higher the frequency and potential difference, the greater
wilt be the current which will find its way through the surrounding medium, and the smaller the part
which will pass through the central portion of the wire: In the case of a wire immersed in air and
traversed by a high-frequency current, the facility with which the energy is dissipated may be
considered as the equivalent of the conductivity; and the analogy would be quite complete, were it not
that besides the air another medium is present, the total dissipation being merely modified by the
presence of the air to an extent as yet not ascertained. Nevertheless, I have sufficient evidence to draw
the conclusion, that the results obtained by Prof. Bjerknes are affected by the presence of air in the
following manner: 1. The dissipation of energy is more rapid when the resonator is immersed in air
than it would be in a practically continuous medium, for instance, oil. 2. The dissipation owing to the
presence of air renders the difference between magnetic and non-magnetic metals more striking. The
first conclusion follows directly from the preceding remarks; the second follows front the two facts that
the resonator receives always the same amount of energy, independent of the nature of the metal, and
that the magnetism of the metal increases the impedance of the circuit A resonator of magnetic metal
behaves virtually as though its circuit were longer. There is a greater potential difference set up per unit
of length; although this rosy not show itself in the deflection of the electrometer owing to the lateral
dissipation. The effect of the increased impedance is strikingly illustrated in the two experiments of
Prof. Bjerknes when copper is deposited upon an iron wire, and next iron upon a copper wire.
Considerable thickness of copper deposit was required in the former experiment, but very little
thickness of iron in the latter, as should be expected.
Taking the above views, I believe, that in the experiments of Prof. Bjerknes which lead him to
undoubtedly correct conclusions, the air is a factor fully as important, if not more so, than the resistance
of the metals.