Imponderable fluid
Imponderable fluids are features of several
atomic and electromotive theories
.
Description
The term has been used in
Fluids theories
In an article published in 1868, English inventor and polymath Fleeming Jenkin described myriad hypotheses of physics that had been put forth involving imponderable fluids:[3]
phlogiston, another light, and what not, with little hard atoms swimming about, each endowed with forces of repulsion and attraction of all sorts, as was thought desirable. This idea of the constitution of matter was perhaps the worst of all. These imponderable fluids were mere names, and these forces were suppositions, representing no observed facts.
No attempt was made to show how or why the forces acted, but
Ruđer Bošković[5] got rid of atoms altogether, by supposing them to be the mere centre of forces exerted by a position or point only, where nothing existed but the power of exerting a force.[6]
The electric fluid
The term "electric fluid" was sometimes used to describe
electric pendulum consists of weights to which an electric charge has been applied, such as through the static electric effect. As masses with similar charges (i.e. both positive or both negative) will repel each other, an "electric fluid" was conceived to explain the effect: "the fluid diffused on the one ball repels and is repelled by the fluid diffused on the other ball, and that the balls being covered by the fluid are reciprocally repelled."[7]
M. Martin Ziegler[8] patented a method of producing a "vital fluid" by combining nitrogen and carbon in a porous cell containing ammonia, immersed in a vessel tilled with molasses. The current was to flow through silk threads attached to the vessel: about 1868.[9]
See also
References
- ^ Textbook of Human Physiology, Leonard Landois , William Stirling, 1889
- ^ Scientific Realism: How Science Tracks Truth, Stathis Psillos, 1999, Routledge
- ^ Jenkin, Fleeming (1868). "The Atomic Theory of Lucretius". The North British Review. 48: 239. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
- ^ Time of describing a given space from rest under the action of a force varying as the distance from a fixed point. Principia By Sir Isaac Newton. Pg., 86
- ^ As defined by Boscovich and the French School, an atom was no longer a substantial entity, but a mathematical point, a center of force, and "matter" is a crowd of such points, endowed with inertia and powers of attraction and repulsion.(The Monist: Volume 20. By Edward C. Hegeler, Paul Carus, Hegeler Institute, 1910. Page 220.)
- ^ The North British review. (1868). Edinburgh: W.P. Kennedy Pg 126.
- ^ J Lardner, D. (1853 ). A hand-book of mechanics. Philadelphia 223.
- ^ U.S. patent 60986, Improved imponderable fluid, and mode of generating the same. Jan 1, 1867.
- Haydn's dictionary of dates and universal information relating to all ages and nations. N.Y: G.P. Putnam Pg 28
Further reading
- Grove, W. R. (1874). The correlation of physical forces. London: Longmans, Green.
- Priestley, J. (1767). The history and present state of electricity: With original experiments, by Joseph Priestley. London.
- Grotthus, "Sur la Composition de l'Eau et des Corps quelle tient en dissolution a l'aide de l'Electricite galvanique". (Tr., On the Composition of Water Bodies and what holds in solution with the aid of galvanic electricity.)