Benjamin Franklin and Electricity

Benjamin Franklin is rightly considered the principal founder of the scientific study of electrical phenomena. These Letters are the reports of his experiments, of theories he formed to explain the experiments' results, and more speculative theories he extrapolated from his observations and analysis of his findings.

The single most important discovery noted in these letters is that of polarity, that is, he found that all electrical potentials were not equivalent, but could be observed holding either of two opposite charges. To these he assigned the names we still use, positive and negative. Unfortunately, from our point of view, he assigned them in the opposite sense to our understanding -- "positive" meaning a deficit of free electrons -- which is why we now call the electron a negatively charged particle.

-- What led Franklin to the discovery of electric polarity?

-- Why did he assign the positive value to that charge which we now know indicates a deficiency of free electrons?

-- What was Franklin's explanation for the aurora borealis? How does it compare to our theories?

-- Franklin disgussed at length the role of electric forces in weather. We now know that he greatly exaggerated the role of electricity in shaping weather forces. On what points about weather was he broadly correct, and on what points in error? What might have led him to his erroneous conclusions?

. . .
ty of the soul? -- In what ways does this model of permanent "thought" underlying changing "matter" differ from the ancient Platonic concept of forms? Hermann Helmholtz, "On the Interaction of Natural Forces." From Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. Helmholtz, one of several scientists who in the mid-nineteenth century formulated the law of conservation of energy, began his discussion with an analysis of attempts to create perpetual-motion machines. Ruling this out as impossible, he goes on to demonstrate why, showing first the convertability of mechanical forces, then their relationship to chemical forces, and finally their relation to heat. From this analysis he introduces the concept of entropy, and speculates on the origins and ultimate fate of the heat source of the Solar System, which he interprets to be gravitational and compressional heating. He predicts an ultimate "heat death" of the Universe. -- What was the previous view of the nature of the vital force of living animals, which do not "run down" like, say, spring-loaded machines? -- What was Helmholtz's view? -- What were the functions of food, according to Helmholtz? -- How was the equivalence of mechanical forces and chemical forces determined
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Approximate Word count = 2973
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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