Show ri electrical f E C TERMS explanation OF THE A LUCID lawa OF electricity t tle lie flow ef of water if one no in the ordinary household so fee S eter Y Itla keally dily co comprehend pre the 1 flo w or V current probably few people when turning on a water faucet in their bouse house or playing a hose in their garden ever realize that the laws controlling the flow of water have a to thoo those governing the sinji similarity larity eat great fluid and whether they subtler turn on a faucet or an electric light certain conditions condition exist e and certain actions ch ere are analog analogous lous follow rn ina which the water wate r in the faucet Is under a and bount amount of larco an water breon nr eon tain an butof the faucet dependent upon thia this flow au and a upon the size of the faucet pressure an electric current in a wire Is under it and an amount of current certain tsin pressure flows bows through Lh the wire dependent upon the pressure re C und epou the size of the wire in a garden hose water under good if allowed to escape through a small par 11 foizie nozzle will bo be forced a considerable dist distance anee in an incandescent lamp current under A fair pressure is allowed to c escape a cap through the minute filament of the jump lamp beats the filament to incandescence and throws throw out beams bennis of light not that electricity is a fluid in the sense that water Is or that there is any actual transference of matter when current passes through a wire as there is when water flows tb through rou gh a pipe but there is a close analogy between the laws govern governing ing tho the two and it is just as easy and as simple to predict the actions of one within a certain range of condition conditions as it is of the other the great trouble baa bas been that electricians ci sins have thrown a veil of 0 mystery over their calling by naming all their units after F french rench and german celebrities this has led to no end of contusion confusion volta amperes ohms watts joules and coulomb coulom bs are becoming common words in print in these days of great electrical activity but they express about m much meaning to the average person as a it chinese laundry moni mans sign pounds quarts and the rest of our everyday units of measurement are re familiar to every school child so will volta volts and amperes be some day when the american people pl 0 are better acquainted with the doings of these distinguished foreigners and the units ardts their names now rc represent present alexander volta was a professor of physics in pavia who accomplished a great deal in a it scientific way consequently electricians ians not only erected a marble tablet to bis his memory but agreed to name the electrical pound per square foot after him and go so the unit of electrical pressure Is the volt similarly we are compelled to write our electrical gallon with an accent over the last syllable of ampere ohm has bas bad had his name used as the unit of electrical resistance ever since be he gave to the world his celebrated law on the flow of current ohm said that the amount of current going through a copper wire was proportioned to the pressure under which this current worked and to the size of the wire this Is 1 not very different from what any Wyla common hense would see was true of water flowing through a it hone the amount of water la 14 of course proportional to the pressure under which it works and to the bize size of the hose ohm made a great reputation on this discovery and since his hi tune time other people have been finding out that what ts is true of water Is also analogously true of look at an electric road A wire carrying current Is stretch til through the air and all a man has to do to move a car containing people along a street is to connect tho the car machinery with the wire by a pole if the wire was a pipe carrying water under a considerable pressure and this pipe could be connected to the car by a movable hose a water motor would make the car move just as the electric motoi doand do and moreover the water would flow through tho the pipe and the hose hosed and the motor to tho the ground fulling failing from a con miserable md mid frable erable pres pressure suro to zero pressure just as the current flows through the wire wim and the trolley arin and the motor to the ground falling from oooo volts pressure to zero pressure or potential as it may be called which is the potential of the earth just as the zero potential of water Is the u a level I 1 moreover as a certain number vt vf gallons of water will flow through the pipe the hose and the motor dependent upon the size of the pipe the hose and the motor and the pre pressure lisure of the water so will it certain number of ampere amperes of current flow through the trolley wire tho the trolley arm and the motor winding dependent upon the size sizo of the wire in them all and anti the electrical pressure of the current A line of electric arc are lights are made to burn by inserting them one after the other in series in a line aline t arr ying current of a high pressure and the lom passage sage of the current through each light uses up a certain p percentage e ri of this pressure just as a series 0 of water wheels may be introduced in a b brook rook or a river where each wheel will similarly use up a it certain amount of tho pressure of the running water incandescent lights arc are burned without affecting the pressure in two wires run parallel to each other by connecting the two terminals of each lamp to the wires and allowing the current to pass through their filaments just as two water pipes running parallel to each other may be bo punctured with small holes wherever it is desired to have lave the currents of water escape I 1 in n neither case will the pressure be dimin diminished dished at any point except by an inconsiderable amount due to friction fric tiou though a larg large quantity of water or electric fluid will be used A mans body offers offen a resistance to the bassage lw sage of an electric current dependent upon the muscular and anti nerve fibers of the body the thickness of his skin and the conditions under which the current enters cute rs and leaves bis his body thia resistance depends therefore upon three variable factor factors and therein lies the uncertainty of electrocution A roans mans ability to withstand the effects of 0 a waterfall depends similarly upon udon the strength of the man and the point of application of the waters force here are two variable facts which can be disregarded go long as we have niagara fal falls 1 thia this would to be in au argument in fit vor borot of hydro cution 11 all electrical current phenomena have their exact parallel la in the flow of water and for the ready explanation of the one it Is t only necessary to understand under the other everybody understands their water faucets faucet i though they may not understand their th air plumber so should people understand the common uses of the mysterious current though they do not comprehend the csele es a end and perplexing perplex of expert a pert el elec 0 trici anaNew new york world the ma 9 now in course of publication tn in england including the quarterly review revie wit number 1001 of which more than 4 ai 3 ere of a decidedly religious character |