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Re: Heavyside Revisited
All:
Anyone remember Oliver Heavyside? [No, I don't mean personally!]
Another unsung hero of the late 18th century, Heavyside said (while
revolutionizing
long distance communications - or maybe INVENTING it): "Heretofore, it has
been the fashion to consider electricity as some material thing, or current,
flowing
in the wires. We reverse this.." [paraphrase].
He determined that electricity was not in the wires, which he called
"obstructors",
but in the electric fields in the dielectric between conductors! Electric
current, as
described by Maxwell, was a mere mathematical convenience and could not be
observed in nature (note that the "flow" of electrons in current-carrying wires
have
been clocked at break-neck speeds of up to 17 cm/s!). The concept "current"
merely describes the field's interaction with the obstructors.
Along came Sprague who, while conceding that Heavyside's description was the
correct one, went on to suggest that "if we embrace Dr. Heavyside's ideas then
the practical electrician would likely go insane when furnishing even the
simplest
lighting system" [again paraphrasing].
And so, Heavyside went out of favour at the universities and the "current is in
the wires" description of electricity is what has been tought ever since.
Imagine! One hundred years of utilizing electricity - some times loads of it,
eh Robert? - and we still have no idea what it is! There is a revolution in
science
out there, waiting to happen.
Jeffrey (I'll shut up now, Chip!) Wiggins