[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
TC Electrostatics Revisited IIIa
From: Richard Wayne Wall[SMTP:rwall-at-ix-dot-netcom-dot-com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 1997 1:40 PM
To: tesla-at-poodle.pupman-dot-com
Subject: TC Electrostatics Revisited III
Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 07:38:40 -0800
From: Richard Wayne Wall <rwall-at-ix-dot-netcom-dot-com>
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: TC Electrostatics
>12/5/96
>
>You wrote:
>
>snip
>[megaship] The force of interaction in the wires is not a Coulombic
>force since neither wire has a net charge; it's totally an
>electromagnetic force.
>
>RWW
>
>I would greatly appreciate an explanation of the two types of force to
<which you refer and a concise description of the difference between
>them if this would not be an imposition. Wallace Edward Brand
>
>
12/8/96
Sure, I'll give it a shot. Somehow thought, I believe a man with your
knowledge and experience is only trying to stimulate excellent
discussion. This is good.
Richard Hull has mentioned that measurement of charge on an electron
measures only an 'effective charge'. This is true.
Cavendish's (Coulomb's) original torsion beam experiments measured
electrostatic charge. Coulomb subsequently applied his equation, F =
k[qq']/r^2, to Cavendish's experimental work. F is a static force
related to Newtons in S.I. nomenclature.
Current flowing in adjacent parallel wires produces force interaction
between the wires (remember the left hand rule?). By carefully
controlling current flow this force between the wires can be
experimentally measured in Newtons. This is a force produced
electrodynamically by EM current, not electrostatically.
Next comes a giant leap in logic (perhaps faulty logic). An
'effective' Coulombic charge is assigned to an electron by equating
these electrodynamically produced forces in Newtons to
electrostatically produced forces, also in Newtons. A major error is
in assuming electrons "flow" in a conductor at near relativistic
velocities. I doubt seriously the true number of electrons actually
flowing in a conductor at constant current can be determined with any
great accuracy. It's probably many, many orders of magnitude off that
used to calculate the official charge of an electron. Now we talk of
'effective' electron flow rather than true electron flow in a
conductor. It's easy to see where all this is leading.
Hull is correct in his conclusion that the energy of electrostatic
charges may do much more work than that of electrodynamically
determined charges assigned to electrons.
The theoretical discussion of electrostatic vs EM electricity is beyond
the scope of his thread. Steinmetz has an excellent, easy to read
description in his "Electric Discharges, Waves and Impulses".
RWW