Metaphysics versus measurement: The conversion and conservation of force in Faraday's physics

References

• Bence-Jones H. The life and letters of Faraday London1870 2 194 195 2 vols. T. Martin (ed.), Faraday's diary (7 vols., 1932–36, London), vol. 2, para. 1207; M. Faraday, ‘Essay on mental education’ (1854), in Experimental researches in chemistry and physics (1859, London), 463–491, esp. p. 464; his ‘On the conservation of force’ (1857), in ibid., 443–463, esp. p. 457 ff.; and Faraday to E. Becker, 25 October 1860, in L. P. Williams et alii (eds.), The selected correspondence of Michael Faraday (2 vols., 1971, Cambridge), vol. 2, 975.
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• Levere , T.H. 1971 . Affinity and matter Oxford ch. 3, links conservation ideas to theology of nature: compare P. M. Heimann, ‘Conservation of forces and the conservation of energy’, Centaurus, 18 (1974). 147–161. For Faraday's Sandemanian background see L. P. Williams, Michael Faraday (1965, London), 2 ff.
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• Levere argues that ‘in Davy and Faraday we see the culmination of the mutual dependence of theories of matter and of natural theology, the true end of the Newtonian tradition’ Levere T.H. Affinity and matter Oxford 1971 45 45 while Heimann treats Faraday's theology as a ‘framework for research’ ((footnote 2), 149, 155). Compare also B. Stewart and P. G. Tait, The unseen universe (1876, London); and for the English Newtonian tradition Levere (footnote 2), chs. 1, 2, 3; P. M. Heimann, ‘Faraday's theories of matter and electricity’, British journal for the history of science, 5 (1971), 235–257; and P. M. Heimann and J. E. McGuire, ‘Newtonian forces and Lockean powers: concepts of matter in eighteenth century thought’, Historical studies in the physical sciences, 3 (1971), 233–306.
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• See the addendum to ‘Conservation of force’ Bence-Jones H. The life and letters of Faraday London 1870 2 460 463 2 vols. Faraday to Maxwell, 13 November 1857, Correspondence (footnote I), vol. 2. 881–883; and S. P. Thompson, Life of Lord Kelvin (2 vols., 1910, London), vol. 1, 265. For Joule and Thomson see J. Forrester, ‘Chemistry and the conservation of energy: the work of James Prescott Joule’, Studies in history and philosophy of science, 6 (1975), 273–313; C. Smith, ‘William Thomson and the creation of thermodynamics: 1840–1855’, Archive for history of exact sciences, 16 (1976), 231–288; his ‘Natural philosophy and thermodynamics: William Thomson and the “dynamical theory of heat”’, British journal for the history of science, 9 (1976), 293–319; and D. S. L. Cardwell, From Watt to Clausius (1971, London).
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• Although I shall stress differences between Faraday and his contemporaries it is important to recognize that similarities exist. As a referee has pointed out, some of Faraday's contemporaries were not ‘mechanical’ thinkers in the sense that Descartes or Boyle were, and shared Faraday's views on the priority of force as an expression of divine agency. Yet Faraday may not have given their theological concerns the weight that historians now do. In their scientific works he saw an implied separation of ‘force’ from divine will, which could pave the way for metaphysical dualism and scientific materialism (see footnotes 9 and 10 below). For the diversity of meaning of ‘mechanical philosophy’ in the nineteenth century see Smith C. “Mechanical philosophy” and the emergence of physics in Britain: 1800–1850 Annals of science 1976 33 3 29 and in the seventeenth century, J. E. McGuire, ‘Boyle's conception of nature’, Journal of the history of ideas, 33 (1972), 523–542.
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• The importance of the physical sciences in the pre-Darwinian period has only recently been recognized. See Turner F.M. The Victorian conflict between science and religion: a professional dimension Isis 1978 69 356 376 M. Ruse, ‘The relationship between science and religion in Britain, 1830–1870’, Church history, 44 (1975), 505–522; his ‘William Whewell and the argument from design’, Monist, 60 (1977), 244–268; J. H. Brooke, ‘Natural theology and the plurality of worlds: observations on the Brewster-Whewell debate’, Annals of science, 34 (1977), 221–286; and C. Smith, ‘From design to dissolution: Thomas Chalmers' debt to John Robison’, British journal for the history of science, 12 (1979), 59–70.
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• According to Thomas Kuhn, this should have been a straightforward conceptual development from Faraday's experimental knowledge of conversion processes Kuhn T.S. Energy conservation as an example of simultaneus discovery Critical problems in the history of science Clagett M. Madison 1959 321 356 in reprinted in T. S. Kuhn, The essential tension: selected studies in scientific tradition and change (1977, Chicago and London), 66–104 (see pp. 78–82, 98)).
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• This should not imply that Faraday's contemporaries all regarded force as self-sufficient (independent of divine will). On this criterion, for example, William Thomson did not ‘secularize’ his physics either. But Thomson's natural theology did enable him to formulate a new physics (see Smith Natural philosophy and thermodynamics Archive for history of exact sciences 1976 16 308 ff 308 ff A distinction between natural theology and theology of nature may be crucial to the explanation of this contrast between Thomson and Faraday (see footnote 21 below).
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• In 1858 Faraday argued that the importance of scientific education is that ‘by enabling the mind to apply the natural power[s] through law, it conveys the gifts of God to man’ (‘On Wheatstone's electric telegraph in relation to science: being an argument in favour of the full recognition of science as a branch of education’ Proceedings of the Royal Institution 1854–58 2 555 560 (p. 560)).
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• While they recognized his experimental skills, many found Faraday's verbal accounts obscure; for example Tyndall J. Faraday as a discoverer London 1868 editors' comments on E. Brücke, ‘Gravitation and the conservation of force’, Philosophical magazine, (4) 15 (1858), 81–90; G. B. Airy, ‘The Astronomer Royal's remarks on Dr. Faraday's paper on ray vibrations', ibid., (3) 28 (1846), 532–536; and R. Hare. ‘A letter to Prof. Faraday, on certain theoretical opinions’, ibid., (3) 17 (1840). 44–54. Compare Williams (footnote 2), 507–508.
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• For example, his spatial representations of electric and magnetic forces. Maxwell emphasized Faraday's geometrical representations, developed the physical implications of his lines of force, and discarded the metaphysics and theology implicit in Faraday's verbal discussions A treatise on electricity and magnetism , 1st ed. Oxford 1873 2 vol. 1, ix, vol. 2, 175–177).
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• On the conservation of force Experimental researches in chemistry and physics London1859 463 491 (1857), in Maxwell to Faraday, 9 November 1857, Correspondence (footnote 1), vol. 2, 881–883; and footnote 8.
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• Kuhn Both Energy conservation as an example of simultaneus discovery Critical problems in the history of science Clagett M. Madison1959 68 79 80 in and Williams ((footnote 2), 364–402) overlook this fact, dating Faraday's recognition of a conservation principle from his argument against Volta's contact theory of the pile in 1840; compare Levere (footnote 2), 104 and Smith (footnote 8). But for a similar interpretation to mine, see Heimann, ‘Conversion’ (footnote 2); W. Berkson, Fields of force (1974, London), 58; and J. Agassi, Faraday as a natural philosopher (1971, Chicago), 64–69, 193 ff.
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• As implied by Kuhn Energy conservation as an example of simultaneus discovery Critical problems in the history of science Clagett M. Madison 1959 68 68 in Faraday's ideas had to be interpreted, as in Thomson's reading of conservation of charge for Faraday's assumption that induction plus charge are conserved, and Maxwell's development of the quantity-intensity distinction that remained implicit in Faraday's conceptions (see below, sub-sections 3.3–3.5).
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• Levere identifies this idea, but still reads Faraday's doctrine as an anticipation of energy conservation Levere T.H. Affinity and matter Oxford 1971 104 104 So do Kuhn (footnote 7); Agassi (footnote 15); W. Ostwald, ‘Elements and compounds’ (1904), in The Faraday lectures (1928, London), 185–201; and H. von Helmholtz, ‘On the modern development of Faraday's conception of electricity’ (1881), in ibid., 132–159.
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• Heimann argues for a discontinuous development, claiming that Faraday experienced an intellectual crisis around 1840, which explains his speculative lectures on matter of 1844 (‘Faraday's theories’ Levere T.H. Affinity and matter Oxford 1971 But it is unlikely that Faraday had not explored the theological implications of his theories of matter and force before 1840. Levere (footnote 2) emphasizes the priority of theology of nature; interpretations relying solely on matter theory are Williams (footnote 2) and Berkson (footnote 15).
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• Williams discusses Faraday's religious beliefs, but he actually reconstructs Faraday's discovery of inductive capacitance in terms of a commitment to Boscovichean matter theory Levere T.H. Affinity and matter Oxford 1971 291 296 Neither Berkson (footnote 15) nor Agassi ((footnote 15), 190) discuss Faraday's religion.
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• This was a corrective to mistaken belief (inference) because the book of nature was ‘written by the finger of God’ (‘Mental education’ Bence-Jones H. The life and letters of Faraday London 1870 2 465 ff 465 ff esp. p. 471). Mistakes are due to errors of judgement (intellect) not of perception (ibid.); compare Faraday on Joseph Priestley, ‘Priestley centenary’, Philosophical magazine, (3) 2 (1833), 317, 382–402 (pp. 390–391).
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• For example Herschel Preliminary discourse London 1830 36 37 Faraday's natural theology stressed the priority of divine attributes and of God's revelation to man. It was no mere guideline for the scientist, having priority over natural theology, matter theory, and natural philosophy. For the distinction between theology of nature and natural theology see Levere (footnote 2), ch. 3; and Brooke (footnote 5).
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• For example, Faraday to Amp`ere, 3 September 1822 (Correspondence The selected correspondence of Michael Faraday et al. Cambridge 1971 1 134 135 Faráday to G. de La Rive, 9 October 1822 (Ibid., 138–139); Faraday to W. Whewell, 19 September 1835 (ibid., 294–296); and Faraday to Whewell, 8 December 1848 (ibid., 535–536).
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• See sub-section 2.3, Levere T.H. Faraday, matter, and natural theology British journal for the history of science 1968 4 95 107
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• This explains the accidental nature of his discovery Faraday's Diary Martin T. London 1932–36 1 369 369 7 vols., compare Williams (footnote 2), 182–183.
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• Agassi argues that because he speaks of the interaction of forces. Faraday had already postulated the existence of the magnetic field Agassi Faraday as a natural philosopher Chicago 1971 54 54 79ff.; compare Berkson (footnote 15), 39–47, 60–65). But such language was not uncommon (see Herschel (footnote 50)). Faraday does speak of matter as giving ‘locality to the powers’ (Diary (footnote 1), vol. 1, 93), but does not argue for the physical necessity of the field until the 1840s.
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• Taking magnetic force, induced electricity and motion to be mutually perpendicular, then ‘if electricity be determined in one line and motion in another, magnetism will be developed in the third; or if electricity be determined in one line and magnetism in another, motion will occur in the third. Or if magnetism be determined first then motion will produce electricity or electricity motion …’ Faraday's Diary Martin T. London 1932–36 1 425 425 7 vols.
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• Wise . 1977 . The flow analogy to electricity and magnetism: Kelvin and Maxwell 146 – 148 . Princeton Faraday did not read German and had no access to G. S. Ohm's Die Galvanische Kette mathematisch bearbeitet (1827, Berlin); trans. by W. Francis, in R. Taylor (ed.), Scientific memoirs (5 vols., 1837–52, London), vol. 2 (1841), 401–506. See Researches (footnote 30), vol. 1, para. 1635, footnote.
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• He expected to explain both the electrical and heating effects of friction in terms of the electrical powers of particles, not in terms of a conversion of the mechanical force that produces friction (see Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1737 1748 3 vols. series 14, esp. paras. and sub-section 3.7).
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• Williams . 1971 . Affinity and matter 294 – 294 . Oxford Levere (footnote 2), 96–97; and M. A. Sutton, ‘J. F. Daniell and the Boscovichean atom’, Studies in history and philosophy of science, 1 (1971), 277–292.
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• He actually expresses misgivings only about getting a ‘clear view’ of the relationship between matter and force The selected correspondence of Michael Faraday et al. Cambridge 1971 1 264 267 2 vols. 94).
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• Faraday M. Essay on mental education Experimental researches in chemistry and physics London1859 478 478 (1854), in esp. ‘Conservation of force’ (footnote 1), 457 ff.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1633 1635 3 vols. paras. 1343–1358, 1410, 1617-1626; compare paras. 1700–1708.
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• See Gooding Conceptual and experimental bases of Faraday's denial of electrostatic action at a distance Studies in history and philosophy of science 1978 9 127 ff 127 ff
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• See assumptions (1), (2), and (3) of sub-section 2.3. The two opposed terms of a ‘dual’ or polar force will ‘radiate to any extent until stopped or satisfied by the other [opposing] force’, and such ‘antithetical forces are limited in their amount of action by the mutual action of the acting parts’ Physico-chemical philosophy Royal Institution Mss. (1847) lecture 2).
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• This important idea has gone unnoticed by Faraday scholars. It originated with his discovery that an electrolyte ceases to conduct when it freezes but will sustain a charge Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 380 447 3 vols. paras. 448–563; see also subsection 3.6).
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• This important idea has gone unnoticed by Faraday scholars. It originated with his discovery that an electrolyte ceases to conduct when it freezes but will sustain a charge Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 3 vols. paras. 987 1/2, 1224, 1321, 1262–1265, 1303–1304, 1369–1373, 1411, 1449.
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• This important idea has gone unnoticed by Faraday scholars. It originated with his discovery that an electrolyte ceases to conduct when it freezes but will sustain a charge Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1320 1320 3 vols. and paras. 1338, 1362. See also J. Z. Buchwald, ‘William Thomson and the mathematization of Faraday's electrostatics’, Historical studies in the physical sciences, 8 (1977), 101–136.
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• The inductive nature of electric force entails that a discrete positive or negative state should never be detected as such Faraday's diary Martin T. London 1932–36 2 2840 2842 7 vols. paras. compare Berkson (footnote 15), 83.
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• Electrostatic force therefore indicates an imbalance between positive and negative, the electricity itself being undetectable and (Faraday implies) unknowable. A similar view of gravitation as a residual effect of electrical forces lies behind Faraday's endorsement of Mossotti's O.F. On the forces which regulate the internal constitution of bodies Scientific memoirs London 1837 1 448 469 trans. in R. Taylor (ed.) 5 vols., 1837–52 Compare Williams (footnote 2), 294–299.
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• He did not deduce specific capacity from Boscovich's theory (pace Williams Michael Faraday London 1965 291 294 Chemical affinities, melting and boiling points, and the ‘law of liquido-conduction’ all implied specific levels of electrical (or other) activity. By analogy, the polarizability of dielectrics should be specific to each material (see Researches (footnote 30), vol. 1, paras. 448 ff., 912 ff., 966 ff., 1403–1404; and footnote 109).
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• Faraday emphasizes this in Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1323 1338 3 vols. paras. 1611–1612. Compare C. Wheatstone, ‘An account of some experiments to measure the velocity of electricity and the duration of electric light’, Phil. trans. Roy. Soc. London, 124 (1834), 583–591.
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• Faraday recognized this in 1843 in ‘On static electric inductive action’ Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 2 279 284 3 vols. The manuscript for this lecture notices the implications for a theory of matter, anticipating his discussion of 1844 (footnote 61), but he cautions that ‘our province is to determine a power or force & determine its laws—that is all’ (‘On some phenomena of electric (Static) induction’ (20 January 1843), Royal Institution Mss. (footnote 25)).
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• Series 11 (November 1837); Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1252 1295 3 vols. paras. Compare Gooding (footnote 40); and Buchwald (footnote 111).
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• See Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1633 1635 3 vols. paras. and 110; and Research (footnote 30), vol. 1, paras. 1617–1666.
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• ‘I have long sought and still seek for an effect or condition which shall be to statical electricity what magnetic force is to current electricity’ Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1658 1658 3 vols. para. compare paras. 1410–1411, 1653–1666, and for the experiments see also paras. 1709–1735).
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1658 1658 3 vols. para. A copper plate should not have transmitted magnetic action without absorbing a sensible quantity of it either by molecular polarization or by the induction of molecular currents. The implied distinction between magnetic induction and magnetic polarization (charge) was not recognized as a physical distinction by Faraday.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 3 2221 2229 3 vols. Series 19 paras. esp. 2236–2240.
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• Series 21 (December 1845), Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 3 2446 2446 3 vols. Series 19 para. Compare Faraday's ‘Answer to Dr. Hare's letter’ (July 1840), ibid., vol. 2, 262–274, esp. 267 (his reply to Hare. footnote 12).
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• ‘Thoughts on ray vibrations’ (April 1846), Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 3 447 452 3 vols. Series 19
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1327 ff 1327 ff 3 vols. paras. 1407–1409, 1448–1449, and plate VIII, figs. 117, 119–122.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1369 1370 3 vols. paras. 1410–1411, 1563–1600; Compare paras. 1224, 1231, 1262–1265, 1303–1304, 1449.
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• The argument appears in Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1406 1412 3 vols. paras. 1572–1600, 1603–1605, 1617–1634, 1653–1655, 1686, 1709–1735.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1115 1115 3 vols. paras. 287; and footnote 109. His familiarity with optical and acoustical theory should have made Faraday aware of the distinction between longitudinal and compressional waves, yet he seems to confuse ‘rate of vibration’ (frequency) with ‘rate of propagation’. Vibratory views of electricity are discussed by Williams (footnote 2), 181, and Agassi (footnote 15), 32.
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• Induction exists when lines of force are prevented from undulating, thus the very meanings of ‘conduction’, ‘insulation’ and ‘induction’ are ‘inseparable from each other’ Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 3 513 513 3 vols. vol. 1, paras. 1164, 1277, 1292, 1320, 1326, 1338, 1354, 1362–1376, 1397–1398, 1403–1401, 1611–1612; and Faraday's sealed note of 1832, reproduced in Williams (footnote 2), 181).
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• Maxwell . 1873 . A treatise on electricity and magnetism , 1st ed. Vol. 2 , 177 – 177 . Oxford 2 vols.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1658 1658 3 vols. para. and sub-section 3.1.
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• Just as the electric force has a static and a dynamical state, so the magnetic force should have a second state in addition to the known state. Otherwise the magnetic field of the current would be created out of nothing (see Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1658 1658 3 vols. para.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1410 1410 3 vols. paras. 1563–1600, 1658–1659.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1659 1666 3 vols. paras. 1731–1735.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1658 1658 3 vols. para. my italics.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1733 1734 3 vols. paras compare paras. 1114, 1665.
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• Ampère , A.M. 1825 . Memoir on a new electrodynamic experiment, on its application to the formula representing the mutual action of the two elements of voltaic conductors… . Philosophical magazine , 66 ( 1 ) : 373 – 387 . and Théorie mathématique des phénom`enes électro-dynamiques uniquement déduit de l'expérience (1827. Paris).
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1659 1659 3 vols. para. Amp`ere resolved the interactions of current elements into forces acting directly (along a line between them) rather than circumferentially (around each wire) (see J. Dorling, ‘Demonstrative induction: its significant role in the history of physics’, Philosophy of science, 40 (1973), 360–372 (pp. 362 ff.).
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• The selected correspondence of Michael Faraday et al. Cambridge 1971 2 975 975 2 vols. and Faraday's ‘Historical sketch of electromagnetism’, Annals of philosophy, 2 (1821), 195–200, 274–290, 3 (1822), 107–121, esp. pp. 111 ff.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 167 167 3 vols. paras. compare series 2 and 3.
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• This was Thomas Thomson's definition in A system of chemistry , 2nd ed. Edinburgh 1804 4 vol. 1, 3. Compare Researches (footnote 30), vol. 1, paras, 1354, 1358, 1410, 1623; and Faraday to B. Abbot. 11 August 1812, Correspondence (footnote 1), vol. 1, 15–17.
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• Faraday , M. , ed. 1839–55 . Experimental researches in electricity Vol. 1 , 1622 – 1622 . London 3 vols.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1620 1620 3 vols. para. This includes the effect of all the corpuscular foces at work in the dielectric; compare paras. 1573 ff.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1575 1575 3 vols. paras. 1617–1624, 1632–1634, 1642–1645, 1703–1708.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1623 1623 3 vols. para. my italics.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1626 1626 3 vols. para.
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• Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 1 1642 1645 3 vols. paras. compare para. 517. For W. R. Hamilton's extension of this idea to matter see Graves, Life of Hamilton (footnote 47), vol. 2, 337–338.
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• Brush , S. 1970 . The wave theory of heat: a forgotten stage in the transition from the caloric theory to thermodynamics’ . British journal for the history of science , 5 : 145 – 167 . and M. Crosland and C. Smith, ‘The transmission of physics from France to Britain: 1800–1840’, Historical studies in the physical sciences, 9 (1978), 1–61, esp. pp. 33–43.
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• In his ‘Ray vibrations’ Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1633 1635 3 vols. paras. Faraday replaced the earlier assumption that the transmission of force is determined by the polarizability of the medium, with a simpler idea: the lines themselves have an inertial property or ‘sluggishness’ which entails a finite velocity of propagation (ibid., 451).
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• See footnote 105; and ‘Professor Faraday on heat’, The magazine of science and school of arts 1845 6 126 126 131, 139, 151, 215.
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• ‘An answer to Dr. Hare's letter’ Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 1633 1635 3 vols. paras.
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• ‘An answer to Dr. Hare's letter’ Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 267 267 3 vols. paras. Faraday sometimes spoke of electrostatic induction as a radiating action; see for example, ‘Physico-chemical philosophy’ (footnote 108)
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• The main objections concerned inertia as a primary quality of matter (see Airy The Astronomer Royal's remarks on Dr. Faraday's paper on ray vibrations Proceedings of the Royal Institution 1840 17 3 535 536 and Maxwell (footnotes 43 and 44).
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• 1884 . The scientific papers of James Prescott Joule 298 – 302 . London Faraday's report on Joule's paper is reproduced in Smith, ‘Faraday as a referee’ (footnote 8).
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• 1884 . The scientific papers of James Prescott Joule 445 – 446 . London Yet Faraday's own argument for the identity of electrical and chemical force had rested on the same sort of equivalence (see subsection 3.2).
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• 1884 . The scientific papers of James Prescott Joule 446 – 446 . London
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• 1884 . The scientific papers of James Prescott Joule 446 – 448 . London Smith also argues that Faraday could not have appreciated other arguments necessitating that heat be regarded as a form of energy ((footnote 9), 238).
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• ‘Electricity appears when there is consumption of no other force than that required for friction; we do not know how, but we search to know, not being willing to admit that the electric force can arise out of nothing’ On the conservation of force Experimental researches in chemistry and physics London 1859 455 456 (1857), in my italics).
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• In 1848 he implied that no-one had explained conservation: ‘… whilst I see but the clouded trut Allied phenomena of the chemical and electrical forces Royal Institution Mss. 22 22 Obviously revelation did not take the form of Joule's conclusions!
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• Physico-chemical philosophy (footnote 108), lecture V.
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• ‘Ray vibrations’ Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 1 451 451 3 vols. paras. Faraday now attributed to lines of force those primary qualities that mechanical theorists postulated of atoms or singularities in the aether.
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• Against those who maintained that inertia is the primary quality ‘which alone indicates a nucleus’ to matter, Faraday could ‘only see in it that law of nature by which force cannot be annihilated: but must produce its equivalent effect’ (‘Physico-chemical philosophy’ (footnote 108), lectures I and V; compare ‘Conservation’ Faraday's diary Martin T. London 1932–36 2 451 452 7 vols. para.
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• Series 24 Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 3 2703 2703 3 vols. esp. para.
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• For example, Airy to Barlow, 7 February 1855, in Williams The selected correspondence of Michael Faraday Cambridge 1971 2 507 508 2 vols. The Athenaeum, 28 March 1857, 397–399; and W. M. Rankine, ‘On conservation’ (footnote 86).
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• Faraday was probably also attacking the primacy of gravitation (or other inverse-square forces), as postulated by Thomson W. On mechanical antecedents British Association report—1854 London 1855 63 63 part 2 ‘On the origin and transformation of motive power’, Proceedings of the Royal Institution, 2 (1854–58), 199–204; and by Helmholtz in his ‘Über die Erhaltung der Kraft’, which had recently been translated in J. Tyndall and W. Francis (eds.), Scientific memoris, natural philosophy (1853, London), 114–162.
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• In his reply Faraday maintains that force is a physical ‘source of possible actions’ and allows no other conception Humboldt's Kosmos Essays from the Edinburgh and Quarterly reviews London 1857 257 364 in In the addendum to his lecture on conservation (footnote 1) he admits that those who ‘restrain’ the meaning of ‘force’ in the way that Maxwell had suggested would have found his arguments obscure, but he does not alter his views ibid., 460–463). Compare Bence-Jones (footnote 1), vol. 2, 378–388.
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• In his reply Faraday maintains that force is a physical ‘source of possible actions’ and allows no other conception Humboldt's Kosmos Essays from the Edinburgh and Quarterly reviews London 1857 446 446 in The ‘totality of an inherent force’ such as gravity cannot be ‘employed according to’ the Newtonian inverse-square law (ibid., 452).
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• In his reply Faraday maintains that force is a physical ‘source of possible actions’ and allows no other conception Humboldt's Kosmos Essays from the Edinburgh and Quarterly reviews London 1857 446 446 in my italics.
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• In his reply Faraday maintains that force is a physical ‘source of possible actions’ and allows no other conception Humboldt's Kosmos Essays from the Edinburgh and Quarterly reviews London 1857 446 448 in
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• On some points of magnetic philosophy Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 3 3300 3362 (December 1854) 3 vols. and 74 paras.
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• Series 24 Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 3 2717 2717 3 vols. para.
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• A speculation touching electric conduction and the nature of matter Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 2 284 293 (1844), in 3 vols. ‘Matter’ (footnote 61); and ‘On heat (1844)’ (footnote 105). See also sub-section 3.2.
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• A speculation touching electric conduction and the nature of matter Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 2 289 292 (1844), in 3 vols. ‘Matter’ (footnote 61), 106–107.
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• On the conservation of force Experimental researches in chemistry and physics London1859 457 457 (1857), in His arguments of 1844 led to a relational view of properties, but Faraday's position now implied a physical basis for properties as dispositions. Thus the ‘cause of gravity … is not resident in the particles of matter merely, but conjointly in them, and all space’ (ibid.).
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• On some points of magnetic philosophy Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London1839–55 3337 3337 (December 1854) 3 vols. para. series 28 and 29 (footnote 74).
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• On the conservation of force Experimental researches in chemistry and physics London1859 457 458 (1857), in Theology notwithstanding, Thomson and Maxwell had by now abandoned the idea that the explanation of such mysteries must await revelation. Unlike Faraday, they took for granted that human intellect can devise theoretical representations of processes not yet revealed (compare footnotes 117, 158 and 159).
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• The indestructability of force follows from the fact that only God could annihilate what he has created On the conservation of force Experimental researches in chemistry and physics London 1859 447 447 (1857), in compare Heimann (footnote 2)). But conservation of force follows also from the additional fact that there is neither wastage nor surplus in nature (Researches (footnote 30), vol. 3, para. 2968). This is assumption (5) of sub-section 2.3.
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• ‘… the grand difference between the force of Gravity and that of heat is not in the amount … but in the transferability of the latter and the unchangeableness … of the former’. Faraday had argued that the production of heat by friction is ‘almost the only case not yet understood’ as a definite conversion, Electricity and Magnetism—1846 Royal Institution Mss. lecture I
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• See A speculation touching electric conduction and the nature of matter Experimental researches in electricity Faraday M. London 1839–55 2 289 292 (1844), in 3 vols.
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• ‘… upon this unchangeability [of chemical affinity] depends our inability to transmute one kind of matter into another’. Although it may be masked, ‘as in many isomeric forms of substances … we always find it at last in its full amount and kind of power:—and hence it is that under the divine will Summer and Winter, seedtime and harvest shall not fail, until he for a far higher purpose change these his laws in the creation’ Physico-chemical philosophy Royal Institution Mss. lecture II).
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• ‘… upon this unchangeability [of chemical affinity] depends our inability to transmute one kind of matter into another’. Although it may be masked, ‘as in many isomeric forms of substances … we always find it at last in its full amount and kind of power:—and hence it is that under the divine will Summer and Winter, seedtime and harvest shall not fail, until he for a far higher purpose change these his laws in the creation’ Physico-chemical philosophy Royal Institution Mss. compare Bence-Jones (footnote 1), vol. 2, 223–225.
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• In 1860 he stated that the alchemist's attempt to transmute base metals into gold would ‘destroy the stability of nature and interfere with creation’ Various forces of matter Royal Institution Mss. 12 12 (1859–60)
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• Electricity (static) 1849 Royal Institution Mss. 2 3 lecture I Compare ‘Matter’ (footnote 61); and footnote 117.
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