Passage Of Electricity Research Articles

Ernest Rutherford’s ambitions

One of the pioneers of radioactivity research, Rutherford feared his work would be overlooked—and changed his publishing strategies to make sure it wasn’t.

Evaluation of nonthermal effects of electricity on inactivation kinetics of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli during ohmic heating of infant formula

AbstractThis study investigated the nonthermal effects of electricity on microbial inactivation kinetics of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli during ohmic heating (OH) of infant formula. For this, temperature profiles during OH and conventional heating (CV) processes were matched, and the kinetic parameters were compared at temperatures ranging from 57.5 to 65.0 °C. The inactivation kinetics were analyzed using an inactivation model, which allowed the definition of the thermal tolerance from kmax and D values. For S. aureus, significant differences (p < .05) between D and kmax values were observed when OH and CV treatment were compared in all temperatures. The results demonstrated a higher efficiency of OH over CV, indicating that microbial inactivation may have been caused by electroporation in addition to thermal effects. For E. coli, a significant difference (p < .05) between D values was observed only at 57.5 °C. Moreover, D values for both heating technologies were lower at 65 °C, which suggests a faster inactivation and, therefore, a lower degradation of nutritional compounds. Taking into consideration both microbial species, the best treatment for human milk pasteurization is OH at 65 °C.Practical applicationsThe low‐temperature long‐time pasteurization (62.5 °C for 30 min) is the currently recommended method for heat treatment of human milk in human milk banks (HMB) because it is simple to be applied and guarantees microbiological safety. However, it can promote significant losses of nutritional and organoleptic quality due to the slow conduction of heat transfer. Therefore, alternative technologies for human milk pasteurization need to be explored. OH is a faster heating technology, appropriate for heat‐sensitive products. Although already established in the food industry, the OH advantages have not been considered for human milk pasteurization. The objective is to provide an alternative technology to the HMB that ensure safety and lower‐impact on nutritional compounds. This study contributes for the correct understanding of the nonthermal effects associated with passage of electricity through foodstuff on microorganism's inactivation. Moreover, it has significant economic consequences to industry, supporting modeling and optimization to produce safe products with higher nutritional and sensory characteristics.

Structure–property relationships in molecular wires

Molecular electrical conductivities between gold electrodes have been measured at the single molecule level through a variety of systems. The results show that the aromaticity of molecules is partly disrupted by passage of electricity, leading to increased resistance. The possibility of the opposite effect resulting from the disruption of antiaromaticity was explored in biphenylene derivatives. When gold atoms terminate benzene or polymethylene molecules they incorporate into the electrodes, greatly diminishing the resistance from other terminating atoms. In paracyclophanes with two, three, and four benzenes in stacks the gold electrodes can directly contact them, and thus measure conductivity directly through the stacks.

Saved by the Shock: A Very Unusual Application of a Defibrillator

![Figure][1] An 83-year-old man with a cardioverter-defibrillator took a shower and for support grabbed a metal water pipe accidentally connected to a live 240 V feed. With the passage of electricity, he developed severe muscle twitching with tightening of his grip on the pipe. The

J. J. Thomson — the Centenary of His Discovery of the Electron and of His Invention of Mass Spectrometry

Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940), physicist, demonstrated the existence of the electron and, by deflection methods, measured its charge-to-mass ratio in 1897. He later applied similar methods to the study of positive ions and sorted the constituents of the beams into positive ray parabolas each corresponding to a definite ratio of charge-to-mass. As we celebrate the centenary of the measurement of e/m, it is apt to reflect that ‘JJT’ could be regarded in fact as the pioneer of mass spectrometry, the roots of which can be traced right back to that measurement. In a remarkable career, Manchester-born Thomson discovered the electron, revealed the existence of the internal structure of the atom and laid the foundations of mass spectrometry. As well as being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906 for ‘Investigations on passage of electricity through gases’. One hundred years after his measurement of e/m, it is an appropriate time to look back on his achievements and to celebrate them in the light of the immense developments which have since taken place in science and, in particular, in mass spectrometry, largely due to his pioneering efforts. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

J. J. Thomson — the Centenary of His Discovery of the Electron and of His Invention of Mass Spectrometry

Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940), physicist, demonstrated the existence of the electron and, by deflection methods, measured its charge-to-mass ratio in 1897. He later applied similar methods to the study of positive ions and sorted the constituents of the beams into positive ray parabolas each corresponding to a definite ratio of charge-to-mass. As we celebrate the centenary of the measurement of e/m, it is apt to reflect that ‘JJT’ could be regarded in fact as the pioneer of mass spectrometry, the roots of which can be traced right back to that measurement. In a remarkable career, Manchester-born Thomson discovered the electron, revealed the existence of the internal structure of the atom and laid the foundations of mass spectrometry. As well as being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1906 for ‘Investigations on passage of electricity through gases’. One hundred years after his measurement of e/m, it is an appropriate time to look back on his achievements and to celebrate them in the light of the immense developments which have since taken place in science and, in particular, in mass spectrometry, largely due to his pioneering efforts. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Galerkin method for a nonlinear parabolic–elliptic system with nonlinear mixed boundary conditions

AbstractMaterials which are heated by the passage of electricity are usually modeled by a nonlinear coupled system of two partial differential equations. The current equation is elliptic, while the temperature equation is parabolic. These equations are coupled one to another through the conductivities and the Joule effect. A computationally attractive discretization method is analyzed and shown to yield optimal error estimates in H1. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The feasibility of detecting partial discharges in metalclad equipment by tunable diode laser spectrometry of SF 6 breakdown products

Passage of electricity through SF 6 under arcing or partial discharge conditions causes decomposition of the SF 6 and the eventual production of breakdown products, two of the principal of which are thionyl fluoride and sulphuryl fluoride. Analysis of samples of SF 6 from the gas-zones of metalclad substations to monitor the build-up of breakdown products could in principle be used to give early warning of the development of a fault in the gas-zone. However, no analytical method is at present available which is capable of measuring the low concentrations of the breakdown products necessary to give adequate warning of a fault. It is estimated that detection of the breakdown products at ppb levels or below in SF 6 would be required. Tunable diode laser spectrometry is one technique which is potentially capable of achieving the sensitivity and selectivity required for breakdown product monitoring. To investigate the possibility of applying the technique, high-resolution spectra of sulphur hexafluoride, thionyl fluoride and sulphuryl fluoride were measured using a Fourier transform spectrometer. It was established that, though the choice is limited by the proximity of SF 6 absorption bands, suitable spectral regions do exist for determination of traces of either of these breakdown products in SF 6, and that detection at ppb levels should be possible. Using recently published data for the production rates of discharge-generated decomposition products of SF 6, it is estimated that this would enable discharge levels as low as 3 pC/cycle to be detected in a gas-zone containing 100 kg of SF 6, assuming that the zone was sampled at 6-monthly intervals. Application of the technique would, however, require that the practice of including canisters of alumina or molecular sieve in the gas-zones be stopped, as both sulphuryl and thionyl fluorides are irreversibly absorbed. Of the two decomposition products, sulphuryl fluoride has a simpler spectrum than thionyl fluoride, with stronger absorption lines. The predicted detection limit for sulphuryl fluoride is therefore lower, and if only one breakdown product were to be monitored, sulphuryl fluoride would be preferable for tunable diode laser measurements even though rather higher concentrations of thionyl fluoride are produced in the discharge.

Photoconductance crystals for the rapid survey of radium and radon sources.

The photoconductance property of cadmium sulfide crystals has led to their incorporation in probes that have been used clinically for measurement of the dose rate in the rectum during intracavitary irradiation of carcinoma of the uterine cervix (1) and as an intracavitary guide for centering the beam during cobalt-60 therapy (2). For several years we have employed cadmium sulfide crystal probes similarly in rotation therapy, to measure the actual dose rate at the axis of rotation and correlate it with the calculated dose rate (3). On the basis of this experience we have more recently found such crystal probes useful for surveying the activity of radium and radon sources and recommend wider employment of this safe and inexpensive procedure. Cadmium sulfide crystals are semiconductors of an electric current whose inherent resistance to the passage of electricity is reduced by exposure to light or ionizing radiation. Such changes in resistance can be detected and recorded by comparatively simple circuitry. T...

Positive-Ion Emission, a Neglected Phenomenon

About fifty years ago, much scientific work was done on the passage of electricity in air between two electrodes, one of which was red hot. A little later, as an outgrowth from these experiments, electron emission in a high vacuum proved to be of such interest and promise in the new but expanding science of electronics that the phenomenon in air has been all but forgotten. However, a new, interesting, and useful leak detector has been developed from this neglected effect, and there is reason to believe that positive-ion emission may well be of importance for other applications.

Electronarcosis, with Special Reference to the Treatment of Paranoid Schizophrenia

Electronarcosis is a state of coma, or anaesthesia, induced and maintained by the continuous passage of electricity through the brain. Although described in animals and man many years previously, it was not introduced into psychiatry until 1944, when a group of Californian workers (Frostig et al.) experimented with its use as an alternative to insulin coma treatment in schizophrenia.

Physics of Electric Contacts

THE passage of electricity across the opposed A faces of metallic contacts in a current make-and-break circuit involves most of the fundamental mechanisms of electron emission from conductors and semi-conductors and of transport through gases. It is for this reason that a book which gives a comprehensive treatment of the subject is likely to be of interest to the physicist as well as to the electrical engineer and metallurgist concerned with the development of contacts for circuit-breakers, microphones, lind current-collectors. The questions involved are not entirely electrical, for, in addition to problems of powder metallurgy, there are also those of friction, wear, and lubrication; in fact, the study of electrical contacts has led to important conclusions in the theory of friction. Electric Contacts By Dr. Ragnar Holm. Pp. xvi + 398. (Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell (Hugo Gebers Forlag), 1946.) 45 kr.

THE BACKGROUND OF RÖNTGEN'S DISCOVERY*

RONTGEN'S discovery was part of a scientific development that had its origin in the research on the passage of electricity through rarefied gases. I propose to show some of the salient points of this research in relation to the discovery of X-rays.

Calendar of Discovery and Invention

July 24, 1747.—About the same time that Franklin was experimenting on lightning conductors, William Watson (1715–1787) made experiments which appeared to show than the passage of electricity was instantaneous, Some of these experiments were made in the sum of 1747. On July 24 of that year Watson assisted by Charles Cavendish and Martin Folkes charge of electricity through 800 feet of water at the New River, Stoke Newington. The following year Watson, at Shooter's Hill, also sent discharges through 12,276 feet of wire.

LIX.Radiation produced by the passage of electricity through gases

LIX.<i>Radiation produced by the passage of electricity through gases</i>

Current Topics and Events

THE President and Council of the Royal Society have appointed Prof. O. W. Richardson of King's College, London, to be the third Yarrow Research Professor of the Royal Society. It is understood that Prof. Richardson will remain a member of King's College and will continue to carry out his researches in the Physics Laboratory of the College. He has both mathematical and experimental ability to a remarkable degree, and there are very few living physicists in whom the combination of talents is so strongly developed. Educated at Batley Grammar School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, he had a distinguished academic career and was elected to a college fellowship. After some years spent in research at the Cavendish Laboratory, he received an appointment as professor of physics at the University of Princeton, but returned to England in 1913 to take up the post of Wheatstone professor of physics at King's College, London. During the War, Prof. Richardson rendered important services to the Government in connexion with scientific research, more particularly with regard to instruments for the detection of hostile submarines. In 1920 he was awarded the Hughes medal by the Royal Society “for his researches on the passage of electricity through gases, and especially for those relating to the emission of electrons from hot bodies-a subject which Prof. Richardson has made his own and christened ‘thermionics.’ “The subject is of great industrial importance. Probably few of the many thousands who now use thermionic valves in the reception of wireless messages realise how much they owe to the work of such pioneers. From the scientific point of view the subject is of equal importance; by employing modern methods of obtaining high vacua, it is now possible to produce the pure electron discharge from white-hot metals of intensity great enough to convince the most sceptical that electrons are no mere figments of the physicist's imagination. Prof. Richardson's name is also associated with the gyromagnetic effect, the existence of which he predicted before it was experimentally verified. The observed change of angular momentum accompanying magnetisation is not, however, what might have been expected had negative electrons only been concerned in the process, and it is probable that the result has an important bearing on the structure of the atomic nucleus. Two important text-books by Prof. Richardson have now reached a second edition: one dealing with the theory of electrons mainly from a mathematical point of view; the other treating of the subject which is peculiarly his own. The Emission of Electricity from Hot Bodies.”

Obituaries

M. E. BOUTY, professor of experimental physics at the Sorbonne and member of the Academy of Sciences, died in Paris on November 5 in his seventy-seventh year. To the present generation of physicists in this country he was probably best known as the editor of the Journal de Physique and of the Annales de Physique, but to those of thirty or forty years ago he was the joint author of a text-book on physics much appreciated by all who wished to keep themselves up-to-date-the “Cours de physique de l'ltcole Polytechnique” and its supplements. His principal published researches deal with, problems connected with the passage of electricity through liquids and gases, but these memoirs by no means represent the whole of his work in the field of research. He succeeded in building up a school of research at the Sorbonne, and much work published by his pupils owed its inspiration to Prof. Bouty.

Some Phenomena Connected with the Passage of Electricity through Rocks and its Relation to Atmospheric Electricity

Some Phenomena Connected with the Passage of Electricity through Rocks and its Relation to Atmospheric Electricity

The passage of electricity through gaseous mixtures

According to the current theory with regard to the production of ions in a gas subjected to the action of Röntgen rays, the act of ionisation consists in the expulsion of one or more corpuscles ( i. e . negatively charged units of electricity) from each of a certain number of molecules constituting the gas. The residual portion of each of these molecules is then said to be positively charged, although the nature of this charge is not in any way specified. There are thus present in the gas negatively charged nuclei ( i. e . the expelled corpuscles) and positively charged nuclei (the residual portions of the ionised molecules); owing to the forces due to electrostatic induction these nuclei attract several of the gas molecules, and the resulting molecular aggregates constitute the gaseous ions, both negative and positive. Suppose, now, that a mixture of two gases, e. g ., sulphur dioxide and oxygen, is subjected to the action of Röntgen rays; the positive nucleus would be of greater volume and mass in the case of sulphur dioxide than of oxygen, and in consequence it is quite possible that the resulting ions should show similar differences. Accordingly, if the two groups of positive ions move in the same electric field, a difference in velocities might thus reasonably be expected.

XVII. The union of hydrogen and oxygen at low pressures through the passage of electricity

XVII. <i>The union of hydrogen and oxygen at low pressures through the passage of electricity</i>