Forces of Nature
WebLecture: The Four Forces of Nature
Forces of Nature Weblecture
The Forces of Nature
Notes on Faraday's Lectures and Understanding Physics are currently under revision
Reading
- Faraday, On the Various Forces of Nature: Lecture VI
- Breithaupt, Understanding Physics: Chapters 12 and 13
The nature of the forces of matter — Faraday Lecture VI
Notes on Faraday's Lectures and Understanding Physics are currently under revision
Faraday concludes his lectures by emphasizing the relationships between the forces.
- We have demonstrated five kinds of force or action: gravity, chemical affinity, heat (which includes light), electricity, and magnetism.
- Chemical affinity is electrical in nature: we can show that electric current causes one metal to "plate" or cover another when we pass electrical current through an electrolyte in which two different metals have been submerged.
- Different metals connected by an electrolyte will produce current themselves; this is the nature of the Voltaic cell. Chemical affinity can thus be transmuted to electrical current and force.
- Chemical affinities other than those involving combustion can also produce light and heat. Not all heat or light producing reactions require oxygen.
- Chemica reactions like the submersion of zinc in lead acetate (sugar of lead) can produce new substances, such as the lead tree "crystals".
- Electrical current produces magnetic force.
- Static
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