Page:A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism - Volume 1.djvu/450

408 When great accuracy is not required we may dispense with the resistance coils $$A$$ and $$C$$, and we then find

The readings of the position of $$Q$$ on a wire of a metre in length cannot be depended on to less than a tenth of a millimetre, and the resistance of the wire may vary considerably in different parts owing to inequality of temperature, friction, &c. Hence, when great accuracy is required, coils of considerable resistance are introduced at $$A$$ and $$C$$, and the ratios of the resistances of these coils can be determined more accurately than the ratio of the resistances of the parts into which the wire is divided at $$Q$$.

It will be observed that in this method the accuracy of the determination depends in no degree on the perfection of the contacts at SS' or T'T.

This method may be called the differential method of using Wheatstone's Bridge, since it depends on the comparison of observations separately made.

An essential condition of accuracy in this method is that the resistance of the connexions should continue the same during the course of the four observations required to complete the determination. Hence the series of observations ought always to be repeated in order to detect any change in the resistances.

On the Comparison of Great Resistances.

353.] When the resistances to be measured are very great, the comparison of the potentials at different points of the system may be made by means of a delicate electrometer, such as the Quadrant Electrometer described in Art. 219.

If the conductors whose resistance is to be measured are placed in series, and the same current passed through them by means of a battery of great electromotive force, the difference of the potentials at the extremities of each conductor will be proportional to the resistance of that conductor. Hence, by connecting the electrodes of the electrometer with the extremities, first of one conductor and then of the other, the ratio of their resistances may be determined.

This is the most direct method of determining resistances. It involves the use of an electrometer whose readings may be depended on, and we must also have some guarantee that the current remains constant during the experiment.