Page:A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism - Volume 1.djvu/457

 CHAPTER XII.

ON THE ELECTRIC RESISTANCE OF SUBSTANCES.

359.] are three classes in which we may place different substances in relation to the passage of electricity through them.

The first class contains all the metals and their alloys, some sulphurets, and other compounds containing metals, to which we must add carbon in the form of gas-coke, and selenium in the crystalline form.

In all these substances conduction takes place without any decomposition, or alteration of the chemical nature of the substance, either in its interior or where the current enters and leaves the body. In all of them the resistance increases as the temperature rises.

The second class consists of substances which are called electrolytes, because the current is associated with a decomposition of the substance into two components which appear at the electrodes. As a rule a substance is an electrolyte only when in the liquid form, though certain colloid substances, such as glass at 100°C, which are apparently solid, are electrolytes. It would appear from the experiments of Sir B. C. Brodie that certain gases are capable of electrolysis by a powerful electromotive force.

In all substances which conduct by electrolysis the resistance diminishes as the temperature rises.

The third class consists of substances the resistance of which is so great that it is only by the most refined methods that the passage of electricity through them can be detected. These are called Dielectrics. To this class belong a considerable number of solid bodies, many of which are electrolytes when melted, some liquids, such as turpentine, naphtha, melted paraffin, &c., and all gases and vapours. Carbon in the form of diamond, and selenium in the amorphous form, belong to this class.

The resistance of this class of bodies is enormous compared with that of the metals. It diminishes as the temperature rises. It