Page:A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism - Volume 2.djvu/181

508.] only in the direction of its length is substituted for the astatic balance, the current enters the conductor and leaves it at fixed points of space, and it is found that no closed circuit placed in the neighbourhood is able to move the conductor.

Fig. 27.

The conductor in this experiment is a wire in the form of a circular arc suspended on a frame which is capable of rotation about a vertical axis. The circular arc is horizontal, and its centre coincides with the vertical axis. Two small troughs are filled with mercury till the convex surface of the mercury rises above the level of the troughs. The troughs are placed under the circular arc and adjusted till the mercury touches the wire, which is of copper well amalgamated. The current is made to enter one of these troughs, to traverse the part of the circular arc between the troughs, and to escape by the other trough. Thus part of the circular arc is traversed by the current, and the arc is at the same time capable of moving with considerable freedom in the direction of its length. Any closed currents or magnets may now be made to approach the moveable conductor without producing the slightest tendency to move it in the direction of its length.

508.] In the fourth experiment with the astatic balance two circuits are employed, each similar to one of those in the balance, but one of them, $$C$$, having dimensions $$n$$ times greater, and the other, $$A$$, $$n$$ times less. These are placed on opposite sides of the circuit of the balance, which we shall call $$B$$, so that they are similarly placed with respect to it, the distance of $$C$$ from $$B$$ being $$n$$ times greater than the distance of $$B$$ from $$A$$. The direction and