Page:Electricity (1912) Kapp.djvu/75

Rh up positive units of electricity from the ground as if they were pebbles and carry them by hand to the sphere; we must proceed in a different way. Let us then take a frictional machine and connect its negative wire to the ground, and the positive to the sphere. If the machine is worked, it will push negative electricity into the ground and positive on to the sphere. In other words, a charging current will flow along that wire, and more and more electricity will accumulate on the sphere the longer the machine is at work. There is, however, a limit; beyond which the process of charging cannot go. At first, it is easy enough to push electricity on to the sphere, because there is only a little quantity there which repels the influx of new units, but as the charge proceeds the quantity accumulated grows, the potential grows, and it requires more and more energy to bring every single unit on to the sphere. Finally, a point is reached when the pushing force of the machine, or, as we term it technically, its electromotive force, is just able to balance the repelling force of the charge accumulated, but not able to add a single unit. Thus a state of equilibrium is reached, and the charging process has come to an end. If we want