Page:Experimental researches in chemistry and.djvu/364

1831.] between squares are of shorter extent than those between equilateral triangles of equal area. It is evident therefore that one of these two will be finally assumed, and that that will be the square arrangement; because then the fluid will offer the least resistance in its undulations to the motions of the plate, or will pass most readily to those positions into which the forces it receives from the plate conspire to impel it.

105. All the phenomena observed and described may, as it appears to me, be now comprehended. The fluid may be considered as a pendulum vibrating to and fro under a given impulse; the various circumstances of specific gravity, cohesion, friction, intensity of vibrating force, &c. determining the extent of oscillation, or, what is the same thing, the number of heaps in a given interval. When the number of vibrations in a given time is increased, these heaps are more numerous, because the oscillation, to be more rapid, must occur in a shorter space. The necessity of a certain depth of fluid (73) is evident, and also the reason why, by varying the depth (82), the lateral extent of the heaps is changed. The arrangement of the sand and lycopodium, by the crispations, and the occurrence of the latter at centres of vibration, and only upon surfaces vibrating normally, are all evident consequences. The permanency of the lateral extension of the heaps, when the velocity of the vibrating plate varies, is a very marked effect; and it is probable that the investigation of these phenomena may hereafter importantly facilitate inquiries into the undulations of fluids, their physical qualities, and the transmission of forces through them.

106. As to the origin or determination of crispations, no difficulty can arise; the smallest possible difference in almost any circumstance, at any one part, would, whilst the plate is vibrating, cause an elevation or depression in the fluid there; the smallest atom of dust falling on the surface, or the smallest elevation in the plate, or the smallest particle in the fluid of different specific gravity to the liquid itself, might produce this first effect; this would, by each vibration of the plate, be increased in amount, and also by each vibration extended the breadth of a heap, in at least four directions: so that in less than a second a large surface would be affected, even under the improbable supposition that only one point should at first be disturbed.