Page:On Electric Touch and the Molecular Changes produced in Matter by Electric Waves.djvu/5

456 be presently described which would show that the theory of coherence is inadequate. From the above it would appear that the subject is far more complex than was at first supposed. For various reasons it would be best to distinguish between the two different actions, which may conveniently be described as mass action and molecular action.

Mass Action.—By this is meant the general action, say, between two masses when placed in a very strong electric field. Under the given circumstance, sparking may take place between the bodies, and the two may thus be welded together. From what has been said it will be seen that such action is non-discriminative—that is to say, the action will be the same whatever the chemical or physical nature of the substance may be. The best way of showing this action is with drops of liquid, with surface contamination, for any incipient welding will be at once exhibited by the complete coalescence of the drops. The non-discriminative nature of the action is shown in a striking manner in the following experiment. I may mention here that fragments of solid potassium, and in a lesser degree sodium, exhibit an increase of contact-resistance under the action of electric waves. I made a liquid alloy of potassium and sodium, and drops of this alloy were allowed to float on the stratum separating dense Rangoon oil from lighter kerosine, the alloy being of an intermediate density. The drops coalesced when placed in an intense alternating electric field. The next experiment was made with potassium heated under melted (hard) paraffin. By stirring the molten K with a glass rod, the metal was broken up into numerous spherical drops. These also coalesced under similar electric influence. It is, however, to be borne in mind (1) that in the above experiment the substance is in the form of a liquid, and that in this particular condition certain important molecular changes, to be presently described, cannot very well take place; (2) that the conditions of the experiment are abnormal.

Experiments will be presently described which will show that the observed variation of conductivity produced by radiation is not due to coherence, but to certain molecular changes of an allotropic nature.

Molecular Action.—By this I mean the allotropic modification produced in a substance by the action of electric waves, the allotropic change being due to a difference in the atomic or molecular aggregation. It will be shown that such molecular change does take place by the action of electric waves, and that all the observed effects of variation of resistance of the sensitive substance may be explained on the theory of allotropic transformation due to the above cause. The effect due to molecular changes in a substance is also expected to be modified by the chemical nature of the substance; thus the molecular action due to radiation, giving rise ultimately to the variation of conductivity of the sensitive substance, will be discriminative, in contra-distinction to the non-discriminative mass action.