Abstract
AMONG the contents of this volume are some elaborate papers on “Atomic Volume and Specific Gravity,” prepared by Mr. Joule in association with Sir Lyon Playfair. Mr. Joule took the principal part in the experiments on the expansion of salts, the maximum density of water, &c.; but the important theoretical results arrived at with regard to atomic volume he attributes almost entirely to his colleague. Another valuable series of papers were the joint work of Mr. Joule and Sir William Thomson. The subjects are: “The Thermal Effects experienced by Air in rushing through Small Apertures,” and “The Thermal Effects of Fluids in Motion.” In the year 1843, Mr. Joule read a paper on “The Caloric Effects of Magneto-Electricity and the Mechanical Value of Heat,” to the Chemical Section of the British Association assembled at Cork. The subject did not excite much general attention, so that, when he brought it forward again at the meeting in 1847, the Chairman suggested that he should not read his paper, but confine himself to a short verbal description of his experiments. “This,” says Mr. Joule, “I endeavoured to do, and, discussion not being invited, the communication would have passed without comment if a young man had not risen in the Section, and, by his intelligent observations, created a lively interest in the new theory. The young man was William Thomson, who had, two years previously, passed the University of Cambridge with the highest honours, and is now probably the foremost scientific authority of the age.” The work they afterwards did together, the results of which are here recorded, was chiefly experimental, performed in Manchester and the neighbourhood.
Joint Scientific Papers of James Prescott Joule, F.R.S.
Published by the Physical Society of London. (London: Taylor and Francis, 1887.)
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Joint Scientific Papers of James Prescott Joule, F.R.S. . Nature 35, 461 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/035461b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/035461b0