ELECTROSTATICS NEWSLETTER
January/February 2001 No.154
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
In the September/October issue of the ESA Newsletter, I offered my personal views on the role of "off-beat" science in the technical conferences of the ESA. I advocated for ensuring the all presentations be grounded in sound scientific principles regardless of the affiliations or background of the presenter. I received numerous responses in support of this position, but all were equally insistent that our open forum philosophy -- a long-time tradition of the ESA -- continue within the appropriate boundaries of rigorous technical standards. Nevertheless, my comments and the ensuing discussion may have left some readers with the impression that the ESA shuns informal presentations that do not emanate from the traditional government- or corporate-funded laboratories of industry and academe or that deviate from the strict scientific method. To help reassure the back-yard scientist in us all, I remind readers of the now famous talk from the 1980 ESA conference (see Jul/Aug Pres. Msg.) that began with, "Hey, I was fooling around in the lab, and here's what I found…" This talk exemplified the best in "The Friendly Society" and was, in fact, followed by a lively discussion of fundamental electrostatics. In that same spirit, I note that many important discoveries in 20th century science and engineering were the result of random tinkering, amateur knownothings, lucky accidents, or mere experimental happenstance. Here are a few examples that I found in American Science and Invention by Mitchell Wilson (Bonanza Books, 1960:)
A student at the University of Leyden named Cuneus was attempting to use a Hawkesbee machine to "electrify water" (whatever that meant) contained in a flask that he held in his hand. The Hawkesbee machine consisted of spinning glass globe in contact with an iron chain suspended from a horizontal gun barrel. A second iron chain hung down from the gun barrel through the neck of the bottle into the water. When Cuneus tried to remove the chain from the water, he nearly died of the intense electric shock. His accident gave birth to the Leyden jar, probably the first practical capacitor.
An assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas A. Watson, stumbled upon the breakthrough that made telephones possible. He was conducting an experiment with Dr. Bell when one end of a vibrating reed he was testing became accidentally stuck, thereby forming the first vibrating diaphragm transducer. (There is little evidence that Bell ever said, "Watson, come here. I want you!" as in the classic movie. He is reported instead, upon hearing faint sounds from his end of the experiment, to have run into the other room shouting, "Watson, what are you doing? Don't change a thing!")
The blacksmith Newcomen is credited with having invented an early precursor to James Watt's famous steam engine. The valves on Newcomen's steam engine had to be operated manually to let hot steam in and cold gas out. Humphrey Potter, a hired engine boy, had the task of opening and closing the valves. He became very bored with this task one day and arranged a system of strings and levers to open and close the valves automatically. His features, products of a young boy's wandering attention, paved the way to Watt's first practical steam engine. Many credit the latter with begin responsible for the start of the Industrial Revolution.
The understated American inventor, Joseph Henry, developed the modern electromagnet by his instinctive tinkering years before the renowned British physicist Michael Faraday. Faraday received all the credit for the electromagnet because he had the foresight to publish his work in the Proceedings of the Royal Institution.
Elias Howe, early tinkerer and inventor of one of the first practical sewing machines, perfected the concept of placing the eye of the needle in its piercing end rather than in its back end. Legend has it that this breakthrough concept came to him as he lay asleep dreaming. In his dreams, he saw spears with ribbons woven into their heads being thrown upon the thatched roof of his homestead. (Howe's biggest handicap was that he was far less adept at marketing than was his closest competitor, Isaac
Singer.)
Samuel F.B. Morse, a noted artist of his time, was sailing home on the packet ship Sully from an extended period of art study in Europe. He had little to do, and he passed the time practicing fencing with the captain and absorbing some talk he had heard on the ship about electromagnets in France. Morse thought about what he had heard and arrived at his concept for the telegraph during the long hours of the voyage. He told the captain of the ship, "When you hear of the magnetic telegraph, remember it was invented on your ship." Morse had had no prior technical training whatsoever. (Several years later, his first formal contract for the telegraph involved laying underground wires from Baltimore to Washington, DC. When it didn't work, he turned to Henry who pointed out to Morse that underground wires needed insulation to prevent the signals from being shorted to earth. In desperation, with less than two weeks to go, Morse instructed his crews to string the wires overhead, from whatever trees, buildings, and signposts they could find. The system ultimately worked, giving birth to the first federally funded electronic communication system as well as the concept of overhead utility poles.)
Charles Goodyear was trying to develop a method for improving the gooey (and unusable) consistency of natural rubber by mixing it with everything he could think of, including salt, cream cheese, soup, witch hazel, magnesia, quicklime, and black ink. After years of failure, and near poverty, he accidentally dropped a piece of rubber gum that had been exposed to traces of sulphuric acid fumes (also accidentally) on a hot stove, thereby inventing in that instant the modern process known as vulcanization. Vulcanization is still in use today, of course.
The common thread running through all these early scientists and inventors was their ability to explain, ultimately, their discoveries based on sound, accepted scientific principles. These same guidelines should apply to ESA speakers as well. So, let's all keep those informal talks coming as well as those papers worthy of the Royal Proceedings.
For the Friendly Society
Mark Horenstein
ESA President
HYGRODEIK
Interesting item found on a Web auction site. Is anyone familiar with this instrument? The ad reads:
"Old forecast instrument, LLOYD'S HYGRODEIK is made by TYCOS of Rochester, NY. U.S.A. Signed , copyrighted 1902 By Andrew J. Lloyd & Co. Boston. It measures 12" tall by 9" wide. The main body is bronze and the water tank and trim are brass. The instrument is complete to the last detail
and in perfect working order. This model was, I believe, made for use on ships, as it has the large ring hole at the top allowing it to remain level, The instrument was used to predict the dew point , storms , and the electrostatic stress."
The instructions on the label of the instrument say the following:
"Electrostatic Stress - Air of Low Relative Humidity will act as an insulator, and thus allow a body to accumulate electricity while the air of High Relative Humidity prevents such accumulation; hence the term 'High Electric Tension' on the left line indicating a Relative Humidity of sixty, and 'Low Electric Tension' on the right of that line."
JOURNAL OF ELECTROSTATICS SUBSCRIPTIONS
We have received (finally!) a response from Nicolette van Dijk, publisher of the Journal of Electrostatics, on the subject of our errant personal subscriptions. She assures us that all difficulties have been resolved and that all previously paid-for subscriptions should now be in process. Here is a (slightly edited) excerpt from her note dated January 22, 2001:
Dear Mark,
As far as I know the difficulties with the ESA subscriptions have been resolved now. It has been quite a nightmare [of communication on this end also.] I am actually pretty frustrated about it; but I believe that has been worked out now. If you hear of any more complaints (I hope not), please do let me know.
Elsevier is very enthusiastic about this deal and we like to continue with it for the years to come.
With kindest regards,
Nicolette van Dijk
For those who paid for Journal subscriptions but have not received any issues, please contact Mark Horenstein (mnh@bu.edu) or Tim Erin (TimE8@aol.com) if you do not begin to receive issues by the end of February. If you subscribed for this year and have not received issues by the end of February, the ESA will gladly arrange for the return of your money. Our sincere apologies for any difficulties that this situation may have caused our members.
Note that we will not be processing any new or renewal subscriptions for the coming year until we are satisfied that the problems have been resolved by Elsevier.
SPECIAL INVITATIONS TO ESA 2001 CONFERENCE
Last week we sent out about thirty letters to noted electrostatics researchers that are not part of the ESA
community. The letter included an invitation to speak at the June 2001 ESA conference and a free one year ESA membership. Similar letters went out last year, and several recipients responded by presenting papers in Niagara Falls. If you know of someone who should receive such an invitation for this year, let us know and a letter will be sent out promptly.
FROM PETER CASTLE:
If anyone gets the free Journal R&D, author Fred Jueneman always has a thought provoking column in it. In the last issued, he discussed the potential hazard of a catastrophic volcanic/asteroid eruption on the earth which could cause dramatic cooling, possibly leading to life extinction, due to dust emissions in the atmosphere. His solution?
"…electrostatic generators of unprecedented size and power, capable of penetrating deep into the stratosphere. Putting a negative charge on particles and drawing them rapidly back down to the positive ground in a relatively uniform distribution would take a finite amount of time, perhaps measured in weeks or months , but not years or decades. Tesla would be pleased".
I suppose Frederick Cottrell would be too!
ESA 2001
CALL FOR PAPERS
Join us for the 29th Annual Conference of the Electrostatics Society of America to be held on the campus of Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan from June 27-30, 2001 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center. The center is minutes away from Capitol City Airport and about 80 miles from Detroit Metro airport.
Our usual comprehensive set of technical presentations will be accompanied by demonstrations and informative talks about special topics in electrostatics.
TOPICS OF INTEREST INCLUDE
- Atmospheric Electricity - Electrostatic Propulsion
- Biological Applications - Electrostatics Demonstrations
- BioMEMS and BioFluidics - Electrostatics Education
- Breakdown and Discharges - ESD Prevention and Detection
- Charge Neutralization - Micro-Electromechanical Systems
- Computational Methods - Non-Thermal Plasmas
- Display Devices - Particle Control & Transport
- Electrets - Precipitators and Cleaners
- Electrohydrodynamics - Safety and Hazards
- Electrophotography - Sprays and Droplets
- Electrostatic Painting and Powder Coating - Triboelectrification
- Electrostatic Printing
TYPES OF PAPERS SOLICITED
Oral Presentation with Formal Paper
Oral Presentation with Abstract
Informal Oral Presentation
Manuscript published in ESA proceedings
Title Deadline: March 16, 2001 (or February 16?)
Paper Deadline: April 2, 2001 One or two page abstract published in ESA proceedings
Title Deadline: April 2, 2001 (or March 5?)
Abstract Deadline: April 16, 2001 Speakers may offer informal presentations that pose problems, describe recent developments, provide observations, or show preliminary results that are not ready for formal presentation.
Informal presentations will be scheduled upon request of the Program Chair.
Instructions for preparing full manuscripts and abstracts can be found on the ESA Web site: www.electrostatics.org.
REGISTRATION:
Registration and detailed conference information will be sent to ESA members at a future date. This information will also be publicly available on the ESA web site at www.electrostatics.org.
SEND TITLES AND ABSTRACTS TO PROGRAM CHAIR:
Dr. Mark Zaretsky
Electrostatics Group
4-23-KP Mail Code 24325
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14652-4325
Tel: 716-588-6351
Email: mark.zaretsky@kodak.com
HOPE TO SEE YOU IN JUNE!