Abstract
ACCORDING to our contemporary l'Électricite, M. Exner of Vienna has discovered that a bismuth-antimony pair immersed in a gas incapable of acting chemically on either of these metals yields no current when one junction is heated. Also that if two bars of copper are soldered together to form a “pair” no current is produced when either junction is heated in air (as would be expected in a circuit of one metal), not even when both strips are exposed to the action of chlorine; but that if one strip only is exposed to chlorine gas and then one junction be warmed a thermo-electric current is set up. According to Exner therefore, all so-called thermo-electric currents are due to chemical action. It would be easy for some of our ardent young physicists to put to the test this very remarkable announcement, and see whether it is Herr Exner, or all the authorities on thermo-electricity from Seebeck to Tait, on whom we are to rely for the facts.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Physical Notes . Nature 22, 156–157 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/022156b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/022156b0