Abstract
WITH further reference to the suggestions of Mr. Campbell Swinton and Sir Oliver Lodge contained in NATURE of March 10 and 17 that the Peltier effect may disappear at a very low temperature, this appears very improbable from the fact that, as long ago pointed out by myself, there is a continuous transition between metals and non-metals, and this distinction between them does not vanish at low temperatures. Consequently, pairs of elements must always exist with electrothermic differences. The nearly “perfect” metal may become a “perfect” conductor of heat and electricity, and the nearly “perfect” non-metal may become a “perfect” nonconductor at low enough temperatures, but the intermediately graded elements would become neither perfect conductors nor absolute non-conductors, but would behave much like certain elements at ordinary temperatures. The periodic law would enable physicists to predict almost with certainty which elements would exhibit the desired effect best at low temperatures.
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MARTIN, G. The Peltier Effect and Low-temperature Research. Nature 107, 141 (1921). https://doi.org/10.1038/107141b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/107141b0
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