Abstract
Bending a selenium rectifier disk causes a temporary increase of the current flowing through it in both directions. The effect (discovered in December 1942) is especially pronounced in the reverse direction, where a momentary increase of the current intensity up to 300 per cent and more can be produced through bending by hand, while in the forward direction values exceeding 5–10 per cent have not been observed. With copper oxide rectifiers no trace of a similar effect could be detected. The following, mostly qualitative, observations were made on our own disks, in the reverse direction: (1) The bending causes an increase of the current, whether the selenium layer lies on the convex or on the concave side of the disk. (2) In general, the stronger the bending the greater the effect. (3) The increase of current is, at its maximum, a temporary one. After bending a disk with a constant force, the momentary increased current intensity diminishes in the first few seconds rapidly, then slowly, and reaches its end value after some minutes. The behaviour of the disk is then, within certain narrow limits, that of a biased system: an increase of the bending increases also the current and vice versa. (4) Temperature has a pronounced influence; at 40–50° C., the effect is essentially smaller, and it seems to disappear more rapidly than at room temperature. (5) The effect depends upon the applied voltage. While at small voltages (1–2 volts) no effect is observable, with increasing voltages it increases also rapidly and reaches a maximal value as high as 350 per cent 15–20 volts with some disks.
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SELÉNYI, P., SZÉKELY, N. Effect of Bending on Selenium Rectifier Disks. Nature 160, 197 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160197a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160197a0
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