The Experimental and Historical Foundations of Electricity - Unicamp

Contents
Presentation and Acknowledgments 7
1 Introduction 11
2 Electrification by Friction 15
2.1 The Beginning of the Study of Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 The Amber Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Exploring the Attraction Exerted by Rubbed Bodies . . . . . . . 20
2.4 Which Bodies are Attracted by the Rubbed Plastic? . . . . . . . 21
2.5 Is it Possible to Attract Liquids? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.6 Gilbert and Some of His Electrical Experiments . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.7 What Rubbed Substances Attract Light Bodies? . . . . . . . . . 28
2.8 Gilbert’s Nomenclature: Electric and Non-Electric Bodies . . . . 29
3 The Versorium 33
3.1 Fracastoro’s Perpendiculo and Gilbert’s Versorium . . . . . . . . 33
3.2 Making a Versorium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.2.1 Versorium of the First Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.2.2 Versorium of the Second Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2.3 Versorium of the Third Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.3 Experiments with the Versorium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
3.4 Is it Possible to Map the Electric Force? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.5 Is There Action and Reaction in Electrostatics? . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.6 Fabri and Boyle Discover Mutual Electrical Action . . . . . . . . 50
3.7 Newton and Electricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4 Electrical Attraction and Repulsion 59
4.1 Is There Electrical Repulsion? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
4.2 Guericke’s Experiment with a Floating Down Feather . . . . . . 62
4.3 Du Fay Recognizes Electrical Repulsion as a Real Phenomenon . 68
4.4 The Electric Pendulum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.5 Discharge by Grounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.6 Gray’s Electric Pendulum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.7 The Du Fay Versorium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
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