Page:ScienceAndHypothesis1905.djvu/260

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

(1) If the intensity of the currents is kept constant, and if the two circuits, after having undergone any displacements and deformations whatever, return finally to their initial positions, the total work done by the electro-dynamical actions is zero. In other words, there is an electro-dynamical potential of the two circuits proportional to the product of their intensities, and depending on the form and relative positions of the circuits; the work done by the electro-dynamical actions is equal to the change of this potential.

(2) The action of a closed solenoid is zero.

(3) The action of a circuit C on another voltaic circuit C' depends only on the "magnetic field" developed by the circuit C. At each point in space we can, in fact, define in magnitude and direction a certain force called "magnetic force," which enjoys the following properties:—

(a) The force exercised by C on a magnetic pole is applied to that pole, and is equal to the magnetic force multiplied by the magnetic mass of the pole.

(b) A very short magnetic needle tends to take the direction of the magnetic force, and the couple to which it tends to reduce is proportional to the product of the magnetic force, the magnetic moment of the needle, and the sine of the dip of the needle.

(c) If the circuit C' is displaced, the amount of the work done by the electro-dynamic action of C on C' will be equal to the increment of "flow