MORSE AND SHUDDEMAGEN. — AN ALUMINIUM ANODE. 



383 



insulation it loses a considerable portion of its charge. The actual 

 capacity could only be found by a method which permitted of the 

 measurement of the voltage about the cell immediately before the dis- 

 charge through the galvanometer began. It would therefore be better 

 to consider the ordinates in some of our curves as Q/ V, rather than 

 apparent capacity. This applies to Figures 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. 

 In any case our condenser is a very leaky one indeed as compared 



8 3 4 



TIME • SECONDS 



Figure 12. 



Capacity vs. insulation time. Plate formed at 80.5 volts. 

 80.5, 36.5, 22, 14, and 6 volts. Long charge. Long discharge. 



Curves for 



with a static condenser of even the poorest construction, but the 

 difference in the leakage losses at the forming voltage and at a much 

 lower voltage is very great for considerable insulation times. As the 

 insulation time is made shorter and shorter, the difference in the 

 capacity at various voltages becomes less and less, and for very short 

 insulation times the capacity is practically the same for all voltages 

 below the forming voltage. These differences are clearly shown in 

 Figures 14 and 15. In these two figures capacity is plotted against 

 applied voltage, and the curves represent various insulation times. It 

 will be seen that the curve for short insulation time indicates a prac- 



