Nipher — Nature of the Electric Discharge. 



13 



From this equation it would appear that if the capac- 

 ity of the condenser per unit leng-th is infinite or /? = 1, the 

 velocity v will be zero if R > 0. 



On the other hand if the velocity v were made equal 

 to that of light, R being in electrostatic units 



logeP='^SxWR 



If R is measured in ohms 



_ 0.43 4294 X3X10^"X 10 =^ P 



%ioP-2x9Xl02« 



= 0.007238 R 



The values of p for various values R are given in 

 Table I. 



Table I Table II 



v = SX W P= 1.0016+ 



R 



0.1 



1.0 



10.0 



100.0 



1.0016 

 1.0168 

 1.181 

 5.294 



If the value of p be made 1.00164+ as in the case given 

 in the first line of Table I, the value of v for the various 

 values of R are given in Table II. The current delivered 

 will of course depend on the value V. 



The quantit}'^ of electricity per unit length of the con- 

 denser core is 



dL ~~ 2 log^p ~ Rv" V 



The current in terms of the velocity v is therefore 



dQ 



' = ^dL 



If we now consider the conditions within the wire of 

 resistance R, to whicli this current is being delivered, v' 



