OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



161 



So far as we can judge from our observations with limited ca- 

 pacities, each curve has as an asymptote a line parallel to the axis 

 of a?, and at a distance from it which represents the quantity of elec- 

 tricity which the charging battery would yield if joined up for the 

 time given in simple circuit with a trifling outside resistance. Direct 

 experiment shows that this quantity is almost exactly proportional to 

 the number of cells joined up parallel to each other. 



The general effect of interposing a large resistance wound bifilar 

 between the battery and the condenser which it is charging is shown 

 by the following diagram, in which the curves are drawn in the same 

 way as in Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7. The two upper curves represent 

 observations taken with a battery of twelve parallel groups of 20 

 water cells each, first with no interposed resistance and then with 



Fig. 8. 



247,000 ohms inserted. The two lower curves represent similar 

 observations made with a single group of 20 cells joined up in series. 



For purposes of comparison with the numbers in Tables I., II., III., 

 IV., and V., we give some results obtained with a battery consisting 

 of 20 water cells arranged in series. The poles of this battery were 

 connected together, through various outside resistances, for given 

 short intervals of time, and the quantities of electricity which traversed 

 the circuit during these intervals were measured. 



The three curves of Fig. 9 were plotted by using as abscissas the 

 times * during which the battery circuit was closed, and as ordinatea 

 the quantities of electricity which passed through the circuit in these 

 times. The observations represented by points in the upper curve 

 were made when the resistance in the circuit outside the battery was 

 3,000 ohms. The corresponding resistances for the Other two curves 

 were 102,000 ohms and 250,000 ohms respectively. It will be 



* Each vertical unit corresponds to 1 microcoulomb. Each horizontal unit 

 corresponds to 0.01 sec. 



vol. xxiv. (n. s. xvi.; 11 



