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explain all, simply because we do not see any cause for the 

 electrical condition of the sun — why the sun should be 

 charged with negative electricity ? 



Should we have discovered that the sun was hot if we 

 had waited to find out why it was hot. Surely it is sufficient 

 to say that there is no proof that it is not electrical. We 

 may go further than this, for if we may compare large bodies 

 with small, then we may show a possible reason for its being 

 electrified. When two particles of different metals approach 

 or recede from each other they become electrified with 

 opposite electricities. May not the sun be approaching or 

 leaving some other body of a different material. I do not 

 suggest this as a probable explanation, but simply in answer 

 to those who say that it is absurd to suppose the sun can 

 be electrified. 



" On the Electro-Dynamic effect, the induction of Statical 

 Electricity causes in a moving body. The induction of the 

 Sun a probable cause of Terrestrial Magnetism," by Professor 

 Osborne Reynolds, M.A. 



If an electrified body was placed near a moving conductor 

 so as to induce an opposite charge in the moving body, this 

 charge would move on the surface of the conductor so as to 

 remain opposite the electrified body, whatever the motion 

 might be. Suppose the moving conductor to be an endless 

 metal band running past a body negatively charged, the 

 positive charge would be on the surface of the band opposite 

 to the negative body, and here it would remain whatever 

 might be the velocity of the band. Now the effect of the 

 motion of this negative electricity on the conductor would 

 be the same as that of an electric current in the opposite 

 direction to the motion of the band. 



If instead of a band the moving body consisted of a steel 

 or iron top spinning near the charged body the effect of the 

 electricity on the top would be the same as that of a current 



