Mr. R. Phillips on Frictional Electricity. 41 



the first instant of their removal they are . — j but 



to pass to the uncombined state, they must absorb positive elec- 

 tricity, and become H 1 1 , and consequently the va- 

 pour which has removed them becomes negatively electrified. 

 The remaining mass of water at the instant of the removal of 

 the particles becomes 



+ •+ +•+ +• + 



+ •+ +•+ +• + 



but if any way is open for the escape of the positive electricity, 

 the molecules may become at the instant of the transmission 



and finally 



+•+ +•+ +•+ 

 +•+ +•+ +•+ 



+•+ +•+ + ■ + 



by the lower layer giving up its positive charge, since by hypo- 

 thesis it must be negative ; while the interior particles still con- 

 tain the unrepresented quantity of positive electricity, corre- 

 sponding to the excess of represented uegative electricity. The 

 lower stratum of the molecules is thus considered as resting 

 on a conducting body, as when steam rubs along a wetted tube; 

 and the passage of the plus electricity from the upper to the 

 lower particles of the mass shows how electricity may pass through 

 a conductor, by means of the alternate change of the signs of 

 the particles, being an action very analogous to electrolysis. 



The above regards the particles of water as polarized as wholes — 

 and not as containing positive hydrogen and negative oxygen — 

 the cohesion of water being thus considered as similar to the 

 cohesion of a simple substance. It may be as well for me to 

 remark, too, that the before-mentioned lower line of particles, 



H — h H — h -) — (- , in becoming , yields half of 



its positive electricity to the mass of water, and the other half to 

 the conductor. 



This theory would lead one to expect, that anything which 

 favours the divisibility of water will increase the power with 

 which it dcvelopes electricity ; and accordingly it is found, that 

 electricity is more abundantly produced by the friction of hot 

 water than by the friction of cold water against air*. But as it 



* Phil. Mag., S. 3, vol. xxxvi. p. 507. 



