062 



Mr. "W. Sutherland on the Electric 



in " The Electric Origin of Rigidity and Consequences " I 

 used the artifice of dividing the space into cubes each con- 

 taining a molecule, and then imagining the electrization o£ 

 the mass caused by alternate sheets o£ positive and negative 

 electricity in the planes dividing the space into cubes, so that 

 each of the three plane distributions had a third part of the 

 potential energy of the whole mass. Another method of 

 representation is to place negative electrons \) and positive % 

 alternately at the corners of the cubes so that along any 

 line forming edges \y and J recur alter- 

 nately. If with \) of amount e as origin 

 we draw three rectangular axes forming 

 the edges of the eight cubes which meet 

 at \) and place jf of amount e at distances 

 s and —s on each axis, we see that our 

 arrangement provides for a large pre- 

 ponderance of attraction over repulsion, 

 since the six nearest neighbours of b are 

 Jf. It provides a distribution of polarity 

 similar to that in our mass of uniformly 

 electrized molecules. I have sought to 

 show in " Ionization in Solutions and Two New Types of 



Viscosity" (Phil. Mag. 

 solutions give such a 



6] xiv. 1907, p. 1) that the ions of 

 distribution of polarity as that just 

 described. An expression of the same form as (1) for the 

 rigidity of such a distribution of electrons leads to correct 

 results concerning the electric resistance of electrolytic 

 solutions. Since the form (1) applies to metals at absolute 

 zero and to uniformly spaced ions, it follows that a cubical 

 arrangement of electrons is for some purposes a convenient 

 and proper simplified representation of the electric polarity 

 in a metal at absolute zero. But this leads to a scheme 

 which is better for most pur- 

 poses because liker to the natural . Fig. 2. 

 Imagine a mass of molecules at A | ___^___^__^___^ B 

 absolute zero to consist of cubes 

 represented in plan in the figure 

 where the arrow at the centre 

 of each square denotes the di- 

 rection of the uniform electri- 

 zation of the cube. Here the 

 cubes along AD and parallel to 

 it form prisms which are alter- 

 nately electrized in opposite D" — ~~ ' • 'q 



directions. The next row of 



cubes above AD would form a prism oppositely electrized 



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