INDEXED; 
THE 
LONDON,  EDINBURGH,  and  DUBLIN 
PHILOSOPHICAL     MAGAZINE 
AND 
JOURNAL    OF    SCIENCE. 
[SIXTH    SERIES.] 
MARCH    1906. 
XXVII.  On  the  Asymmetrical  Action  of  an  Alternating  Current 
on  a  Polarizable  Electrode.  By  P.  G.  Gundry,  Ph.D. 
(Gott.),B.Sc.  (Lond.),  Assoc. R.C. Sc,  late  Assist.  Lecturer 
and  Demonstrator  in  Physics  at  University  College,  Cardiff*. 
THE  great  advance  made  by  .Kohlrauschf  in  the  study  of 
polarization  by  the  use  o£  alternating  currents  led  to 
an  extended  series  of  researches  in  the  subject,  of  which 
especially  may  be  mentioned  those  of  Warburg  J,  E.  Neu- 
mann §,  M.  Wien||,  Kriiger^I,  and  others.  In  all  these 
investigations  (with  the  exception  of  E.  Neumann's)  the 
so-called  initial  polarization  capacity  was  considered,  and 
the  strength  of  the  alternating  current  used  was  kept  suf- 
ficiently small  for  this  condition  to  be  satisfied.  There  are, 
however,  cases  in  which  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  with 
measurable  currents  to  keep  within  these  limits,  and  E. 
Neumann  has  considered  the  effect  of  an  extension  beyond 
initial  polarization  capacity  in  the  Wheatstone  bridge. 
From  another  side,  however,  in  recent  years  the  con- 
sideration of  the  action  of  an  alternating  current  on  a  pola- 
rizable electrode  has  come  into  prominence,  namely,  in  the 
*  Communicated  by  Principal  E.  H.  Griffiths,  Sc.D.,  F.R.S.  The 
greater  part  of  this  paper  forms  part  of  an  Inaugural-Dissertation  in  the 
University  of  Gottingen. 
f  Kohlrausch,  Pogg.  Ann.  cxlviii.  p.  443  (1872). 
%  Warburg,  Wied.  Ann.  lxvii.  (1899),  and  earlier  papers. 
§  E.  Neumann,  Wied.  Ann.  lxvii.  p.  500  (1899). 
j|  M.  Wien,  Wied.  Ann.  lviii.  p.  37  (1896),  and  others. 
^[  F.  Kriiger,  Zeitsch.f.  jriys.  Chemie,  xlv.  p.  1  (^1903). 
Phil.  Mag.  S.  6.  Vol.  11.  No.  63,  March  1906.  Z 
