134 



M. W. de Nicolaieve on a New Reaction 



Fig. 3. 

 A 



upon them, and these tubes will have a reaction tending* to 

 compress the diaphragm. 



Second Experiment — Two strips K and L (fig. 3) are sus- 

 pended in water and separated from 

 each other by a glass partition, AB. 

 The electrostatic tubes of the kind 

 L A K displace the strips into the 

 positions K' and I/, so that the two K' 

 bodies under their mutual actions are 

 displaced in the same direction, which K 

 is contrary to the fundamental law 

 of Action and Reaction. The only 

 plausible explanation is that the 

 edge A reacts upon the tubes L A K 

 which act like stretched elastic threads 

 pressing against the edge and pulling 

 the strips. 



Third Experiment. — Metallic wires or strips K and L 

 (fig. 4) are immersed in water and are fixed. The mica 



Fia- 4. 



B 



partition, A B, floated by a cork, is movable. When in the 

 position A B it moves from A towards B, in the opposite 

 direction to the movement of the strips in the second experi- 

 ment. The moving force is the difference of the pulls of the 

 tubes L A K and L B K (fig. 3). When the edge A has passed 

 the line of the electrodes KL the tubes issuing from the 

 other faces of the electrodes act still in the same direction. 

 When the mica is parallel to the plane through K L it retreats 

 from them, a movement which is produced by the pressures 



