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MAGNETISM
[FEEBLY SUSCEPTIBLE SUBSTANCES


different specimens were tested, all of which became, like iron, thermo-electrically positive to the unmagnetized metals.

As to what effect, if any, is produced upon the thermo-electric quality of bismuth by a magnetic field there is still some doubt. E. van Aubel[1] believes that in pure bismuth the thermo-electric force is increased by the field; impurities may neutralize this effect, and in sufficient quantities reverse it.

Elasticity.—The results of experiments as to the effect of magnetization were for long discordant and inconclusive, sufficient care not having been taken to avoid sources of error, while the effects of hysteresis were altogether disregarded. The subject, which is of importance in connexion with theories of magnetostriction, has been investigated by K. Honda and T. Terada in a research remarkable for its completeness and the ingenuity of the experimental methods employed.[2] The results are too numerous to discuss in detail; some of those to which special attention is directed are the following: In Swedish iron and tungsten-steel the change of elastic constants (Young’s modulus and rigidity) is generally positive, but its amount is less than 0.5%; changes of Young’s modulus and of rigidity are almost identical. In nickel the maximum change of the elastic constants is remarkably large, amounting to about 15% for Young’s modulus and 7% for rigidity; with increasing fields the elastic constants first decrease and then increase. In nickel-steels containing about 50 and 70% of nickel the maximum increase of the constants is as much as 7 or 8%. In a 29% nickel-steel, magnetization increases the constants by a small amount. Changes of elasticity are in all cases dependent, not only upon the field, but also upon the tension applied; and, owing to hysteresis, the results are not in general the same when the magnetization follows as when it precedes the application of stress; the latter is held to be the right order.

Chemical and Voltaic Effects.—If two iron plates, one of which is magnetized, are immersed in an electrolyte, a current will generally be indicated by a galvanometer connected with the plates.

As to whether the magnetized plate becomes positive or negative to the other, different experimenters are not in agreement. It has, however, been shown by Dragomir Hurmuzescu (Rap. du Congrès Int. de Phys., Paris, 1900, p. 561) that the true effect of magnetization is liable to be disguised by secondary or parasitic phenomena, arising chiefly from polarization of the electrodes and from local variations in the concentration and magnetic condition of the electrolyte; these may be avoided by working with weak solutions, exposing only a small surface in a non-polar region of the metal, and substituting a capillary electrometer for the galvanometer generally used. When such precautions are adopted it is found that the “electromotive force of magnetization” is, for a given specimen, perfectly definite both in direction and in magnitude; it is independent of the nature of the corrosive solution, and is a function of the field-strength alone, the curves showing the relation of electromotive force to field-intensity bearing a rough resemblance to the familiar I-H curves. The value of the E.M.F. when H = 2000 is of the order of 1/100 volt for iron, 1/1000 volt for nickel and 1/10,000 for bismuth. When the two electrodes are ferromagnetic, the direction of the current through the liquid is from the unmagnetized to the magnetized electrode, the latter being least attacked; with diamagnetic electrodes the reverse is the case. Hurmuzescu shows that these results are in accord with theory. Applying the principle of the conservation of internal energy, he demonstrates that for iron in a field of 1000 units and upwards the E.M.F. of magnetization is

E = l · I2
δ 2κ

approximately, l being the electrochemical equivalent and δ the density of the metal. Owing to the difficulty of determining the magnetization I and the susceptibility κ with accuracy, it has not yet been possible to submit this formula to a quantitative test, but it is said to afford an indication of the results given by actual experiment. It has been discovered by E. L. Nichols and W. S. Franklin (Am. Journ. Sci., 1887, 34, 419; 1888, 35, 290) that the transition from the “passive” to the active state of iron immersed in strong nitric acid is facilitated by magnetization, the temperature of transition being lowered. This is attributed to the action of local currents set up between unequally magnetized portions of the iron. Similar results have been obtained by T. Andrews (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1890, 48, 116).

11. Feebly Susceptible Substances

Water.—The following are recent determinations of the magnetic susceptibility of water:—

Observer. κ × 106. Publication.
G. Quincke −0.797 at 18° C. Wied. Ann., 1885, 24, 387.
H. du Bois −0.837 (1 − 0.0025t − 15°) Wied. Ann., 1888, 35, 137.
P. Curie −0.790 at 4° C. C. R., 1893, 116, 136.
J. Townsend −0.77 Phil. Trans., 1896, 187, 544.
J. A. Fleming and J. Dewar −0.74 Proc. Roy. Soc., 1898, 63, 311.
G. Jäger and S. Meyer 707. −0.689 (1 − 0.0016t) Wied. Ann., 1899, 67,
J. Koenigsberger −0.781 at 22° C. Ann. d. Phys., 1901, 6, 506.
H. D. Stearns −0.733 at 22° C. Phys. Rev., 1903, 16, 1.
A. P. Wills −0.720 at 18° C. Phys. Rev., 1905, 20, 188.

Wills found that the susceptibility was constant in fields ranging from 4200 to 15,000.

Oxygen and Air.—The best modern determinations of the value of κ for gaseous oxygen agree very fairly well with that given by Faraday in 1853 (Exp. Res. III, 502). Assuming that for water κ = −0.8 × 10−6, his value of κ for oxygen at 15° C. reduces to 0.15 × 10−6. Important experiments on the susceptibility of oxygen at different pressures and temperatures were carried out by P. Curie (C.R. 1892, 115, 805; 1893, 116, 136). Journ. de Phys., 1895, 4, 204. He found that the susceptibility for unit of mass, K, was independent of both pressure and magnetizing force, but varied inversely as the absolute temperature, θ, so that 106K = 33700/θ. Since the mass of 1 cub. cm. of oxygen at 0° C. and 760 mm. pressure is 0.00141 grm., the mass at any absolute temperature θ is by Charles’s law 0.00141 × 273θ = 0.3849/θ grm.; hence the susceptibility per unit of volume at 760 mm. will be

κ = 10−6 × 0.3849 × 33700 / θ2

= 10−6 × 12970 / θ2.   

At 15° C. θ = 273 + 15 = 288, and therefore κ = 0.156 × 10−6, nearly the same as the value found by Faraday. At 0° C., κ = 0.174 × 10−6. For air Curie calculated that the susceptibility per unit mass was 106K = 7830/θ; or, taking the mass of 1 c.c. of air at 0° C. and 760 mm. as 0.001291 grm., κ = 10−6 × 2760/θ2 for air at standard atmospheric pressure. It is pointed out that this formula may be used as a temperature correction in magnetic determinations carried out in air.

Fleming and Dewar determined the susceptibility of liquid oxygen (Proc. Roy. Soc., 1896, 60, 283; 1898, 63, 311) by two different methods. In the first experiments it was calculated from observations of the mutual induction of two conducting circuits in air and in the liquid; the results for oxygen at −182° C. were

μ = 1.00287, κ = 228 × 10−6.

In the second series, to which greater importance is attached, measurements were made of the force exerted in a divergent field upon small balls of copper, silver and other substances, first when the balls were in air and afterwards when they were immersed in liquid oxygen. If V is the volume of a ball, H the strength of the field at its centre, and κ′ its apparent susceptibility, the force in the direction x is f = κ′VH × dH/dx; and if κa and κ0 are the apparent susceptibilities of the same ball in air and in liquid oxygen, κaκ0 is equal to the difference between the susceptibilities of the two media. The susceptibility of air being known—practically it was negligible in these experiments—that of liquid oxygen can at once be found. The mean of 36 experiments with 7 balls gave

μ = 1.00407, κ = 324 × 10−6.

A small but decided tendency to a decrease of susceptibility in very strong fields was observed. It appears, therefore, that liquid oxygen is by far the most strongly paramagnetic liquid known, its susceptibility being more than four times greater than that of a saturated solution of ferric chloride. On the other hand, its susceptibility is about fifty times less than that of Hadfield’s 12% manganese steel, which is commonly spoken of as non-magnetizable.

  1. C.R., 1903, 136, 1131.
  2. Journ. Coll. Sci. Tokyo, 1906, 21, art. 4. The paper contains 40 tables and 85 figures.