HELMHOLTZ, HERMANN von. - FURTHER PROOF OF THE "CONSERVATION OF ENERGY-PRINCIPLE"

Ueber galvanische Ströme, verursacht durch Concentrationsunterschiede; Folgerungen aus der mechanischen Wärmetheorie. (On galvanic Currents caused by Differences in Concentration: Deductions from the Mechanical Theory of Heat).

Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1878. Without wrappers as issued in "Annalen der Physik und Chemie. Hrsg. von G. Wiedemann.", Neue Folge Bd. 3, 2. Heft. Pp. 161-320 a. 1 folded plate. (entire issue offered). Helmholtz' paper: pp. 201-216. With titlepage to volume 3.

First apperance - in full - of this importent paper in which for the first time the 2 laws of thermodynamics were applied to electrical phenomena. Parts of the paper were published already in 1877.

"In 1877 Helmholtz attempted to predict theoretically the electromotive force of a galvanic cell for different concentrations of a salt solution. Under certain conditions the cell can be treated as a reversible cycle and the laws of Carnot and Clapeyron applied to it. The theory was in substantial agreement with experimental data by James Moser."(DSB). - The Moser-paper confirming Helmholtz theory is printed here on pp. 216-219, taken from Monatsberichte der Berl. Akad., 1877.

"In his work 'On Galvanic Currents', Helmholtz was the first to apply the two laws of thermodynamics to electricity. In order to keep up a current of electricity through any conductor it is necessary to expend a certain amount of chemical or mechanical work; the supply of positive electricity in the positive end of the conductor must be perpetually renewed, in order to oppose the repulsive force of the positive electricity there accumulated, and the same holds for the negative electricity at the negative end."(Koenigsberger "Hermann von helmholtz", pp. 309-12).

Order-nr.: 45034