Title :
How did Georg Simon Ohm do it? [Ohm´s law]
Author :
Geddes, L.A. ; Geddes, L.E.
Author_Institution :
Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN, USA
Abstract :
The "it" in the title refers to what is now known as Ohm\´s law. Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854) lived at a time when there were no calibrated indicators for electric current. There was no volt or amp; these were established much later by the 1881 International Electrical Congress. The resources available to Ohm were: 1) the discovery of Oersted, who in 1520 showed that a magnetic field surrounded a wire carrying electric current; 2) the electrochemical cell, described by Volta in 1800; and 3) the thermoelectric effect, discovered by Seebeck in 1822. How Ohm discovered his law with these varied and limited resources is the subject of this article.
Keywords :
biographies; electricity; history; 1881 International Electrical Congress; Georg Simon Ohm; Oersted; Ohm´s law; Seebeck; Volta; amp; calibrated indicators; electric current; electrochemical cell; magnetic field; thermoelectric effect; volt; Animals; Batteries; Conductors; Current; Electric shock; Galvanizing; Humans; Needles; Sparks; Wire; Denmark; Electric Conductivity; Electricity; Germany; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; Portraits as Topic;
Journal_Title :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE