Research and Investigation
To detect the presence of free electricity in the air a pointed metal rod projecting into the air several feet and connected at its lower end to a gold leaf electroscope may be used. When this rod is projected into the air a few feet the leaves diverge. Kites and balloons have also been used to detect and, so to speak, draw down the free electricity of the air. The origin of atmospheric electricity is still unknown. Some physicists have ascribed it to the friction of the air upon the ground, others to the gradual oxidation of plant and animal life, others again to evaporation, to induction from the sun, and to differences of temperature.
Read more about this topic: Atmospheric Electricity
Famous quotes containing the word research:
“The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is “What does a woman want?””
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)