Cup, Porous.
A cup used in two-fluid voltaic batteries to keep the solutions separate
to some extent. It forms a diaphragm through which diffusion inevitably
takes place, but which is considerably retarded, while electrolysis and
electrolytic convection take place freely through its walls. As
material, unglazed pottery is very generally used.
In some batteries the cup is merely a receptacle for the solid
depolarizer. Thus, in the Leclanché battery, the cup contains the
manganese dioxide and graphite in which the carbon electrode is
embedded, but does not separate two solutions, as the battery only uses
one. Nevertheless, the composition of the solution outside and inside
may vary, but such variation is incidental only, and not an essential of
the operation.
Current.
The adjustment, or effects of a continuous attempt at readjustment of
potential difference by a conductor, q. v., connecting two points of
different potential. A charged particle or body placed in a field of
force tends to move toward the oppositely charged end or portion of the
field. If a series of conducting particles or a conducting body are held
so as to be unable to move, then the charge of the field tends, as it
were, to move through it, and a current results. It is really a
redistribution of the field and as long as such redistribution continues
a current exists. A current is assumed to flow from a positive to a
negative terminal; as in the case of a battery, the current in the outer
circuit is assumed to flow from the carbon to the zinc plate, and in the
solution to continue from zinc to carbon. As a memoria technica the zinc
may be thought of as generating the current delivering it through the
solution to the carbon, whence it flows through the wire connecting
them. (See Ohm's Law--Maxwell's Theory of Light--Conductor-Intensity.)
[Transcriber's note: Supposing electric current to be the motion of
positive charge causes no practical difficulty, but the current is
actually the (slight) motion of negative electrons.]
Current, After.
A current produced by the animal tissue after it has been subjected to a
current in the opposite direction for some time. The tissue acts like a
secondary battery. The term is used in electro-therapeutics.
Current, Alternating.
Usually defined and spoken of as a current flowing alternately in
opposite directions. It may be considered as a succession of currents,
each of short duration and of direction opposite to that of its
predecessor. It is graphically represented by such a curve as shown in
the cut. The horizontal line may denote a zero current, that is no
current at all, or may be taken to indicate zero electro-motive force.
The curve represents the current, or the corresponding electro-motive
forces. The further from the horizontal line the greater is either, and
if above the line the direction is opposite to that corresponding to the
positions below the line. Thus the current is alternately in opposite
directions, has periods of maximum intensity, first in one and then in
the opposite sense, and between these, passing from one direction to the
other, is of zero intensity. It is obvious that the current may rise
quickly in intensity and fall slowly, or the reverse, or may rise and
fall irregularly. All such phases may be shown by the curve, and a curve
drawn to correctly represent these variations is called the
characteristic curve of such current. It is immaterial whether the
ordinates of the curve be taken as representing current strength or
electromotive force. If interpreted as representing electro-motive
force, the usual interpretation and best, the ordinates above the line
are taken as positive and those below as negative.
Synonyms--Reversed Current--Periodic Currents.
Fig. 117. CHARACTERISTIC CURVE OF ALTERNATING CURRENT.