Article ID: CBB867479977

Joule’s Experiments on the Heat Evolved by Metallic Conductors of Electricity (2021)

unapi

The focus of this paper is one of James Prescott Joule’s scientific contributions: the laws of heat production by electric currents in conductors. In 1841, the 22 years old Joule published a paper with the title “On the heat evolved by metallic conductors of electricity, and in the cells of a battery during electrolysis” where he presented an experimental study of that phenomenon and proposed two laws that were allegedly supported by his trials. On closer inspection, both his laboratory work and his inferences can be challenged. The emphasis of this article is an attempt to understand Joule’s experimental undertaking, its highpoints and shortcomings, by a detailed analysis of this specific episode and by studying the precedents of his work and subsequent advancements. It is possible to point out several serious deficiencies of that investigation, and Joule’s contemporaries, such as Edmond Becquerel and Heinrich Lenz, did criticize some of his flaws and undertook new experiments to provide a sound basis for those laws. Besides providing a historical examination of that specific episode, this article uses this case study to tackle some features of the nature of science that may contribute to scientific education.

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Authors & Contributors
Steinle, Friedrich
Cavicchi, Elizabeth
Zayachkivska, Oksana
Vaquero, José M.
Tazzioli, Rossana
Smith, Glenn S.
Concepts
Electricity; magnetism
Experiments and experimentation
Physics
Theories of heat
Research
Methodology of science; scientific method
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
20th century
17th century
Places
United States
Spain
Poland
France
Europe
Great Britain
Institutions
Royal Society of London
University of Pennsylvania
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