An Introduction to Technical Electricity

by Sydney George Starling

AN INTRODUCTION TO TECHNICAL ELECTRICITY BY S. G. STARLING, B. Sc., A. R. C. Sc. HEAD OF THE 1 HYSICAL DEPARTMENT AT THE MUNICIPAL TECHNICAL INS-UPUIK, WEsi HAM AUTHOR OF ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM ran ADVANCED STUDENTS l JOINT-AUTHOR OF A JLXT HOOK Of-PHYSICS PRELIMINARY KACITCAL MATHEMATICS, ETC. MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTINS STREET, LONDON 1921 GLASGOW I PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BV ROBERT MACLEHOSE AND CO. LTD. PUBLISHEKS NOTE BY the Education Act, 1918, provision is made for a large extension of the work of the Elementary School. Central Schools may be established in which, at appro priate stages, practical instruction suitable to the ages, abilities, and requirements of the better pupils must be given. Courses of advanced instruction for older pupils remaining at the elementary school beyond fourteen years of age must be provided, and measures taken for the preparation of those children who desire further education in schools other than elementary. It will be necessary also to arrange for a sufficient supply of con tinuation schools for young people between fourteen and at present sixteen years of age, the instruction in which must extend, within the working day, to 280 or 320 hours in each year, at the option of the local education authority. A new type of book will be required for purposes of instruction in the new schools created by the Act and the Life and Work Series is intended to supply it. The volumes in the series will be designed to satisfy two distinct ideals one cultural and the other utilitarian or vocational and in both cases the appeal will be through interest. It is not necessary to accept Rous seaus doctrine that a pupil should learn no lesson ofwhich he does not feel the present need, yet he must vi PUBLISHERS NOTE have a consciousness of value if a dynamic response is to be secured. While the aim of education is to train young people to be worthy and working members of the community, the immediate task of the teacher is to detect incipient growth towards the light and to encourage it. Contact with life and work will, therefore, be the common bond of the series. Compulsory attendance at school may be prescribed, but compulsory attention must come from the pupils own being, and it can be just as successfully and usefully stimulated by the wonders or achievements of science and industry as by masterpieces of art and literature. Interest in the principles and processes of daily work is as worthy as a regard for what are called cultural studies, and both will foster a desire for further knowledge. Citizenship implies not only duty towards life in the community but also efficient work on its behalf on the part of tho individual. It is hoped that the volumes in this series will, by their close touch with reality, satisfy the vital needs of young students and provide the nurture and stimulus which are the essential functions of all educa tional effort. PREFACE THE study of Electricity may be approached in many ways the usual, academic plan presupposes some know ledge of Mathematics, and follows approximately the historical development of the subject, beginning the study of electrostatics by rubbing amber with wool, of mag netism by an examination of the properties of lodestone, and of current electricity with an investigation of the voltaic cell. A second method regards the whole of Physics, including Electricity, as a convenientsource of examples for the student of Mathematics with the result that many university students are introduced to Electri city first in connection with problems involving the equations of Laplace and Poisson. But such methods are quite unsuitable for young students of the kind to which the series of books, in which this volume appears, appeals. Boys beginning active work in the world of industry must at the outset see some connection between their everyday occupation and the studies they are called upon to undertake...

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

1873-