Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Electroscope, Lucretius, Magnetite

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 1020E
• Professor: Nigmendra Narain

Document Summary

In lessons 1 to 4 we learned about momentum and the principle of conservation. Now we turn our attention to electricity and magnetism. A carry-over idea which will be used extensively, in fact throughout the course, is the idea of conservation. Conservation of different quantities is one of the most important principles in science. In this lesson we shall discuss the properties of static (not moving) electric charges. In future lessons we will learn about dynamic (moving) electric charges which is called current electricity. Historical background for electricity and magnetism (optional: amber is a semi-transparent solid (yellow or brown) which is fossilized sap that oozed from softwood trees in the distant past. In 600 bc, thales recognized that it had a property of attraction if rubbed vigorously against a cloth. This is the first recorded evidence of electrostatic attraction: lodestone is a mineral (we call magnetite) that has a chemical formula of fe3o4.