James Prescott Joule: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox Scientist |
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| name = James Prescott Joule |
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| image = Joule_James_sitting.jpg |
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| image_width = 200px |
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| caption = James Joule - English physicist |
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| birth_date = {{birth date|1818|12|24}} |
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| birth_place = [[Salford]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]] |
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| death_date = {{death date and age|1889|10|11|1818|12|24}} |
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| death_place = [[Sale, Cheshire]], [[England]] |
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| residence = |
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| citizenship = [[England|English]] |
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| ethnicity = |
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| field = [[Physics]] |
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| work_institution = |
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| alma_mater = |
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| influences = [[John Dalton]]</br>[[John Davies (lecturer)|John Davies]] |
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| known_for = [[First Law of Thermodynamics]] |
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| prizes = |
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}} |
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My dad!!@! |
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'''James Prescott Joule ''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] ({{pronEng|ˈdʒuːl}};<ref>[[OED]]: "Although some people of this name call themselves {{IPA|(dʒaʊl)}}, and others {{IPA|(dʒəʊl)}} […], it is almost certain that J. P. Joule (and at least some of his relatives) used {{IPA|(dʒuːl)}}.</ref> [[December 24]], [[1818]] – [[October 11]], [[1889]]) was an [[England|English]] [[physicist]] and [[brewing (beer)|brewer]], born in [[Salford]], [[Lancashire]]. Joule studied the nature of [[heat]], and discovered its relationship to [[mechanical work]] (see [[energy]]). This led to the theory of [[conservation of energy]], which led to the development of the [[first law of thermodynamics]]. The [[SI derived unit]] of energy, the [[joule]], is named after him. He worked with [[William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin|Lord Kelvin]] to develop the absolute scale of [[temperature]], made observations on [[magnetostriction]], and found the relationship between the [[Electric current|current]] through a [[resistor|resistance]] and the heat dissipated, now called [[Joule's law]]. |
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== Early years == |
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The son of Benjamin Joule (1784–1858), who was a wealthy brewer, Joule was tutored at home until 1834 when he was sent, with his elder brother Benjamin, to study with [[John Dalton (scientist)|John Dalton]] at the [[Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society]]. The pair only received two years' education in [[arithmetic]] and [[geometry]] before Dalton was forced to retire owing to a [[stroke]]. However, Dalton's influence made a lasting impression as did that of his associates, [[chemist]] [[William Henry (chemist)|William Henry]] and Manchester engineers [[Peter Ewart]] and [[Eaton Hodgkinson]]. Joule was subsequently tutored by [[John Davies (lecturer)|John Davies]]. Joule was fascinated by [[electricity]]. He and his brother experimented by giving electric shocks to each other and to the family's servants.<ref name="ODNB">Smith (2004)</ref> |
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Joule became a manager of the brewery and took an active role until the sale of the business in 1854. Science was a hobby but he soon started to investigate the feasibility of replacing the brewery's [[steam engine]]s with the newly-invented [[electric motor]]. In 1838, his first [[scientific paper]]s on electricity were contributed to ''Annals of Electricity'', the [[scientific journal]] founded and operated by Davies's colleague [[William Sturgeon]]. He discovered [[Joule's law]] in 1840<ref>Joule, J.P. (1841) "On the heat evolved by metallic conductors of electricity" ''Philosophical Magazine'', '''19''', 260; ''Scientific Papers'' 65</ref> and hoped to impress the [[Royal Society]] but found, not for the last time, that he was perceived as a mere provincial dilettante. When Sturgeon moved to Manchester in 1840, Joule and he became the nucleus of a circle of the city's intellectuals. The pair shared similar sympathies that science and theology could and should be integrated. Joule went on to lecture at Sturgeon's [[Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical Science]].<ref name="ODNB"/> |
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He went on to realise that burning a [[pound (mass)|pound]] of coal in a steam engine produced five times as much duty as a pound of [[zinc]] consumed in a [[Grove cell]],<ref>[[William Robert Grove]] was to give one of the earliest general accounts of the conservation of energy in 1844.</ref> an early electric [[battery (electricity)|battery]].<ref>Smith (1998) ''p.''60</ref> Joule's common standard of "economical duty" was the ability to raise one pound, a height of one foot, the ''[[foot-pound force|foot-pound]]''.<ref>Joule's unit of the foot-pound corresponds to a modern measure of [[energy]]. The energy required to raise a mass, ''m'', through a height ''h'' is ''mgh'', where ''g'' is the [[standard gravity]]. Joule's unit is dimensionally correct if interpreted as [[foot-pound force]]. Where [[SI units]] are employed, such energy is given in terms of the eponymous [[joule]]: 1 foot-pound = 1.356 J.</ref><ref name="ODNB"/> |
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Joule was influenced by the thinking of [[Franz Aepinus]] and tried to explain the phenomena of electricity and [[magnetism]] in terms of [[atom]]s surrounded by a "[[calorific]] [[Aether (classical element)|ether]] in a state of vibration".<ref name="ODNB"/> |
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However, Joule's interest diverted from the narrow financial question to that of how much work could be extracted from a given source, leading him to speculate about the convertibility of [[energy]]. In 1843 he published results of experiments showing that the [[heat]]ing effect he had quantified in 1841 was due to generation of heat in the [[conductor (material)|conductor]] and not its transfer from another part of the equipment.<ref>Joule, J.P. (1843) ''Philosophical Magazine'', '''23''', 263; ''Scientific Papers'' 123</ref> This was a direct challenge to the [[caloric theory]] which held that heat could neither be created or destroyed. Caloric theory had dominated thinking in the science of heat since it was introduced by [[Antoine Lavoisier]] in 1783. Lavoisier's prestige and the practical success of [[Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot|Sadi Carnot]]'s caloric theory of the [[heat engine]] since 1824 ensured that the young Joule, working outside either [[academia]] or the engineering profession, had a difficult road ahead. Supporters of the caloric theory readily pointed to the symmetry of the [[Peltier-Seebeck effect]] to claim that heat and current were convertible, at least approximately, by a [[reversible process]].<ref name="ODNB"/> |
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== The mechanical equivalent of heat == |
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Joule wrote in his 1845 paper: |
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{{Quotation|... the mechanical power exerted in turning a magneto-electric machine is ''converted into the heat'' evolved by the passage of the currents of induction through its coils; and, on the other hand, that the motive power of the electro-magnetic engine is obtained at the expense of the heat due to the chemical reactions of the battery by which it is worked.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Joule, James Prescott | title = On the Changes of Temperature Produced by the Rarefaction and Condensation of Air | journal = Philosophical Magazine, Series 3 | volume = 26, year = 1845 | pages = 369 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=2scKAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA17&dq=Joule+chemical+reactions+of+the+battery&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA17,M2 }} </ref>}} |
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[[Image:Joule's heat apparatus.JPG|thumb|right|Joule's Heat Apparatus, 1845]] |
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Joule here adopts the language of ''vis viva'' (energy), possibly because Hodgkinson had read a review of Ewart's ''On the measure of moving force'' to the Literary and Philosophical Society in April 1844. |
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Further experiments and measurements by Joule led him to estimate the ''[[mechanical equivalent of heat]]'' as 838 [[Foot-pound_force|ft·lbf]] of work to raise the temperature of a pound of [[water]] by one degree [[Fahrenheit]].<ref>Joule's unit corresponds to 5.3803×10<sup>-3</sup> J/[[calorie]]. Thus Joule's estimate was 4.51 J/cal, compared to the value accepted by the beginning of the 20th century of 4.1860 J/cal (M.W. Zemansky (1968) ''Heat and Thermodynamics'', 5th ed., p. 86).</ref> He announced his results at a meeting of the chemical section of the [[British Association for the Advancement of Science]] in [[Cork (city)|Cork]] in 1843 and was met by silence. |
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Joule was undaunted and started to seek a purely mechanical demonstration of the conversion of work into heat. By forcing water through a perforated cylinder, he was able to measure the slight [[viscosity|viscous]] heating of the fluid. He obtained a mechanical equivalent of 770 ft·lbf/[[British thermal unit|Btu]] (4.14 [[joule|J]]/[[calorie|cal]]). The fact that the values obtained both by electrical and purely mechanical means were in agreement to at least one [[order of magnitude]] was, to Joule, compelling evidence of the reality of the convertibility of work into heat. |
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Joule now tried a third route. He measured the heat generated against the work done in compressing a gas. He obtained a mechanical equivalent of 823 ft·lbf/Btu (4.43 J/cal).<ref>Joule, J.P. (1845) "On the rarefaction and condensation of air" ''Philosophical Magazine'', ''Scientific Papers'' 172</ref> In many ways, this experiment offered the easiest target for Joule's critics but Joule disposed of the anticipated objections by clever experimentation. However, his paper was rejected by the [[Royal Society]] and he had to be content with publishing in the ''[[Philosophical Magazine]]''. In the paper he was forthright in his rejection of the caloric reasoning of Carnot and [[Émile Clapeyron]], but his [[theology|theological]] motivations also became evident: |
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{{Quotation|I conceive that this theory ... is opposed to the recognised principles of philosophy because it leads to the conclusion that ''[[vis viva]]'' may be destroyed by an improper disposition of the apparatus: Thus Mr Clapeyron draws the inference that 'the temperature of the fire being 1000°C to 2000°C higher than that of the boiler there is an enormous loss of ''vis viva'' in the passage of the heat from the furnace to the boiler.' Believing that the power to destroy belongs to the Creator alone I affirm ... that any theory which, when carried out, demands the annihilation of force, is necessarily erroneous.}} |
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[[Image:JouleWater-ChangingApparatus.png|right|333px]] |
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[[Image:Joule's Apparatus (Harper's Scan).png|thumb|Joule's apparatus for measuring the mechanical equivalent of heat]] |
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In 1845, Joule read his paper ''On the mechanical equivalent of heat'' to the British Association meeting in [[Cambridge]].<ref>[http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Chem-History/Joule-Heat-1845.html Joule, J.P. (1845) "On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat"], ''Brit. Assoc. Rep., trans. Chemical Sect'', p.31, read before the British Association at Cambridge, June</ref> In this work, he reported his best-known experiment, involving the use of a falling weight to spin a paddle-wheel in an insulated barrel of water, whose increased temperature he measured. He now estimated a mechanical equivalent of 819 ft·lbf/Btu (4.41 J/cal). |
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In 1850, Joule published a refined measurement of 772.692 ft·lbf/Btu (4.159 J/cal), closer to twentieth century estimates.<ref>Joule, J.P (1950) ''[[Philosophical Transactions]] of the Royal Society of London'', vol.140, Part 1, ''pp''61-82</ref> |
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== Reception and priority == |
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:''For the controversy over priority with Mayer, see [[Mechanical equivalent of heat#Priority|Mechanical equivalent of heat: Priority]]'' |
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Much of the initial resistance to Joule's work stemmed from its dependence upon extremely [[accuracy and precision|precise]] [[measurement]]s. He claimed to be able to measure temperatures to within 1/200 of a [[Fahrenheit|degree Fahrenheit]]. Such precision was certainly uncommon in contemporary experimental physics but his doubters may have neglected his experience in the art of brewing and his access to its practical technologies.<ref>Sibum (1994)</ref> He was also ably supported by [[Measuring instrument|scientific instrument]]-maker [[John Benjamin Dancer]]. |
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However, in Germany, [[Hermann Helmholtz]] became aware both of Joule's work and the similar 1842 work of [[Julius Robert von Mayer]]. Though both men had been neglected since their respective publications, Helmholtz's definitive 1847 declaration of the [[conservation of energy]] credited them both. |
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Also in 1847, another of Joule's presentations at the British Association in [[Oxford]] was attended by [[George Gabriel Stokes]], [[Michael Faraday]], and the precocious and maverick [[William Thomson]], later to become [[Lord Kelvin]], who had just been appointed professor of [[natural philosophy]] at the [[University of Glasgow]]. Stokes was "inclined to be a Joulite" and Faraday was "much struck with it" though he harboured doubts. Thomson was intrigued but skeptical. |
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Unanticipated, Thomson and Joule met later that year in [[Chamonix]]. Joule married Amelia Grimes on [[August 18]] and the couple went on honeymoon. Marital enthusiasm notwithstanding, Joule and Thomson arranged to attempt an experiment a few days later to measure the temperature difference between the top and bottom of the [[Cascade de Sallanches]] waterfall, though this subsequently proved impractical. |
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Though Thomson felt that Joule's results demanded theoretical explanation, he retreated into a spirited defense of the Carnot-Clapeyron school. In his 1848 account of [[absolute temperature]], Thomson wrote that "the conversion of heat (or caloric) into mechanical effect is probably impossible, certainly undiscovered"<ref>See {{cite journal | author = Thomson, William | title = On an Absolute Thermometric Scale founded on Carnot's Theory of the Motive Power of Heat, and calculated from Regnault's Observations | journal = Philosophical Journal | year = 1848 | volume = | pages = }}- See also the account in {{cite book | author = Thomson, William | title = Mathematical and Physical Papers | year = 1882 | volume = | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge, England | pages = 100 – 106}}</ref> - but a footnote signaled his first doubts about the caloric theory, referring to Joule's "very remarkable discoveries". Surprisingly, Thomson did not send Joule a copy of his paper but when Joule eventually read it he wrote to Thomson on [[October 6]], claiming that his studies had demonstrated conversion of heat into work but that he was planning further experiments. Thomson replied on the 27th, revealing that he was planning his own experiments and hoping for a reconciliation of their two views. Though Thomson conducted no new experiments, over the next two years he became increasingly dissatisfied with Carnot's theory and convinced of Joule's. In his 1851 paper, Thomson was willing to go no further than a compromise and declared "the whole theory of the motive power of heat is founded on ... two ... propositions, due respectively to Joule, and to Carnot and Clausius". |
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As soon as Joule read the paper he wrote to Thomson with his comments and questions. Thus began a fruitful, though largely epistolary, collaboration between the two men, Joule conducting experiments, Thomson analysing the results and suggesting further experiments. The collaboration lasted from 1852 to 1856, its discoveries including the [[Joule-Thomson effect]], and the published results did much to bring about general acceptance of Joule's work and the [[kinetic theory]]. |
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== Kinetic theory == |
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[[Image:Joule James Jeens engraving.jpg|right|thumb|James Prescott Joule]] |
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Kinetics is the science of motion. Joule was a pupil of Dalton and it is no surprise that he had learned a firm belief in the [[atomic theory]], even though there were many scientists of his time who were still skeptical. He had also been one of the few people receptive to the neglected work of [[John Herapath]] on the [[kinetic theory of gases]]. He was further profoundly influenced by [[Peter Ewart]]'s 1813 paper ''On the measure of moving force''. |
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Joule perceived the relationship between his discoveries and the kinetic theory of heat. His laboratory notebooks reveal that he believed heat to be a form of rotational, rather than translational motion. |
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Joule could not resist finding antecedents of his views in [[Francis Bacon (philosopher)|Francis Bacon]], Sir [[Isaac Newton]], [[John Locke]], [[Count Rumford| Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford)]] and Sir [[Humphry Davy]]. Though such views are justified, Joule went on to estimate a value for the mechanical equivalent of heat of 1034 foot-pound from Rumford's publications. Some modern writers have criticised this approach on the grounds that Rumford's experiments in no way represented systematic quantitative measurements. In one of his personal notes, Joule contends that Mayer's measurement was no more [[accuracy and precision|accurate]] than Rumford's, perhaps in the hope that Mayer had not anticipated his own work. |
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== Honours == |
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[[Image:JamesJouleStatueManchesterCityHall20051020 CopyrightKaihsuTai.jpg|thumb|right|A statue of Joule in the [[Manchester Town Hall]]]] |
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Joule died at home in [[Sale, Greater Manchester|Sale]]<ref>GRO Register of Deaths: DEC 1889 8a 121 ALTRINCHAM - James Prescott Joule</ref> and is buried in [[Brooklands, Greater Manchester|Brooklands]] cemetery there. The gravestone is inscribed with the number "772.55", his climacteric 1878 measurement of the mechanical equivalent of heat, and with a quotation from the [[Gospel of John]], "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (9:4). |
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*Fellow of the [[Royal Society]], (1850); |
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**[[Royal Medal]], (1852); |
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**[[Copley Medal]] (1870); |
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*President of [[Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society]], (1860); |
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*President of the [[British Association for the Advancement of Science]], (1872); |
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*[[Honorary degree]]s: |
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**[[Doctor of Laws|LL.D.]], [[Trinity College Dublin]], (1857); |
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**[[Doctor of Civil Law|DCL]], [[University of Oxford]], (1860); |
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**LL.D., [[University of Edinburgh]], (1871). |
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*He received a [[civil list]] [[pension]] of [[GBP|£]]200 ''per annum'' in 1878 for services to science; |
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*[[Albert Medal (RSA)|Albert Medal]] of the [[Royal Society of Arts]], (1880). |
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*There is a memorial to Joule in the north choir aisle of [[Westminster Abbey]], though he is not buried there, contrary to what some biographies state. |
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*A statue by [[Alfred Gilbert]], stands in [[Manchester Town Hall]], opposite that of Dalton. |
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== Selected writings == |
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*{{ cite book | author = Joule, J. P. | title = The Scientific Papers of James Prescott Joule | publisher = Dawsons of Pall Mall | location = London | year = 1963 }} |
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== Notes == |
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{{reflist}} |
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== Further reading == |
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* {{cite journal | author = Bottomley, J. T. | title = James Prescott Joule | year = 1882 | journal = [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] | volume = 26 | pages = 617 – 620 }} |
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* {{cite book | author = Cardwell, D. S. L. | title=James Joule: A Biography | publisher=Manchester University Press | year=1991 | id=ISBN 0-7190-3479-5 }} |
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* {{cite journal | author = Forrester, J. | title = Chemistry and the Conservation of Energy: The Work of James Prescott Joule | year = 1975 | journal = Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science | volume = 6 | pages = 273 – 313 | doi = 10.1016/0039-3681(75)90025-4}} |
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* Fox, R, "James Prescott Joule, 1818–1889", in {{cite book | author=North, J. | title=Mid-nineteenth-century scientists | publisher=Elsevier | year=1969 | pages = 72 - 103| id=ISBN 0-7190-3479-5}} |
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* {{cite book | author = Reynolds, Osbourne | title = Memoir of James Prescott Joule | year = 1892 | publisher = Manchester Literary and Philosphical Society | place = Manchester, England | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=Zs93x6asUPgC&pg=PA154&dq=joule&as_brr=1#PPR1,M1 | access-date = 2008-03-15}} |
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* {{cite journal | author = Sibum, H. O. | title = Reworking the mechanical value of heat: instruments of precision and gestures of accuracy in early Victorian England | year = 1994 | journal = Studies in History and Philosophy of Science | volume = 26 | pages = 73 – 106 | doi = 10.1016/0039-3681(94)00036-9}} |
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* {{cite book | author = Smith, C. | title = The Science of Energy: A Cultural History of Energy Physics in Victorian Britain | location = London | publisher = Heinemann | year = 1998 | id = ISBN 0-485-11431-3 }} |
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* — (2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15139 "Joule, James Prescott (1818-1889)"], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15139, accessed [[27 July]] [[2005]]> (subscription required) |
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* {{cite book | author=Smith, C. & Wise, M.N. | title=Energy and Empire: A Biographical Study of Lord Kelvin | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1989 | id=ISBN 0-521-26173-2 }} |
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* {{cite book | author=Steffens, H.J. | title=James Prescott Joule and the Concept of Energy | publisher=Watson | year=1979 | id=ISBN 0-88202-170-2 }} |
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== External links == |
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* [http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/webdocs/Chem-History/Joule-Heat-1845.html Classic papers of 1845 and 1847 at ChemTeam website] ''On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat'' and ''On the Existence of an Equivalent Relation between Heat and the ordinary Forms of Mechanical Power'' |
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* [http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/treasure/objects/1876-492.asp Joule's paddle-wheel apparatus] at [[London Science Museum]] |
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* ''[http://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/JOULE1.html Some Remarks on Heat and the Constitution of Elastic Fluids]'', Joule's 1851 estimate of the speed of a gas molecule. |
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* [http://www.bad.org.uk/public/historical_posters/JamesJoulePoster.pdf University of Manchester material on Joule] - includes photographs of Joule's house and gravesite |
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* [http://books.google.com/books?id=BCUJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA209&dq=joule&as_brr=1#PPA208,M1 Dictionary of National Biography (1892)] - entry for Joule |
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* {{cite journal | author = | title = Dr. Joule | journal = Electrical Engineer | year = 1889 | issue = October 18 | pages = 311 – 312 | location = London | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=PQsAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA311&lpg=PA311&dq=James+Joule+obituary&source=web&ots=qOdCT5LZpz&sig=68bvktPEB4FqIHunmcrIDjUK1Pg&hl=en#PPA311,M1 | access-date = 2008-05-16}}- obituary with brief comment on Joule's family |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Joule, James Prescott}} |
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[[Category:1818 births]] |
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[[Category:1889 deaths]] |
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[[Category:Thermodynamicists]] |
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[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]] |
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[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]] |
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[[Category:English physicists]] |
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[[Category:History of Greater Manchester]] |
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[[Category:People associated with energy]] |
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[[Category:People associated with electricity]] |
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[[Category:People from Sale]] |
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Revision as of 19:38, 8 October 2008
My dad!!@!