Harris's balance electrometer, 1840-74.

Made:
1840-1874 in Devonport
designer:
William Snow Harris
maker:
William Charles Cox
Harris's Balance Electrometer

Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

Buy

License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

License

Harris's Balance Electrometer
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Harris's Balance Electrometer

Snow Harris (1840-1874) designed this instrument in 1834 to compare the quantity of electricity imparted to a substance with its attractive power. In an experiment similar to Petrus van Musschenbroek's concerning magnetism a century before in 1725, he weighed the force of the electric attraction on a balance. The instrument was made by J. Newman.

Details

Category:
King George III
Object Number:
1927-1190
Materials:
brass, glass, boxwood, lignum vitae and mahogany
type:
electrometer and balance electrometer
credit:
King's College, London