Modern Views of Electricity

Abstract

(1) THE first question that I raised in my former letter was how oxygen atoms come by the negative electricity which according to Dr. Lodge they have. I find in his pamphlet, “Seat of E.M.F.” (p. 50), his view stated as follows, that whatever may be the case with molecules of oxygen, at least all dissociated atoms have a certain definite negative charge. If this be so, it seems to me to follow necessarily either that all molecules of oxygen are negatively charged, or that only those which are so charged can undergo dissociation.