Continuing investigation into possible electric fields arising from steady conduction currents

Abstract

Recently a report was made of an effort to test higher-order, source-velocity terms in Maxwell's equations. Present electromagnetic theory predicts a zero electric field resulting from constant currents in closed conductors at rest, but Edwards has reported observing an I2 $I^{2}$ -dependent potential resulting from current I $I$ in a superconducting Nb-Ti coil. We have repeated these experiments under several variations to confirm the functional nature of the effect and to test the possibility of its arising from causes consistent with Maxwell's equations. In a fitting of the function φ∝In $φ \propto I^{n}$ where φ $φ$ is the observed potential, we have obtained the value n=2.02±0.05 $n = 2.02 \pm 0.05$ . We have also concluded that none of the following effects offers a satisfactory explanation: the self-Hall effect, configurational emf's, non-steady-current effects, thermoelectric effects, flux-flow emf's, and possible charge transfer on helium bubbles. The signal appears to be a real field effect and is as yet unexplained.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.14.922

Received 10 November 1975
Revised 11 May 1976
Published in the issue dated 15 August 1976

Authors & Affiliations

W. F. Edwards, C. S. Kenyon, and D. K. Lemon

Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322

References

W. Farrell Edwards, Measurement of an Electric Field Due to Conduction Currents (Utah State Univ. Press, Logan, Utah, 1974)
W. F. Edwards, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 20, 630 (1975)
Sir Edmund Whittaker, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity (Harper, New York, 1960), Vol. I, pp. 201, 202
Alfred O'Rahilly, Electromagnetics: A Discussion of Fundamentals (Longmans, Green, and Co., London, 1938), pp. 523-535
Sir Edmund Whittaker, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity (Ref. 3), pp. 201, 202, 205
Alfred O'Rahilly, Electromagnetics: A Discussion of Fundamentals (Ref. 4), p. 525
J. C. Maxwell, quoted by Alfred O'Rahilly, Electromagnetics: A Discussion of Fundamentals (Ref. 4), p. 514
Sir Edmund Whittaker, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity (Ref. 3), p. 290
Sir Edmund Whittaker, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity (Ref. 3), p. 206
Alfred O'Rahilly, Electromagnetics: A Discussion of Fundamentals (Ref. 4), p. 589
Sir Edmund Whittaker, A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity (Ref. 3), pp. 235-236
E. Klein, Z. Phys. 77, 417 (1932) Alfred O'Rahilly, Electromagnetics: A Discussion of Fundamentals (Ref. 4), p. 589
D. A. Baker, Am. J. Phys. 32, 153 (1964) W. G. V. Rosser, Classical Electromagnetism via Relativity (Plenum, New York, 1968), pp. 272-284
Omitted endnote
J. Bardeen and J. Stephen, Phys. Rev. 140, A1197 (1965)
P. W. Anderson and Y. B. Kim, Rev. Mod. Phys. 36, 39 (1964)
Y. B. Kim, C. F. Hempstead, and A. R. Strnad, Rev. Mod. Phys. 36, 43 (1964)
J. E. Evetts, A. M. Campbell, and D. Dew-Hughes, Philos. Mag. 10, 339 (1964)
Y. B. Kim, C. F. Hempstead, and A. R. Strnad, Phys. Rev. 129, 528 (1963)
M. A. R. LeBlanc, Phys. Rev. 124, 1423 (1961)
S. L. Wipf and M. S. Lubell, Phys. Lett. 16, 103 (1965)
M. R. Beasley, W. A. Fietz, R. W. Rollins, J. Silcox and W. W. Webb, Phys. Rev. 137, A1205 (1965)
Omitted endnote
S. A. Reed, E. Fawcett, and Y. b. Kim, Phys. Rev. Lett. 14, 790 (1965)
A. K. Niessen and F. A. Staas, Phys. Lett. 15, 26 (1965)
M. Chester, Phys. Rev. Lett. 5, 91 (1960)
L. B. Dinaburg, Cryogenics 11, 239 (1971)
J. Wilks, The Properties of Liquid and Solid Helium (Clarendon, Oxford, 1967), p. 424
R. Berman, in Advanced Cryogenics, edited by C. A. Bailey (Plenum, London, 1971), p. 130
A. Th. A. M. deWaele et al., Physica 65, 587 (1973)
C. P. Bean, Phys. Rev. Lett. 8, 250 (1962)
Y. B. Kim, C. F. Hempstead, and A. R. Strnad, Phys. Rev. Lett. 9, 306 (1962)
Y. B. Kim, C. F. Hempstead, and A. R. Strnad, Phys. Rev. 139, A1163 (1965)
P. W. Anderson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 9, 309 (1962)

Physical Review D

particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology