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The first electroscope was a pivoted needle (called the versorium), invented by British physician William Gilbert around 1600. [1] [2] The pith-ball electroscope and the gold-leaf electroscope are two classical types of electroscope [2] that are still used in physics education to demonstrate the principles of electrostatics.
Building a versorium is a suggested exercise in science classes in many elementary schools. [ 5 ] [ 6 ] One reason is that the operation of the versorium is simple to understand and the device is suitable for building by even young students, but can still be used to illustrate many important concepts in electricity .
Devised in 1978 by Cresson Kearny, the Kearny fallout meter is an application of the gold-leaf electroscope developed in 1787 by Abraham Bennet. [3] Prior to this, the use of the electrometer principle for radiation detection had seen widespread application in the form of the quartz fiber dosimeter. Professional radiation meters, while more ...
The next step was when Abraham Bennet, the inventor of the gold leaf electroscope, described a "doubler of electricity" (Phil. Trans., 1787), as a device similar to the electrophorus, but that could amplify a small charge by means of repeated manual operations with three insulated plates, in order to make it observable in an electroscope.
Gilbert cloud chamber, assembled An alternative view of kit contents. The lab contained a cloud chamber allowing the viewer to watch alpha particles traveling at 12,000 miles per second (19,000,000 m/s), a spinthariscope showing the results of radioactive disintegration on a fluorescent screen, and an electroscope measuring the radioactivity of different substances in the set.
A gold-leaf electroscope (E), a sensitive detector of electric charge, is attached by a wire to the outside of the pail. When the charged ball is lowered into the pail without touching it, the electroscope registers a charge, indicating that the ball induces charge in the metal container by electrostatic induction. An opposite charge is induced ...
Modern electrometers based on vacuum tube or solid-state technology can be used to make voltage and charge measurements with very low leakage currents, down to 1 femtoampere. A simpler but related instrument, the electroscope, works on similar principles but only indicates the relative magnitudes of voltages or charges.
Gold-leaf electroscope, showing induction (labelled polarity of charges), before the terminal is grounded. Using an electroscope to show electrostatic induction. The device has leaves/needle that become charged when introducing a charged rod to it. The leaves bend the leave/needle, and the stronger the static introduced, the more bending occurs.