Electric thermometer, after Ebenezer Kinnersley — Teylers Museum

Electric thermometer, after Ebenezer Kinnersley

This instrument was devised by Ebenezer Kinnersley, who was the first to discover that electricity can produce heat. To demonstrate this, he made an electric thermometer in 1761. The instrument shown here follows the principle discovered by Kinnersley. The glass cylinder is filled with coloured water up to the tip of the lower electrode. When sparks jump between the electrodes, the air in the cylinder is heated. The air expands and pushes the water upwards into the narrow (capillary) tube. Behind that tube is a scale, which gives a measure for the heat produced (and thus for the strength of the electric discharges). See also 560 and 562 (Instruments Room, cabinet III).

Administration name

Fysisch Kabinet

Title

Electric thermometer, after Ebenezer Kinnersley

Translated title

Electric thermometer, after Ebenezer Kinnersley

Creator

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Object category

elektriciteit

Object number

FK 0561

Reproduction reference

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Order image