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The results of Professor Trowbridge's experiments with the electrical spark, which he has been able to produce with the aid of his powerful storage battery, have created a wide-spread interest in the world of science and he has received most flattering letters from many of the leading physicists of the country.
Professor Trowbridge has discovered that a flash of lightning travelling through two miles of air meets with no more resistance than a flash going through two feet of air. This discovery practically reverses Ohm's Law, that the resistance which a current overcomes is proportionate to the distance traversed, in its bearing upon air as a conductor. The law still holds with regard to other conductors such as copper wire.
Professor Trowbridge has also demonstrated why lightning goes down heated chimneys or through warm rooms, a fact which has long puzzled scientists for hot air affords greater resistance to electricity than cold air. He has shown that a current breaks down the first resistance of hot air more readily than that of cold and is therefore diverted into the warmer spaces.
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