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The Oxford Electric Bell or Clarendon Dry Pile is an experimental electric bell that was set up in 1840 and which has run nearly continuously ever since. It was "one of the first pieces" purchased for a collection of apparatus by clergyman and physicist Robert Walker. It is located in a corridor adjacent to the foyer of the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford, England, and is still ringing, though inaudibly, because it is behind two layers of glass. == Design == The experiment consists of two brass bells, each positioned beneath a dry pile (a form of battery), the pair of piles connected in series. A metal sphere approximately 4 mm in diameter is suspended between the piles, and rings the bells by means of electrostatic force. As the clapper touches one bell, it is charged by one pile, and then electrostatically repelled, being attracted to the other bell. On hitting the other bell, the process repeats. The use of electrostatic forces means that while high voltage is required to create motion, only a tiny amount of charge is carried from one bell to the other, which is why the piles have been able to last since the apparatus was set up. Its oscillation frequency is 2 hertz.〔(Oxford Electric Bell ), ''(Atlas Obscura )''.〕 The exact composition of the dry piles is unknown,〔 but it is known that they have been coated with molten sulphur to prevent effects from atmospheric moisture and it is thought that they may be Zamboni piles. At one point this sort of device played an important role in distinguishing between two different theories of electrical action: the theory of contact tension (an obsolete scientific theory based on then-prevailing electrostatic principles) and the theory of chemical action. The Oxford Electric Bell does not demonstrate perpetual motion. The bell will eventually stop when the dry piles have distributed their charges equally if the clapper does not wear out first.〔(The World's Longest Experiment ), ''(The Longest List of the Longest Stuff at the Longest Domain Name at Long Last )''.〕〔(The Latest on Long-Running Experiments ), ''(Improbable Research )''.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Oxford Electric Bell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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