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Rudiments of Electrical Engineering

1920; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 106; Issue: 2665 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/106403d0

1476-4687

Philip Kemp,

THIS book is intended for those with practically no electrical knowledge, but whose daily work brings them into touch with electrical apparatus. The recent rush of students to join classes in elementary electrical engineering in technical schools shows that there is a demand for this knowledge. We think, however, the author has included too much in the scope of the work. We read about magnetism, primary batteries, electric bells, and kinema sets. We also read about three-core cables, rotary converters, boosters, interpoles, etc. The book would have been more useful if the description and elementary theory of the more intricate apparatus had been excluded. It does not advance our technical knowledge of what is meant by “candle-power” to be told that “a source of light is said to possess candle-power.” It is also not very instructive to be told that the back E.M.F. of a motor can be obtained by Fleming's right-hand rule. We failed to follow the theory given for the action of the balancers in a three-wire system of distribution (p. 246). The reader ought to be told why the difference of pressure between the two ends of a circuit is called the “potential difference.” The introduction of the word “potential” must strike him as mysterious. In electrical science, more almost than in any other, it is impossible to be perfectly exact “at once,” but a beginning at precision should be made early, even although the author should run the risk of being called “academic.”