ART. 221 - The Electrical Resistance of Alloys

Summary

The recent researches of Profs. Dewar and Fleming upon the electrical resistance of metals at low temperatures have brought into strong relief the difference between the behaviour of pure metals and of alloys. In the former case the resistance shows every sign of tending to disappear altogether as the absolute zero of temperature is approached, but in the case of alloys this condition of things is widely departed from, even when the admixture consists only of a slight impurity.

Some years ago it occurred to me that the apparent resistance of an alloy might be partly made up of thermo-electric effects, and as a rough illustration I calculated the case of a conductor composed of two metals arranged in alternate laminæ perpendicular to the direction of the current. Although a good many difficulties remain untouched, I think that the calculation may perhaps suggest something to those engaged upon the subject. At any rate it affords à priori ground for the supposition that an important distinction may exist between the resistances of pure and alloyed metals.

The general character of the effect is easily explained. According to the discovery of Peltier, when an electric current flows from one metal to another there is development or absorption of heat at the junction. The temperature disturbance thus arising increases until the conduction of heat through the laminæ balances the Peltier effects at the junctions, and it gives rise to a thermo-electromotive force opposing the passage of the current.