Storing and manipulating the invisible: experimental strategies to explore the Leyden jar

• Grant number: 14/07839-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: July 01, 2014
• End date: July 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Science
• Principal Investigator: Cibelle Celestino Silva
• Grantee: Cibelle Celestino Silva
• Host Investigator: Peter Heering
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Bakken Museum, United States

Abstract

The objective of this proposal is to develop a broader understanding of the early history of the Leyden jar, especially the period between its initial description by Ewald Jürgen von Kleist (1700-1748) and Pieter van Musschenbroek (1692-1761) and efforts to reproduce and stabilize the new phenomenon to the development of the first coherent theories to explain it. To this end, we will use written sources, experiences and experiments with different bottles and fillings, different goals, and the experimenter own body, from the perspective of "exploratory experimentation" (Steinle 2005). The purpose of conducting experimental activity is not only to understand the accounts of the historical actors, but also develop a deeper understanding of the descriptions and the difficulties experienced by physicists of the eighteenth century, as well as the tacit knowledge involved in practical experiments with electricity. This study will make extensive use of written sources and historical experimental apparatus available in the collection of The Bakken Museum in Minneapolis, USA, and will be developed in partnership with Professor Peter Heering, University of Flensburg, Germany during the period 1 July to 8 August 2014. (AU)