Picosecond discharges and stick-slip friction at a moving meniscus of mercury on glass
Nature, ISSN: 0028-0836, Vol: 391, Issue: 6664, Page: 266-268
1998
- 25Citations
- 31Captures
Metric Options: CountsSelecting the 1-year or 3-year option will change the metrics count to percentiles, illustrating how an article or review compares to other articles or reviews within the selected time period in the same journal. Selecting the 1-year option compares the metrics against other articles/reviews that were also published in the same calendar year. Selecting the 3-year option compares the metrics against other articles/reviews that were also published in the same calendar year plus the two years prior.
Example: if you select the 1-year option for an article published in 2019 and a metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019. If you select the 3-year option for the same article published in 2019 and the metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Citation Benchmarking is provided by Scopus and SciVal and is different from the metrics context provided by PlumX Metrics.
Example: if you select the 1-year option for an article published in 2019 and a metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019. If you select the 3-year option for the same article published in 2019 and the metric category shows 90%, that means that the article or review is performing better than 90% of the other articles/reviews published in that journal in 2019, 2018 and 2017.
Citation Benchmarking is provided by Scopus and SciVal and is different from the metrics context provided by PlumX Metrics.
Article Description
At a meeting of the French Academy in 1700, Bernoulli demonstrated that swirling mercury in an evacuated flask generates light. He emphasized that this 'barometer light' 'has not been explained since its discovery about 30 years ago' by Picard. Here we revisit this phenomenon and find that the repetitive emission of light from mercury moving over glass is accompanied by the collective picosecond transfer of large numbers of electrons. When brought into contact with mercury, the glass acquires a net charge. This charge separation provides a force which, in our experiment in a rotating flask, drags mercury against gravity in the direction of the motion of the glass. Eventually the edge of the mercury slips relative to the glass, accompanied by a picosecond electrical discharge and a flash of light. This repetitive build-up and discharge of static electricity thus gives rise to stick-slip motion. The statistics of the intervals between events and their respective magnitudes are history-dependent and are not yet understood.
Bibliographic Details
Provide Feedback
Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know