| RefNo | MS/603/7/282 |
| Previous numbers | 1310 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter from Oliver J [Joseph] Lodge, Mariemont, Edgbaston, to [Joseph] Larmor |
| Creator | Lodge; Sir Oliver Joseph (1851-1940); British physicist |
| Recipient | Larmor; Sir Joseph (1857-1942); Irish theoretical physicist |
| Date | 25 September 1917 |
| Description | Lodge finds arithimetic 'brain wearing' rather than reasoning. He thinks that [Arthur] Eddington is right about longitudinal and transverse mass, but dodges the difference by attending always to momentum. Lodge gives a page of Eddington's equations on these topics. In his paper, Lodge attended to transverse forces only, 'forgetting that what is transverse to orbital motion is nothing of the kind to absolute motion'. He compares his and Eddington's terms, admitting that Eddington was correct, but 'I want to find some way of dodging the big volume for small eccentricities'. Lodge does not want to plague Larmor but the problem fascinates him. He does not think anything of the charged mass of the Sun, even if the additional mass affected gravity, it would do nothing beyond what is known and make no perturbation. The variable mass of the planet is telling. With some additional discussion he writes that this is as far as he has got in Larmor's letter. He notes Kelvin's thinking on the velocity of stars and the density of their distribution, the finit equantity of matter within range. 'Radum particles are much more crowded & so get ejected with terrific speeds'. The variable mass theory almost 'does the whole business...& it only wants a little more tinkering'. |
| Extent | 5p. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA8070 | Lodge; Sir; Oliver Joseph (1851 - 1940); physicist | 1851 - 1940 |