Signedon scale: Elliot Bros. / London
Inscribedon base, carved: E 110
marked on instrument: 75 ohms.
FunctionThis galvanometer was used in the classroom. An astatic galvanometer is a sensitive instrument that measures small current displacements. When an electric current passes through a wire coil, it induces a magnetic field that causes the coil to rotate in proportion to the current deflections, twisting a suspended magnet. The current deflections can be detected using a scale.
ProvenanceFrom the Department of Physics, Harvard University, 11/20/1956.
Related WorksJ.E.H. Gordon, A Physical Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, 2nd edition (London, 1883), Vol. 1., p. 252, fig. 95.