<研究報告>ポテンシャルエネルギー概念の歴史的発展について

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概要

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• The development of potential energy has not been much noticed of in most papers about the history of science. But the quantity which corresponds to today's potential energy has played an important role in the establishment of the principle of conservation of energy. In 1807,the product of weight of a body and the height from which it must have fallen was called "ascending force" by T. YOUNG. Though this "ascending force" was the equivalent of vis viva (energy), Young did not consider the conversion of ascending force into vis viva. In 1842,R. MAYER called the product of mass of a body and the height "Fallkraft (falling force)". Though Mayer did not distinguish between weight and mass, he used the quantity in the same meaning as today's gravitational potential energy. In 1847,J. P. JOULE used the term of "attraction through space" to express the potential energy not only of gravitational force but also of the force between particles of which matter consists. In the same year, H. HELMHOLTZ called the product of attraction (or repulsion) and the distance between two points "Spannkraft (tension)", and applied it to electrical force further. When MAYER, JOULE and HELMHOLTZ individually put forward the principle of conservation of energy, it was always emphasized that "Fallkraft", "attraction through space" or "Spannkraft" respectively were convertible into vis viva or heat. After the concept of potential energy had been established, the nomenclature of "potential energy" was introduced by W. J. M. RANKINE in 1853,and received by W. THOMSON in that year. As we have seen above, the concept and nomenclature of potential energy were established in the middle of the 19th century.

• 国立科学博物館の論文

著者

• 中川 徹

  国立科学博物館 工学研究部

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