James Prescott Joule

Historical Replica of Joule's Paddlewheel Experiment

Contributions To Physics

Career Development

Beginnings Of The Great Physicist

• He studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work.
• This led to the law of conservation of energy and first law of thermodynamics which is that energy cannot be created or destroyed.
• He created Joule's first law which gives the relationship between the passage of electric current through a conductor and the amount of heat released. Q = I^2 * R *T.
• His work with William Thompson led to the remarkable discovery known as the Joule-Thomson effect and also worked on the absolute scale of temperature with him
• Joule's related heat and mechanical motion, and this was named the unit of energy a 'Joule', after James Joules.

• In 1838, at the age of nineteen, he constructed an electro-magnetic engine.
• In 1840, he worked on replacing the brewery’s steam engines with newly invented electric motor for scientific and economic purposes.
• In 1841, he designed an experiment to establish the relation between current, resistance and heat in a conductor. This relationship is known as Joule’s first law.
• In 1845, he reported about the paddle wheel experiment which helped him understand the concept of conservation of energy. He proposed that in the experiment, mechanical energy converted into heat energy and this later led to the ‘Law of Conservation of Energy’.
• In 1847, he met William Thompson during one of his presentations at British Association in Oxford and collaborated with him to conduct several studies on thermal effects. They discovered the Joule-Thomson effect and absolute scale of temperature.

• In those days, a brewery was the perfect place for him to study machinery, such as engines and pumps that handled large quantities of liquids, and chemical processes, such as fermentation.
• Five years later he created a laboratory in the cellar of his parents' home and he began to attend the meetings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, where he met famous scientists and engineers of the day.
• He flourished in the academic surroundings of the Society and he may never have formulated his principle of the conservation of energy had he been educated at one of the country's universities because these were still governed by Newtonian mechanics.

Childhood and Early Life

By :Yagnik Patel

For: Mr. Davis

Date: 25/07/2016

Course: SPH4UE

Period: July

• James was born on 24 December, 1818 in Manchester.
• He was a delicate and frail child, unable to attend regular school and received his early education at home from his aunt.
• As a child, he was fascinated with electricity and its effects.
• He used to conducts experiments at home and in one of the experiments, he unknowingly shocked and knocked out one of his servants.
• His father’s health declined and he and his elder brother were forced to work in brewery, at the age of 15.

James Prescott Joule

Family Background:

• James Prescott Joule's grandfather, Jack Joule, had founded a brewery in New Bailey Prison, England in 1788 called the Joules Brewery.
• His father, Benjamin Joule, continued the trade as a brewer and became very wealthy.
• Benjamin Joule and Alice Prescott married in Wigan, Lancashire, on the 14 May 1814.
• Together they had 5 children and one of which was James Prescott Joules.

Education:

Degrees Achieved:

• Joule was mostly home schooled.
• He studied arithmetic and geometry under John Dalton, who at the time was President of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.
• He was later taught by famous scientist and lecturer, John Davies.

Thank You For Watching My Prezi Hope you Enjoyed

References

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBrTDKc9YklZ0

2. http://www.nndb.com/people/275/000049128/

3. http://www.famousscientists.org/james-prescott-joule/

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Prescott_Joule

5.http://www.pittdixon.go-plus.net/joule/joule.htm

Honors/ Awards

Personal Life and Legacy

• In 1847, he married Amelia Grimes, daughter of Mr. John Grimes, Comptroller of Customs, Liverpool.
• They had two children, Benjamin Arthur and Alice Amelia.
• In 1854 his wife and son passed away.
• After this unfortunate incident, he lived as a widower for the rest of his life working tirelessly.
• The British government granted him two hundred pound sterling as pension for his lifetime work and achievements.
• His unparalleled study in the field of energy and its dimensions still forms the basis for many of the researches undertaken today.
• He died on 11 October, 1889 in Sale, England after a long illness.

• The unit of energy the joule (j) was named after him.
• He also became a member of the Royal Society of London, received the Copley Medal the society's highest award in 1866
• He was elected President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1872 & 1887).
• He has also had a statue made in his honour