Double Fluid Theory

A theory of electricity. Electricity is conveniently treated as a fluid or fluids. According to the double fluid hypothesis negative electricity is due to a preponderance of negative fluid and vice vers a. Like fluid repels like, and unlike attracts unlike; either fluid is attracted by matter; the presence in a body of one or the other induces electrification; united in equal proportions they neutralize each other, and friction, chemical decomposition and other causes effect their separation. The hypothesis, while convenient, is overshadowed by the certainty that electricity is not really a fluid at all. (See Single Fluid Theory--Fluid, Electric.) Synonym--Symmer's Theory. [Transcriber's note: Current is the motion of negative electrons in a conductor or plasma. Unequal distribution of electrons is static electricity. The relatively immobile nuclei of atoms are positive when one or more of its electrons is absent and accounts for part of the current in electrolysis and plasmas.]