Mikhail Lomonosov. Oratio De Meteoris Vi Electrica Ortis - Discourse on Atmospheric Phenomena Originating from Electrical Force (1753). English translation and commentary by V.Shiltsev

TL;DR

Lomonosov's 1753 discourse presents an original theory of atmospheric electricity, explaining lightning, auroras, and comet tails through vertical air movements and particle friction, supported by experiments and mathematical estimates.

Contribution

This work is the first complete English translation of Lomonosov's seminal 1753 theory on atmospheric electricity, combining experimental observations with a novel mechanistic explanation.

Findings

Proposes vertical air movements as the main cause of atmospheric electricity

Suggests friction of water vapor and organic particles generates electrical charges

Explains lightning, auroras, and comet tails as electrical phenomena

Abstract

This is the first complete English translation of Oratio De Meteoris Vi Electrica Ortis - seminal work of the great Russian polymath Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765). It was presented at the public meeting of the St.Petersburg Academy of Sciences in November 1753 and is traditionally listed among Lomonosov's most important scientific accomplishments. In the Discourse, Lomonosov presents an original theory of generation of electricity in the air and lightning, many elements of which are profoundly correct even by present day understanding of the phenomenon. The theory is based on experimental observations and measurements and supported by some mathematical estimates. The basis of the Lomonosov theory is the idea of vertical air movements as the main cause of atmospheric electricity - the immersion of the cold upper strata of the atmosphere into the lower (warmer) layers causes mechanical friction of miniscular particles in the air against each other, that results in generation of atmospheric electricity. Miniscular particles of two types are required: those of water (vapors) capable of accumulation of the electricity, and organic compounds/fatty particles in the air which are involved in production of the electricity via friction. Electrically charged droplets are assumed to be spread throughout the entire volume of the cloud. The transfer of charges from individual fatty particles to droplets of water in the clouds via countless collisions leads to formation in atmosphere, in clouds of strong electric fields, which are the cause of the appearance of lightning. At the end of Discourse Lomonosov suggests explanations of the Northern lights (aurora borealis) and comet tails as purely electrical phenomena originating from the down- and updrafts in the atmospheres, like in his theory of lightning,and expanding beyond them into the surrounding ether.