Thermoelectric effect Thermocouple and thermopile Not by accident Commentary

Thomas Johann Seebeck, Hans Christian Ørsted electromagnetism

Thermoelectric effect

• Thomas Johann Seebeck discovered
• in an electric circuit with a junction of two metals
• that heating or cooling one side of the junction
• resulted in an electric current
• that deflected the arrow of a compass.
• Seebeck thought he had discovered
• a thermomagnetic effect, but Hans Christian Ørsted
• observed that the magnetic deflection
• was a result of the generated current,
• and coined the term thermoelectricity.

Thermocouple and thermopile

• Put a temperature difference across it—
• you generate a voltage
• to measure the temperature,
• which is called a thermocouple,
• or to generate electricity,
• which is called a thermopile.

Not by accident

• It couldn’t have been an accident,
• a circuit tossed together
• from parts remaining from other experiments.
• I have friends who have said
• nothing is accidental.
• Unknowable past lives explain this one.
• Sometimes things click
• when everything makes sense
• and explanations fall into place.