Joule, James (Prescott)

Joule, James (Prescott)
born Dec. 24, 1818, Salford, Lancashire, Eng.
died Oct. 11, 1889, Sale, Cheshire

English physicist.

After studying under John Dalton, in 1840 he described "Joule's law," which stated that the heat produced in a wire by an electric current is proportional to the product of the resistance of the wire and the square of the current. In 1843 he published his value for the amount of work required to produce a unit of heat, called the mechanical equivalent of heat, and established that heat is a form of energy. He established that the various forms of energy are basically the same and can be changed from one into another, a discovery that formed the basis of the law of conservation of energy, the first law of thermodynamics. In his honour, the value of the mechanical equivalent of heat is usually represented by the letter J, and a standard unit of work is called the joule.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Joule,James Prescott — Joule (jo͞ol, joul), James Prescott. 1818 1889. British physicist who established the mechanical theory of heat and discovered the first law of thermodynamics. * * * …   Universalium

  • Joule, James Prescott — ▪ English physicist born December 24, 1818, Salford, Lancashire [now in Greater Manchester], England died October 11, 1889, Sale, Cheshire       English physicist who established that the various forms of energy mechanical, electrical, and heat… …   Universalium

  • Joule , James Prescott — (1818–1889) British physicist Joule, the son of a brewer from Salford, received little formal education, was never appointed to an academic post, and remained a brewer all his life. He began work in a private laboratory that his father built near …   Scientists

  • Joule, James (Prescott) — (24 dic. 1818, Salford, Lancashire, Inglaterra–11 oct. 1889, Sale, Cheshire). Físico inglés. Después de estudiar bajo la guía de John Dalton, en 1840 describió la ley de Joule, la cual afirmaba que el calor producido en un alambre por una… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Joule, James Prescott — ► (1818 89) Físico británico. Estudió el efecto calorífico de la corriente eléctrica y encontró la equivalencia mecánica del calor …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • JOULE, JAMES PRESCOTT —    a celebrated physicist, born at Salford; was a pupil of Dalton s, and devoted his time to physical and chemical research; made discoveries in connection with the production of heat by voltaic electricity, demonstrated the equivalence of heat… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • James Prescott Joule — James Joule James Prescott Joule (Salford, Mánchester, 24 de diciembre de 1818 Salford, 11 de octubre de 1889) fue un físico inglés. Fue u …   Wikipedia Español

  • James Prescott Joule — James P. Joule James Prescott Joule (* 24. Dezember 1818 in Salford bei Manchester; † 11. Oktober 1889 in Sale (Greater Manchester), Aussprache: dʒuːl[1]) war ein britischer Physiker …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • James Prescott Joule — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Prescott et Joule (homonymie). James Prescott Joule James Prescott Joule Naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

  • James Prescott Joule — Infobox Scientist name = James Prescott Joule image width = 200px caption = James Joule English physicist birth date = birth date|1818|12|24 birth place = Salford, Lancashire, England death date = death date and age|1889|10|11|1818|12|24 death… …   Wikipedia

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