The Wimshurst Machines of the Archidiocesan Marist College of São Paulo

Abstract

The School Museum of the Archdiocesan Marist College of São Paulo has a large number of pieces, from catalogs of scientific objects, one of them being the main subject of this article, the Wimshurst Machine, an invention by the British James Wimshurst. In this text, we will discuss the examples found in the collection of the College, noting their presence also in textbooks and catalogs from countries such as France, Germany and the United States of America. The experimental characteristic of teaching physics at the beginning of the 20th century, brought the figure of scientific instruments into the classroom. Through the curriculum loaded predominantly with theoretical material, researchers in the field of electricity acquired the results and enthusiasm they needed to complement the methodology of their studies on the machine. The practicality and ability of the Wimshurst machine to solve old problems connected to other electrostatic machines, such as the polarity inversion, made physics laboratories interested in the acquisition of this instrument.