E34 -- Dissertatio de igne, in qua eius natura et proprietates explicantur
(Dissertation on fire)
Originally published with the title: Dissertatio de igne, in qua ejus natura et proprietates explicantur: occasione quaestionis,
cum praemio annexo, ab illustrissima academia scientiarum regia Parisina pro anno 1738
propositae, ejusdem academiae judicio aequo submissa: Cui praemium, in tres partes divisum, pro uno ex illis addictum est. Auctore D. Leonardo Euler (!), mathematicae profess. &
academiae scientiarum Petropolitanae socio.
Summary:
(based on Clifford A. Truesdell's introduction to Opera Omnia Series II, Volume 12)
Euler argues that fire is the result of the bursting of tiny glassy balls of highly compressed air
in the pores of bodies, so that "heat consists in a certain motion of the smallest particles of a body."
Thus, all the phenomena associated with heat and fire can be deduced from the laws of mechanics without
supposing any "occult qualities." He also says that light is the elastic vibration of the ether that is
initiated by the explosions of little balls; hence, light is propagated by the same laws as sound.
Motto: Magnum iter ascendo, sed dat mihi gloria vires;
Non juvat ex facili lecta corona jugo.
According to the records, it was presented to the St. Petersburg Academy on July 15, 1737.
Publication:
-
Originally published in Pièces qui ont remporté le prix de l'académie royal des sciences
de Paris, 1738, pp. 1-19
-
Opera Omnia: Series 3, Volume 10, pp. -
- Republished in Recueil des pièces qui ont remporté les prix de l’académie royale des sciences 4,
1752, pp. 3-19 [E34a]
Documents Available:
- Original publication (from the Recueil):
E34
Return to the Euler Archive