Why is a joule called a joule?
The scientists of the 19th century were busy probing the mysterious behavior of invisible energy. Lord Kelvin and James Prescott Joule of England, Julius Mayer of Germany and several others were especially interested in the way one form of energy changes to another. The work of these physicists led to the discovery of the Law of Conservation of Energy. Joule went on to study the heat produced by an electrical conductor and became the man who proved once and for all that heat is a form of energy. This was in the 1840’s. Later researchers needed a standard unit to measure the amount of energy work performed. This unit was named in honor of J.P. Joule who had pioneered in the field of energy. The joule unit can be demonstrated in terms of electric current. One joule is the energy required to send one ampere through an electric circuit that has a resis¬tance of one ohm. In terms of lifting power, it is equal to the energy expended by 0.74 foot pounds. This is about 3/4 of the energy requir
