394 J. OBATA: [Ser. 2, Vol.

8,

On the Variation of Manganin Resistances with

Atmospheric Humidity.

Juichi OBAT

[READ
OCTOBER
16, 1915

In 1907 Drs. Rosa and Babcock showed(1), that all the manganin
resistances, prepared in the manner specified by the Physikalisch-Tech
nische Reichsanstalt(2), viz. standards of Reichsanstalt form, as well
as those of Wheatstone bridges, potentiometers, and resistance boxes,
exhibited seasonal changes, increasing in resistance, at the same tem
perature, when the surrounding atmosphere is damper and decreasing
when it is drier.
The amplitude of this change, was found at Washington to be
from 15 to 25 parts in 100,000. These authors attributed the cause of
the change to the stretching of manganin wire on account of the swell
ing of the heavy covering of shellac, in which the coil is embedded,
due to the absorption of moisture from the surrounding atmosphere.
The seasonal changes observed at the Physikalisch-Technische
Reichsanstalt and National Physical Laboratory amounted to only one
fifth of the above values or still less. A number of independent ex
periments have since been made upon several resistance standards and
resistance coils in boxes, arriving at the conclusion that while some
shellacked coils remain approximately constant with varying humidity,
others change by considerable amounts(3).
As the atmosphere in Tokyo is in summer far more humid than
in London or in Berlin, even more than in Washington, it was thought
to be of interest to investigate the variation of some manganin resistance
standards which were in our possession.

(1) E. B. Rosa and H. D. Babcock, Bull. of the Bureau of St., 4 (1907), p. 121.
(2) K. Feussner and St. Lindeck, Zeitschr. f. Instr., 15 (1895), p. 394.
(3) W. Jaeger und St. Lindeck, Zeitsch. f. Instr., 28 (1908), p. 229.
F. E. Smith, Phil. Mag., 16 (1908), p. 450.
Mar., 1916.] ON THE VARIATION OF MANGANIN RESISTANCES ETC. 395

In order to give an idea of the atmospheric condition at the above

cited places, curves of monthly mean of relative humidity are plotted
in Fig. 1.

Tokyo, (1886-1910).
Washington, (1896-1908).
Kew, (1886-1910).
Berlin, (1896-1907).

Fig. 1.

Obviously these curves show the condition in the open air and it
should be borne in mind that the relative humidity many differ in
laboratory rooms and in the outside atmosphere. The laboratory rooms
are heated during the winter months, when in Tokyo and Washington
the atmosphere is drier than in summer, and hence the relative humi
dity in the rooms would be probably lower than that in the open air.
Since the rooms in our laboratory have, unlike the standardizing rooms
in the Bureau of Standards, no equipment to reduce the humidity in
summer when it is very damp, the variation of relative humidity appears
to be very large, and as the consequence a considerable change in the
resistance might be expected.
Electrical Measurements. All the resistances, of which we have
measured the seasonal variations, are of Reichsanstalt form, purchased
in 1910 from Otto Wolff, Berlin. As the changes in smaller resistances
are known to be relatively small, the mean of four 1-ohm coils, which
had been evaluated comparing with the primary mercurial standards in
396 J. OBATA: [Ser. 2, Vol. 8,

the spring of 1914(1), and kept since that time immersed in pure

paraffin oil, was taken as the standard of reference, and values of all
other coils were determined in terms of this mean. Measurements were

carried out immersing all the coils into a large paraffin oil bath, which,

in cooler season, was heated electrically and kept at a constant tempera

ture of 20•Ž. by means of a toluene regulator. In hot summer no

means was employed to reduce the temperature of the bath, but the

measurements were carried out at the room temperature, stirring the oil

vigorously and taking the temperature reading frequently. In these

cases the observed values were reduced to those at the standard tem

perature, viz. at 20•Ž. by the aid of the temperature coefficients pre

viously determined.

Since the coils were not furnished with potential terminals, com

parisons were made by the method of Carey-Foster or Wheatstone bridge,

shunting one of the arms, instead of the method of Kelvin double bridge

which is usually employed in comparing standard resistances. A Du

Bois-Rubens iron clad galvanometer, having 2•E5 ohms resistance, made

by Siemens & Halske was employed throughout.

Method of Stepping up from 1-ohm Coils to those of Higher

Resistance. Four 1-ohm coils, taken as the standard, were compared to

each other in all possible combinations, and each individual value was

calculated assuming the mean of them to be constant.

Comparing, then, with the series of two 1-ohm coils, two 2-ohm coils

were evaluated and these values were compensated by their difference

directly obtained by mutual comparison. At the connecting point of

two coils a massive copper block was employed which was provided

with mercury contacts and side terminals, leading to galvanometer,

batteries and shunting resistance box. Each two 5-ohm coils was then

compared with the series of 1-, 2-, 2-ohm coils already evaluated and

the values were compensated, by mutual comparison as before. Finally,

10-ohm coils were evaluated by comparing with the series of the two

5-ohm coils and compensating by mutual comparison.

After 10-ohm coils were thus evaluated, values of 100-, 1,000- and

10,000-ohm coils were determined by the method of Wheatstone bridge,

using 1:10 ratio, consisted of 1 ohm and 10 ohm coils.

In order to check the result of stepping up by such a procedure,

100-ohm coils and those of higher resistance were sometimes evaluated

(1) J. Obata, Proc. Tokyo Math. Phyo. Soc., [2]. 7 (1914), p. 339.
Mar., 1916.] ON THE VARIATION OF MANGANIN RESISTANCES ETC. 397

also by the method of Carey-Foster bridge, utilizing 20-, 50-, 200-

and 500-ohm coils as the intermediates. It rarely occurred that the
values obtained by these two methods differed only by a few parts in
a million.
Seasonal Variation observed at Tokyo. During the last few years
eleven resistance standards, varying from 10 to 10,000 ohms, were
frequently measured by the method above described, and seasonal
variation in their values has been carefully watched, expecting con
siderable increase in summer. Quite contrary to the expectation,
however, some of the coils of higher denomination showed marked
decrease in the summer of 1912. It was soon thought, that this decrease
in the damp summer might be caused by the leakage due to moisture.
To make this result sure, these eleven coils were further evaluated
regularly at an interval of one month or two for a period over one year
and the decrease was again observed in the summers of 1914 and 1915
(Fig. 2.).
To see if the decrease in summer might be caused by the moisture
in the surrounding atmosphere, some of the coils 1010, 1004 and 10005
were hermetically sealed in March of this year, according to the direc
tion given by the Bureau of Standards(1), and they were placed under
close observation together with the open ones. Coils which had shown
seasonal variation, became extremely constant since they were once
isolated from the surrounding atmosphere. Slight variation observed
after sealing will probably be due to the experimental error, errors in
the values of the temperature coefficient and also variation of the mean
of four 1-ohm coils taken as the standard of reference.
These facts indicate that the decrease is entirely due to humidity
of the surrounding atmosphere. To make more clear this effect, getting
rid of any sources of error such as mentioned in above lines, coils of
100- and 1000-ohm were artificially dried and moistened in the follow
ing manner and the change in resistance was determined comparing
them with the sealed ones.
Coils to be experimented with were, removing the metal cylinder
surrounding them to expose fully to the atmosphere, placed in turn in
the following three chambers, measurements being made in each case
after leaving the coils for five days in the chamber.

(1) The metal case was replaced by one without holes, which was filled with pure
dried paraffin oil and sealed with varnish at the junction of case and top.
398 BAT er. 2, Vol. 8,

(The abnormal increase of 1002 in Dec. 1915 will probably be the residual of
the increase by artificial drying.)

Fig. 2.

1. Chamber with constant humidity. A large glass bell jar was set
on a glass plate, greasing the ground end, a hair hygrometer, previously
calibrated with an aspiration psychrometer, and three large crystallizing
dishes, containing a large quantity of dilute sulphuric acid (sp. g. about
Mar., 1916.] ON THE VARIATION OF MANGANIN RESISTANCES ETC. 399

1•E35 at 15•Ž.) being placed in it. The relative humidity in the jar

became constant at about 50 per cent. within a few hours.

2. Chamber saturated with moisture. A glass vessel, ordinarily

used as a desiccator, was employed filling the lower part with

water.

3. Dry chamber. An ordinary glass desiccator containing a large

quantity of phosphorous pentaoxide.

Taking as the reference the value of resistance in the jar with constant

humidity, changes from this value, when the coils were placed in the

other two chambers, are given in parts in 100,000, in the following

table :

It can be seen that in the moist atmosphere resistance of the coils

fell considerably, while in the dry atmosphere it increased but in much
a smaller scale.
In some coils experimented with at the National Physical Labora
tory, decrease in resistance has been observed(1), which was mainly
due to leakage, caused by the condensed moisture between the current
leads of coil and the main cylinder on which the coil is wound. It
should be borne in mind, however, that all our measurents were carried
out immersing the coils in a large paraffin oil bath which was vigorously
stirred, leakage due to moisture condensed on the surface of shellac,
ebonite or any other places would have appreciably less effect than
when the measurements were made in air.
To know, finally, in what manner the resistance coils of open type
change day by day with the condition of atmosphere, two 100 ohm
coils of this type have been evaluated almost every day during the last
summer months, referring to a sealed one, which was known to be
very constant in value. Fig. 3 shows the variation of these two coils, in

(1) F. E. Smith, Phil. Mag., 16 (1908), p. 450.

400 THE VARIATION OF MANGANIN RESISTANCES ETC.

which 1002 was exposed to

the atmosphere of the la
boratory room, except when
the measurement was made
while 1003 was always im
mersed in pure paraffin oil
so that the atmospheric
humidity had apparently a
least effect.
Summary. Over a period
of eighteen months varia
tion of eleven manganin
resistance standards were
observed. Standards of
lower denomination varied
in more or less similar
manner as observed by
Drs. Rosa and Babcock,
while those of higher de
nomination decreased con
siderably in summer, the
cause of which is believed
to be the leakage due to
condensed moisture and that
through shellac caused by
the absorption of moisture.
The seasonal variation
of our coils was, in both
cases, far smaller than that
observed at Washington.
Constancy of sealed re
sistances is satisfactory even
in very damp atmosphere
such as in Japan.

Electrotechnical Laboratory,
Ministry of Communi
cations, Tokyo.

December 1915.