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POLARITY IN MATTER
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one of its factors and takes another to which its at: traction is stronger. If iron rusts in water it is because the oxygen atom drops hydrogen to take iron just as the magnet dropped nickel.
The polarity of chemical elements is attested by the fact that when compounds are decomposed by the electric current, the different elementary substances appear at different poles of the battery. Thus oxygen, chlorine, and non-metallic substances appear at the positive pole ; while, hydrogen, potassium and metals generally appear at the negative one. The inference is irresistible, that the atoms had in each case an opposite polarity to that of the poles to which they were attracted. This is confirmed by the fact that the radicals, i.e., the elementary atoms or groups of atoms which have opposite polarities, combine readily; while those which have the same polarity, as two metals, have but a slight affinity for each other. Like therefore attracts unlike, as in all cases of polarity, and the greater the degree of unlikeness, the stronger is the at. traction.
The polarity of chemical elements manifests itself in different ways. In some cases it appears like that of a magnet with two opposite poles. Thus oxygen is bi-polar. Others, like hydrogen and chlorine, seem to have only a single pole, and have to create for them. selves the opposite pole, which is the indispensable condition of all polarity, by iuduction in another body. Other atoms are multi-polar and seem as if made up of more than one magnet of rather as if thej atom had
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