Text: A phenomenon discovered in 1854 by William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin. He found that there occurs a reversible transverse heat flow into or out of a conductor of a particular metal, the direction depending upon whether a longitudinal electric current flows from colder to warmer metal or from warmer to colder. Any temperature gradient previously existing in the conductor is thus modified if a current is turned on. The Thomson effect does not occur in a current-carrying conductor which is initially at uniform temperature. Elementary Lessons in Electricity & Magnetism; Thompson, Silvanus P.

See Also: PELTIER EFFECT, HALL EFFECT; MAGNETOCALORIC

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