Negative temperature coefficient of silver sulfide (precursor of the thermistor)
Coeficiente de temperatura negativo del sulfuro de plata (precursor del termistor)
- Date
- 1833 · confidence high
- Place
- London, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Michael Faraday
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Faraday observes that the electrical resistance of silver sulfide decreases when heated, the opposite behaviour to metals; it is the first record of the semiconducting effect that a century later gives rise to the thermistor.
Almost a hundred years passed before Samuel Ruben turned Faraday's observation into a commercially viable thermistor (1930).
What it led to
- Early understanding of semiconducting behaviour
- Samuel Ruben's commercial thermistor (1930)
- Modern electronic temperature sensors