James Prescott Joule is a well-known English physicist who is known for his creation of the law of conservation of energy, which is the first law of thermodynamics. James Prescott Joule discovered the law of conservation of energy through his experiment where he discovered “Joule's law”. Joule's law describes “the value for the amount of work required to produce a unit of heat”, which is known today as the mechanical equivalent of heat. He discovered this law after conducting experiments in which he passed an electrical current through a metal wire, he observed that the heat produced by the wire was proportional to the product of the resistance of the wire on the current. This resulted in the discovery that no matter what form of energy whether it be, mechanical, electrical or heat are ultimately the same and can be changed into another. His discovery played a huge role in the modern understanding of thermodynamics. Due to his contributions, the well known SI unit that describes a unit of “work” was named in honor of him, ”Joule”. James Prescott Joule also became a fellow of the royal society, received various medals including the royal medal and Copley medal and was bestowed the Albert medal.
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