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THOMPSON JJ - Electricity and Matter
THOMPSON JJ - Electricity and Matter
MATTER
"
J. J. THOMSON, D.Sc., LL.D., PH.D., F.R.S.
""FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; CAVENDISH
PROFESSOR OF EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS, CAMBRIDGE
WITH DIAGRAMS
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1904
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COPYRIGHT, 1904
BY YALE UNIVERSITY
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THE SILLIMAN FOUNDATION.
In the year 1883 a legacy of eighty thousand dollars
was left to the President and Fellows of Yale College
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PREFACE
In these Lectures given at Yale University in
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER- I
PAGE
REPRESENTATION OF THE
CHE ELECTRIC FIELD BY LINES
OF FORCE 1
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
THK CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 90
CHAPTER VI
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ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
CHAPTER I
investigations.
The progress of electrical science has been
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2 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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LINES OF FORCE 3
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4
ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
copper of some
robs the of its positive
zinc
electricity.
There is an indefiniteness about the two-fluid
been detected.
The other fluid theory the one-fluid theory of
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LINES OF FORCE 5
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LINES OF FORCE 7
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ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
lines of force. As I
do this by the conception of
shall have continually to make use of this method,
FIG. i.
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LIXES OF FORCE 9
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ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
of fluid confined
charge, instead of being a portion
to the electrified body, was an extensive arsenal
of springs spreading out in all directions to all
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LINES OF FORCE H
are more pulling at A on the side nearest to B
than on the opposite side, the pulls on A toward
B overpower those pulling away from B, so A
that A
will tend to move toward B] it was in
FIG. 2.
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12
ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
positively and
end on negatively electrified bodies,
the lines starting from andA B
will travel away
FIG. 3.
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LINES OF FORCE
complementary negative
charges which must exist in
other parts of the field.
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LINES OF FORCE 15
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LINES OF FORCE 17
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LINES OF FORCE 19
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20 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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LINES OF FORCE 21
is i=
Typr-
,- , .
-z ;
so that the whole kinetic energy of the
od
2
\
m ~~
the same as
(2u if
-\-
the
-o- i 0*, or the energy
2
2u, 6
m -f-
-
o
- instead of m.
a Thus, in consequence of
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22 ELECTRICITY AND MATTKK
~&^L^AAoL_ 9,1 $
sult, since it
shows that part of the mass of a
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LINES OF FORCE 23
moving.
Let us, however, return to the moving electri-
fied sphere. We have seen that in consequence of
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24 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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LINES OF FORCE 25
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26 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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LINES OF FORCE 27
the angle A A ,
the change in the moment of
momentum is em with an axis at right
sin 0,
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2g ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
whose moment is e m
sin 6. Thus 8 must be at I
right angles to the plane
of the paper and
emAA'sm<f>
Where </>
is the angle B A A'. If v is the
A, A A v 8 1 and we get
f
velocity of
s* T_ e m v sm
AB*
This change in the momentum may be sup-
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LINES OF FORCE 29
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30 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
FIG. 9.
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LINES OF FORCE 31
direction at O. The A B -m at P
vector in
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32 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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LINES OF FORCE 33
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34 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
particle, u, v,
w the components parallel to the
axes of #, y, z of its velocity, F, G, U, the com-
ponents parallel to these axes of the Vector Po-
tential at P, then the momentum of the field is
<***
dt -4*
dt
From this equation we see that the point with the
forces
-j }
-. -j
} parallel to y and z respec-
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LINES OF FORCE 35
is when it is
changing that it is operative. This
Electrotonic State of Faraday is just the momen-
tum existing in the field.
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CHAPTER IT
right angles to OP in
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ELECTRICAL MASS 37
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but
~~j^
V* where V is the velocity with which
ity of light.
The mass of the bound ether in unit volume is
47r/u,j\^
2
where N\& thenumber of Faraday tubes ;
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ELECTRICAL MASS
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40 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
FIG. 11.
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ELECTRICAL MASS 41
by the column is
proportional to ~. Thus, if
CL
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42 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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ELECTRICAL MASS 43
it
imprisons more of the ether than when it is
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44 ELECTRICITY AND MATTKK
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ELECTRICAL MASS 45
:
particle
v X 10- 10 1X 10-7
2.83 .62
2.72 .77
2.59 .975
2.48 1.17
2.36 1.31
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46 ELECTRICITY AND MATTKI!
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ELECTRICAL MASS 47
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TABLE
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ELECTRICAL MASS 49
5= 10-
T
and e = 1.2 X lO'80 in C. G. S. elec-
e
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50 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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ELECTRICAL MASS 51
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52 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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CHAPTER III
is changing.
Let us begin with the case of a moving charged
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54 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
A
Fio. 12.
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RONTGEN RAYS AND LIGHT 55
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FIG. 13.
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RONTGEN RAYS AND LIGHT 57
TTS~-
The tangential Faraday tubes moving forward
with the velocity Fwill produce at P a magnetic
force If equal to V T, this force will be at right
. . f ev sin . ,
it exceeds the magnetic force -z previously
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gg ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
of the particle is
pulse produced by the stoppage
the seat of intense electric and magnetic forces
which diminish inversely as the distance from the
charged particle, whereas the forces before the
particle was stopped diminished inversely
as the
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RONTGEN RAYS AND LIGHT 59
is no momentum in the
space through which the
pulse has passed, the whole momentum in the field
after the particle is stopped is zero.
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60 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
directions.
The preceding
method can be ap-
PIG. 14.
plied to the case
when the charged particle, instead of being
stopped, has its
velocity altered in any way ; thus,
if the velocity v of the particle instead of
being
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RONTGEN RAYS AND LIGHT 51
reduced to zero is
merely diminished by A v, we
can show, as on page 57, that it will give rise to
a pulse in which the magnetic force If is given by
the equation
e&v sin
TT _ e Av sin
T_ e Av sin
''
VTt~ ~~
T* 87 ~T~ ;
At*
but is equal to /, where /is the acceleration
g7
of the particle, hence we have
._ e j sin T_ e
~
^sin
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RONTGEN RAYS AND LIGHT 63
structure ;
but if this is the case, then on the view
we have taken of a wave of light the wave it-
self must have a structure, and the front of the
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64 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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RONTGEN RAYS AND LIGHT 55
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particle,
and indeed in any electric or light wave
momentum in the direction of propagation of the
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RONTGEN RAYS AND LIGHT 67
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particle when
count this loss of energy by the its
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RONTGEN RAYS AND LIGHT 69
e
does not at once attain the acceleration - as it
m
would if there were no loss of
energy by radia-
tion ; on the contrary, the acceleration of the parti-
cle is
initially zero, and it is not until after the
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70 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
" "
over which they pass than in the case of the soft
rays.
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CHAPTER IV
THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY
HITHERTO we have been dealing chiefly with the
along them ;
in this chapter we shall discuss the
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THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY 73
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THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY 75
to nwe can
e in this way easily determine n e : if
then we can n we
devise a means of measuring
shall The method by which I
be able to find e.
present.
Thus, in sufficiently supersaturated damp air a
cloud is deposited on these charged particles,
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76 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY 77
3.4 X 10- 10
Electrostatic C. G. S. units.
of electricity.
We can compare the charge on the gaseous ion
with that carried by the hydrogen ion in the elec-
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7g ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
2.46 NE= 3X 10 10
,
or E= 1.22 X 10 10
-f-JV:
10
Now, e, the charge on the gas ion is 3.4 X10" ,
19
hence if ^Y=3.6X10 the charge on the gaseous
ion will equal the charge on the electrolytic ion.
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THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY 79
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8Q ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
of the layer is
dn
ir*'
so that the average velocity of the particles down-
ward is
l)dn
n dx
The force which sets the ions in motion is the
per ion is
--r Now we can find the velocity
ndx .
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THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY 81
-==r-,
.A e
and the velocity when the force is 1 ^
n ax
will
therefore be
i dp ^L.
n dx Xe'
this velocity we have seen, however, to be equal to
D dn f
n dx'
hence we have
d- A-
P ~Tr~ --T)
dn (l\
1/
~7
dx Xe */ dx "7 V
pheric pressure P
p _ n
P~W
and equation (1) gives us
PA
Thus, by knowing D and a we can find the value
of Ne. In this way Townsend found that Ne was
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X 10 10
. We have seen that if E is the charge on
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THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY 33
X 10 19 .
hydrogen atom.
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pressure, where
the motion of the particles is not
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THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY 35
we have
X e H e v, or
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THE ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY 37
4
gen ion in the electrolysis of liquids is only 10 ,
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TI1K ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF ELECTRICITY 9
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CHAPTER V
CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 91
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 93
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 95
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 97
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ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
long that gases are never able to get into this state.
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 99
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100 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
lartemperatures of and A B
before union were
which andA B
are molecules is very high, com-
bination may be prevented by the high relative
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM JQ1
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102 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 1Q3
pler ones.
The same principle will apply to the formation
of further aggregations by the systems containing
three or four units ;
some of these will be ready to
unite before the others, and we may have systems
containing eight units formed before the more per-
sistent of those containing four, three, two or even
one unit have disappeared. With the further ad-
vance of aggregation the number of different sys-
tems present at one and the same time will in-
crease.
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104 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 105
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106 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
_F ~
V
~~IQ TOO
1 1 1
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 1Q7
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM \QQ
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HO ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
a
for all the atoms in a gram of the substance ;
let
and therefore
_
a ma'
now when e is measured in electrostatic units
m ;
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM m
and therefore
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112 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM H3
one of symmetrical distribution over the surface
of a sphere. Such a distribution would indeed
technically be one of equilibrium, but a mathe-
matical calculation shows that unless the number
of corpuscles is quite small, say seven or eight at
the most, this arrangement is unstable and so can
never persist. When the number of corpuscles is
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114 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM H5
the chief difference being that the corpuscles are
free to move about in all directions in space, while
water.
The configurations which the floating magnets
assume as the number of magnets increases from
two up to nineteen is shown in Fig. 17, which
was given by Mayer.
FIG. 17.
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116 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
Arrangement of Magi
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM
6
f
. 5
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM HQ
that there are nine possible Some of
periods.
these periods in this case would be
infinitely long,
and several of the possible periods would be
equal
to each other, so that we should not get nine dif-
ferent periods.
A a c D c
e 3 / 2
A B c a
FIG. 18.
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120 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 121
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122 ELECTRICITY AXD MATTER
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 123
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124 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 125
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126 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
just described.
On the view that the lighter elements are
formed first by the
aggregation of the unit
doublet, the negative element of which is the cor-
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM J27
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12 g
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 129
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 131
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132 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 133
by Berzelius ;
it was also the view of Davy and of
Faraday. Helmholtz, too, declared that the
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134 ELECTRICITY AND MATTEB
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 135
pound ;
there would, however, be a difference on
the electrical view. For let us suppose that the
the compound
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136 ELECTRICITY AND MATT K II
q the value for 13%, and r for 6'2 , then if this con-
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CONSTITUTION OP THE ATOM 137
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138 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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CONSTITUTION OF THE ATOM 139
gases. These
we should not expect to form mole-
cules, but since there would
be many free cor-
we should expect them to
puscles in the gas
electrical conductivity.
possess considerable
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CHAPTER VI
RADIO-ACTIVITY AND RADIO-ACTIVE SUB-
STANCES
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES 141
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142 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES 143
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!44 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
thus
m
for hydrogen is 104 and for helium 2.5 X
10 3
. The very high velocity with which these are
shot out involves an enormous expenditure of en-
ergy, a point
to which we shall return later. One
of the most interesting things about this result is
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES 145
atom.
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146 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
Soddy ;
and I have, by the kindness of Professor
Dewar, been able to liquefy the radio-active gas
found in water from deep wells, which very
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES 147
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148 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
perature.
Induced Radio-Activity
radium.
The induced radio-activity is
especially de-
is
placed, the induced radio-activity is concentrated
on the negatively electrified wire, and this induced
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES ^49
comes in contact.
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150 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES 151
thorium itself ;
so that if the activity of thorium
X were permanent, the radio-activity of the tho-
rium would continually increase. The radio-activ.
it, is
accumulating all the time in the thorium;
but inasmuch as it has lost its radio-activity, we
have only the ordinary methods of chemical analy-
sis to rely upon, and as these are almost infinitely
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152 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES 153
second ;
for let us suppose that the heat measured
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15 4 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
time, m
the mass of one of them in grams, v
the velocity, then the energy in the a particles is
= 4 V
* 10 = 18
10'
X 10', hence we have | Jg ^ g
hours, or about 50,000 years.
From this estimate we should expect the life
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES
155
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156 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES
157
the velocity of the corpuscles
may cause the dis-
ruption of the atom into two or more systems, cor-
responding to the emission of the a rays and
the emanation.
If the emanation is an atom of the same type
as the original atom, i.e., one whose configuration
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158 ELECTRICITY AND MATTER
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RADIO-ACTIVE SUBSTANCES 159
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