A radium chloride which had reached its limit of activity, 470, was
dissolved and left in solution for one hour; it was then evaporated, and
its initial radio-activity determined by the electrical method. The
total initial radiation was found to be equal to the fraction 0·3 of the
total limiting radiation. If the determination of the intensity of
radiation be made by covering the active body with an aluminium screen
0·01 m.m. thick, the initial radiation which traverses this screen is
found to be only the fraction 0·17 of the limiting radiation traversing
the same screen.
When the salt has been thirteen days in solution, the total initial
radiation is found to be the fraction 0·22 of the total limiting
radiation, and is 0·13 of the limiting radiation after traversing 0·01
m.m. of aluminium.
In the two cases the ratio of the initial radiation after solution to
the limiting radiation is 1·7 times as great for the total radiation as
for the radiation which has traversed 0·01 m.m. of aluminium.
It must further be mentioned that on evaporating the product after
solution, it is impossible to avoid a certain period of time during
which the product is in an intermediate condition, neither entirely
solid nor entirely liquid. Neither can one avoid warming the product to
remove the water quickly.
For these two reasons it is scarcely possible to determine the true
initial activity of the product passing from solution to the solid
state. In the experiments just quoted, equal quantities of the active
bodies were dissolved in the same quantity of water, and the solutions
were then evaporated to dryness under conditions as identical as
possible, and without heating above 120° or 130°.
I investigated the law according to which the activity of a solid radium
salt increases, from the moment in which the salt is obtained dry after
solution to the moment in which it reaches its limit of activity. In the
tables which follow, the intensity of radiation, I, is represented as a
function of the time, the limiting intensity being supposed equal to
100, and the time being reckoned from the moment at which the product
was dried. Table I. (Fig. 12, Curve I.) refers to the total radiation.
Table II. (Fig. 12, Curve II.) refers only to the penetrating rays (rays
which have traversed 3 c.m. of air and 0·01 m.m. of aluminium).
TABLE I. TABLE II.
Time. I. Time. I.
Days. Days.
0 21 0 1·3
1 25 1 19
3 44 3 43
5 60 6 60
10 78 15 70
19 93 23 86
33 100 46 94
67 100
[Illustration: FIG. 12.]
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