The principal line due to radium can be distinguished in impure radium
of activity 50 times that of uranium. By the electrical method it is
easy to distinguish the presence of radium in a body which has an
activity only ¹⁄₁₀₀ of uranium. With a more sensitive electrometer
¹⁄₁₀₀₀₀ of the activity of uranium could be observed. For the detection
of radium, the examination of the radio-activity is thus a process
nearly a million times more sensitive than spectrum analysis.
Later observations on the spectrum of radium have been made by
Runge[21], Exner and Haschek[22], with specimens of radium prepared by
Giesel. Crookes[23] has photographed the spectrum of radium in the
ultra-violet, while Runge and Precht[24], using a highly purified sample
of radium, observed a number of new lines in the spark spectrum. It has
been mentioned already that the bromide of radium gives a characteristic
pure carmine-red coloration to the Bunsen flame. The flame spectrum
shows two broad bright bands in the orange-red, not observed in
Demarçay’s spectrum. In addition there is a line in the blue-green and
two feeble lines in the violet.
=14. Atomic weight of radium.= Mme Curie has made successive
determinations of the atomic weight of the new element with specimens of
steadily increasing purity. In the first observation the radium was
largely mixed with barium, and the atomic weight obtained was the same
as that of barium, 137·5. In successive observations with specimens of
increasing purity the atomic weights of the mixture were 146 and 175.
The final value obtained recently was 225, which may be taken as the
atomic weight of radium on the assumption that it is divalent.
In these experiments about 0·1 gram of pure radium chloride was obtained
by successive fractionations. The difficulty involved in preparing a
quantity of pure radium chloride large enough to test the atomic weight
may be gauged from the fact that only a few centigrams of fairly pure
radium, or a few decigrams of less concentrated material, are obtained
from the treatment of about 2 tons of the mineral from which it is
derived.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account