It follows from these results that the emanating power of Th X is
directly proportional to its activity, _i.e._ that the rate of
production of emanating particles is always proportional to the number
of α particles, projected from the Th X per second. _The radiation from
Th X thus accompanies the change of the Th X into the emanation._ Since
the emanation has chemical properties distinct from those of the Th X,
and also a distinctive rate of decay, it cannot be regarded as a vapour
of Th X, but it is a distinct chemical substance, produced by the
changes occurring in Th X. On the view advanced in section 136, the atom
of the emanation consists of the part of the atom of Th X left behind
after the expulsion of one or more α particles. The atoms of the
emanation are unstable, and in turn expel α particles. This projection
of α particles constitutes the radiation from the emanation, which
serves as a measure of the amount of emanation present. Since the
activity of the emanation falls to half value in _one_ minute while that
of Th X falls to half value in four days, the emanation consists of
atoms which disintegrate at intervals nearly 6000 times shorter than
those of the atoms of Th X.
Source of the Radium and Actinium Emanation.
=155.= No intermediate stage—Radium X—between radium and its emanation,
corresponding to the Th X for thorium, has so far been observed. The
emanation from radium is probably produced directly from that element.
In this respect, the radium emanation holds the same position in regard
to radium as Th X does to thorium, and its production from radium can be
explained on exactly similar lines. It will be shown later in chapter X,
that the emanation of actinium, like that of thorium, does not arise
directly from the parent element but from an intermediate product
actinium X, which is very analogous in physical and chemical properties
to Th X.
Radiations from the Emanations.
=156.= Special methods are necessary to examine the nature of the
radiation from the emanations, for the radiations arise from the volume
of the gas in which the emanations are distributed. Some experiments to
examine the radiations from the thorium emanation were made by the
writer in the following way.
[Illustration: Fig. 55.]
A highly emanating thorium compound wrapped in paper was placed inside a
lead box _B_ about 1 cm. deep, shown in Fig. 55. An opening was cut in
the top of the box, over which a very thin sheet of mica was waxed. The
emanation rapidly diffused through the paper into the vessel, and after
ten minutes reached a state of radio-active equilibrium. The penetrating
power of the radiation from the emanation which passed through the thin
mica window was examined by the electrical method in the usual way by
adding screens of thin aluminium foil. The results are expressed in the
following table:
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