=171.= It has been shown in section 93 from experimental data that 1
gram of radium bromide at its minimum activity emits about 3·6 × 10¹⁰ α
particles per second. Since the activity due to the emanation stored up
in radium, when in a state of radio-active equilibrium, is about one
quarter of the whole and about equal to the minimum activity, the number
of α particles projected per second by the emanation from 1 gram of
radium bromide is about 3·6 × 10¹⁰. It has been shown in section 152
that 463,000 times the amount of emanation produced per second is stored
up in the radium. But, in a state of radio-active equilibrium, the
number of emanation particles breaking up per second is equal to the
number produced per second. Assuming that each emanation particle in
breaking up expels one α particle, it follows that the number of
emanation particles present in 1 gram of radium bromide in radio-active
equilibrium is 463,000 × 3·6 × 10¹⁰, _i.e._ 1·7 × 10¹⁶. Taking the
number of hydrogen molecules in 1 c.c. of gas at atmospheric pressure
and temperature as 3·6 × 10¹⁹ (section 39), the volume of the emanation
from 1 gram of radium bromide is 4·6 × 10⁻⁴ cubic centimetres at
atmospheric pressure and temperature. Assuming the composition of radium
bromide as RaBr₂, the amount from 1 gram of radium in radio-active
equilibrium is 0·82 cubic millimetres. Quite independently of any method
of calculation it was early evident that the volume of the emanation was
very small, for all the earlier attempts made to detect its presence by
its volume were unsuccessful. It will be seen, however, that, when
larger quantities of radium were available for experiment, the emanation
has been collected in volume sufficiently large to measure.
In the case of thorium, the maximum quantity of emanation to be obtained
from 1 gram of the solid is very minute, both on account of the small
activity of thorium and of the rapid break up of the emanation after its
production. Since the amount of emanation, stored in a non-emanating
thorium compound, is only 87 times the rate of production, while in
radium it is 463,000 times, and the rate of production of the emanation
by radium is about 1 million times faster than by thorium, it follows
that the amount of emanation to be obtained from 1 gram of thorium is
not greater than 10⁻¹⁰ of the amount from an equal weight of radium,
_i.e._ its volume is not greater than 10⁻¹³ c.c. at the ordinary
pressure and temperature. Even with large quantities of thorium, the
amount of emanation is too small ever to be detected by its volume.
=172. Volume of the emanation from radium.= The evidence already
considered points very strongly to the conclusion that the emanation
possesses all the properties of a chemically inert gas of high molecular
weight.
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