Curve II gives the theoretical activity at any time on the assumption
that the substances A and B arise independently. This is calculated from
an equation of the same form as (8), section 198.
[Illustration: Fig. 92.]
It is seen that the experimental results agree best with the view that A
and B arise independently. Such a conclusion, however, is of too great
importance to be accepted before examining closely whether the
theoretical conditions are fulfilled in the experiments. In the first
place, it is assumed that the carriers which give rise to excited
activity are deposited on the surface of the body, to be made active
immediately after their formation. There is some evidence, however, that
some of these carriers exist for a considerable interval in the gas
before their deposit on the body. For example, it is found that if a
body is introduced for a short interval, about 1 minute, into a vessel
containing the radium emanation, which has remained undisturbed for
several hours, the activity after the first rapid decay (see Fig. 86,
curve _B_) is in much greater proportion than if an electric field had
been acting for some time previously. This result indicates that the
carriers of B and C both collect in the gas and are swept to the
electrode when an electric field is applied. I have also observed that
if radium emanation, which has stood undisturbed for some time, is swept
into a testing vessel, the rise curve is not complementary to the decay
curve, but indicates that a large amount of radium B and C was present
with the emanation. The experiments of Miss Brooks, previously referred
to, indicate that radium B does not obtain a charge and so will remain
in the gas. Dr Bronson, working in the laboratory of the writer, has
obtained evidence that a large amount of radium D remains in the gas
even in a strong electric field. If the matter B exists to some extent
in the gas, the difference between the theoretical curves for three
successive changes would be explained; for, in transferring the
emanation to another vessel, the matter B mixed with it would commence
at once to change into C and give rise to a part of the radiation
observed.
The equal division of the activity between the products A and C (see
Fig. 90) supports the view that C is a product of A, for when
radio-active equilibrium is reached, the number of particles of A
changing per second is equal to the number of B or C changing per
second. If each atom of A and C expels an α particle of the same mass
and with the same average velocity, the activity due to the matter A
should be equal to that due to the matter C; and this, as we have seen,
is the case.
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