While it is a matter of great difficulty to give a definite experimental
proof that radium A and B are consecutive products, I think there is
little doubt of its correctness. Accurate determinations of the curves
of rise and decay may throw further light on the complicated processes
which undoubtedly occur between the breaking up of the atoms of the
emanation and the appearance of the active deposit on the electrodes.
=229. Relative activity supplied by the α-ray products of radium.= There
are four products in radium which give out α rays, viz. radium itself,
the emanation, radium A and C. If these products are in radio-active
equilibrium, the same number of particles of each product are
transformed per second and, if each atom breaks up with the emission of
one α particle, the number of α particles expelled per second should be
the same for each product.
Since, however, the α particles from the different products are not
projected with the same velocity, the activity, measured by the
ionization current in the usual manner, will not be the same for all
products. The activity, when measured by the saturation current between
parallel plates at sufficient distance apart to absorb all the α rays in
the gas, is proportional to the energy of the α particles escaping into
the gas.
It has been shown that the minimum activity of radium after removal of
the emanation, measured by the α rays, is 25 per cent. of the maximum
value. The remaining 75 per cent. is due to the α particles from the
other products. Now the activity supplied by radium A and C is nearly
the same (section 228). If the emanation is introduced into a
cylindrical vessel about 5 cms. in diameter, the activity increases to
about twice its initial value owing to the deposit of radium A and C on
the surface of the vessel. This shows that the activity of the emanation
is of about the same magnitude as that supplied by radium A or C, but an
accurate comparison is beset with difficulty, for the emanation is
distributed throughout the gas, while radium A and C are deposited on
the walls of the vessel. In addition, the relative absorption of the
emanation compared with that of radium A and C is not known.
The writer has made some experiments on the decrease of activity of
radium immediately after heating to a sufficient temperature to drive
off the emanation. The results obtained by this method are complicated
by the alteration of the radiating surface in consequence of the
heating, but indicate that the emanation supplies about 70 per cent. of
the activity of radium A or C.
This points to the conclusion that the α particles from the emanation
are projected with less velocity than those from radium C.
The following table shows approximately the activity supplied by the
different products of radium in radio-active equilibrium.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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