After the heating effect of the emanation tube had attained a maximum,
the emanation was removed, and the decay with time observed as soon as
possible afterwards. The results are shown in the lower curve of Fig.
101. It is seen that the two curves of rise and decay are complementary
to one another. The first observation was made 10 minutes after removal,
and the heating effect had then dropped to 47 per cent. of the original
value. This sudden drop is due partly to the removal of the emanation,
and partly to the rapid transformation of radium A. The lower curve is
almost identical in shape with the corresponding α ray curve for the
decay of the excited activity after a long exposure (see Fig. 86) and
clearly shows that the heating effect is directly proportional to the
activity measured by the α rays over the whole range examined. The
heating effect decreases according to the same law and at the same rate
as the activity measured by the α rays.
Twenty minutes after the removal of the emanation, radium A has been
almost completely transformed, and the activity is then proportional to
the amount of radium C present, since the intermediate product B does
not give out rays. The close agreement of the activity and heat emission
curves shows that the heating effect is proportional also to the amount
of radium C. We may thus conclude that the rayless product B supplies
little if any of the heat emission observed. If radium B supplied the
same amount as radium C, the curve of decrease of heating effect with
time would differ considerably from the activity curve.
The conclusion that the transformation of radium B is not accompanied by
the release of as much heat as the other changes is to be expected if
the heating effect is mainly due to the energy of motion of the expelled
α particles.
The relative heating effect due to the radium products is shown in the
following table. The initial heating effect of C is deduced by
comparison with the corresponding activity curve.
Products Radiation Initial rate of heat emission
Radium α rays 25 per cent. of total
Emanation α „
Radium A α „ 44 „ „
Radium B no rays 0 „ „
Radium C α, β, γ 31 „ „
rays
Since radium A and C supply almost an equal proportion of activity, it
is probable that they have equal initial heating effects. If this is the
case, the heating effect of the emanation alone is 13 per cent. of the
total.
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