The Romance of Modern Invention: Containing Interesting Descriptions in Non-technical Language of Wireless Telegraphy, Liquid Air, Modern Artillery, Submarines, Dirigible Torpedoes, Solar Motors, Airships, &c. &c.Williams, Archibald
Science
The Romance of Modern Invention: Containing Interesting Descriptions in Non-technical Language of Wireless Telegraphy, Liquid Air, Modern Artillery, Submarines, Dirigible Torpedoes, Solar Motors, Airships, &c. &c.
Williams, Archibald
Inventions
By means of special tubes he proved that the “radiant matter” could
turn little vanes, and that the flow continued even when the terminals
of the shocking-coil were _outside_ the glass, thus meeting the
contention of Puluj that the radiant matter was nothing more than
small particles of platinum torn from the terminals. He also showed
that, when intercepted, radiant matter cast a shadow, the intercepting
object receiving the energy of the bombardment; but that when the
obstruction was removed the hitherto sheltered part of the glass wall
of the tube glowed with a brighter phosphorescence than the part which
had become “tired” by prolonged bombardment. Experiments further
revealed the fact that the shaft of “Cathode rays” could be deflected
by a magnet from their course, and that they affected an ordinary
photographic plate exposed to them.
In 1894 Lenard, a Hungarian, and pupil of the famous Hertz, fitted a
Crookes’ tube with a “window” of aluminium in its side replacing a
part of the glass, and saw that the course of the rays could be
traced through the outside air. From this it was evident that
something else than matter must be present in the shaft of energy sent
from the negative terminal of the tube, as there was no direct
communication between the interior and the exterior of the tube to
account for the external phosphorescence. Whatever was the nature of
the rays he succeeded in making them penetrate and impress themselves
on a sensitised plate enclosed in a metal box.
Then in 1896 came Röntgen’s great discovery that the rays from a
Crookes’ tube, after traversing the _glass_, could pierce opaque
matter. He covered the tube with thick cardboard, but found that it
would still cast the shadows of books, cards, wood, metals, the human
hand, &c., on to a photographic plate even at the distance of some
feet. The rays would also pass through the wood, metal, or bones in
course of time; but certain bodies, notably metals, offered a much
greater resistance than others, such as wood, leather, and paper.
Professor Röntgen crowned his efforts by showing that a skeleton could
be “shadow-graphed” while its owner was still alive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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