Francis Preston Venable

A Brief Account of Radio-activity Francis Preston Venable

Book Excerpt: ...condensation chamber has two parallel plates for the application of an electric field like that already described, the ions will be carried at once to the electrodes and disappear. The rapidity of this action depends upon the strength of the electric field and experiment shows that the stronger the field the smaller the number of condensation drops formed. If there is no electric field, a cloud can be produced some time after the shutting off of the source of radiation, showing that time is required for the recombination of the ions. Size and Nature of IonsIf the drops are counted (there being special methods for this) and the total current carried accurately measured, then the charge carried by each ion may be calculated. This has been determined. The mass of an ion compared with the mass of the molecules of gas in which it was produced can also be approximately estimated. In the study of these ions the view has been held that the charged ion attracted to itself a cluster of molecules which su...