the screen placed below it. With no magnetic field, a faint luminosity of the screen is observed due to the very penetrating γ rays which readily pass through the lead. When the magnetic field is put on, the screen is brightly lighted up on one side over an area elliptical in shape (section 77). The direction of deviation is reversed by reversal of the field. The broad extent of the illumination shows the complex nature of the β rays. On placing a metallic object at various points above the screen, the trajectory of the rays can readily be traced by noticing the position of the shadow cast upon the screen. By observing the density of the shadow, it can be seen that the rays most easily deviated are the least penetrating.
Comparison of the β rays with cathode rays.
80. Means of comparison. In order to prove the identity
of the β rays from active bodies with the cathode rays produced
in a vacuum tube, it is necessary to show
(1) That the rays carry with them a negative charge;
(2) That they are deviated by an electric as well as by a magnetic field;
(3) That the ratio e/m is the same as for the cathode rays.
Electric charge carried by the β rays. The experiments
of Perrin and J. J. Thomson have shown that the cathode rays
carry with them a negative charge. In addition, Lenard has
shown that the rays still carry a charge after traversing thin
layers of matter. When the rays are absorbed, they give up their
charge to the body which absorbs them. The total amount of
charge carried by the β rays from even a very active preparation
of radium is, in general, small compared with that carried by the
whole of the cathode rays in a vacuum tube, and can be detected
only by delicate methods.
Suppose that a layer of very active radium is spread on a metal plate connected to earth, and that the β rays are absorbed by a parallel plate connected with an electrometer. If the rays are negatively charged, the top plate should receive a negative charge increasing with the time. On account, however, of the great
