from which they arise. The very penetrating γ rays give rise to secondary rays, which cause intense action on the photographic plate. When some radium was placed in a cavity inside a deep lead block, rectangular in shape, besides the impression due to the direct rays through the lead, Becquerel observed that there was also a strong impression due to the secondary rays emitted from the surface of the lead. The action of these secondary rays on the plate is so strong that the effect on the plate is, in many cases, increased by adding a metal screen between the active material and the plate.
The comparative photographic action of the primary and secondary rays cannot be taken as a relative measure of the intensity of their radiations. For example, only a small portion of the energy of the β rays is in general absorbed in the sensitive film. Since the secondary rays are far more easily absorbed than the primary rays, a far greater proportion of their energy is expended in producing photographic action than in the case of the primary rays. It is thus not surprising that the secondary rays set up by the β and γ rays may in some cases produce a photographic impression comparable with, if not greater than, the effect of the incident rays.
On account of these secondary rays, radiographs produced by the β rays of radium in general show a diffuse border round the shadow of the object. For this reason radiographs of this kind lack the sharpness of outline of X ray photographs.
110. Secondary radiation produced by [Greek: alpha] rays.
Mme Curie[1] has shown by the electric method that the [Greek: alpha] rays
of polonium produce secondary rays. The method adopted was to
compare the ionization current between two parallel plates, when
two screens of different material, placed over the polonium, were
interchanged.
These results show that the [Greek: alpha] rays of polonium are modified in passing through matter, and that the amount of secondary rays set up varies with screens of different material. Mme Curie, using the same method, was unable to observe any such effect for the β rays of radium. The production of secondary rays by the β rays of
- ↑ Mme Curie, Thèse présentée à la Faculté des Sciences, Paris 1903, p. 85.
