A large amount of the radium emanation was collected in a small glass tube. This tube phosphoresced brightly under the influence of the rays from the emanation. The passage of the emanation from point to point was observed in a darkened room by the luminosity excited in the glass. On opening the stop-cock connecting with the Töpler pump, the slow flow through the capillary tube was noticed, the rapid passage along the wider tubes, the delay in passing through a plug of phosphorous pentoxide, and the rapid expansion into the reservoir of the pump. When compressed, the luminosity of the emanation increased, and became very bright as the small bubble containing the emanation was expelled through the fine capillary tube.
Diffusion of the Emanations.
160. It has been shown that the emanations of thorium and
radium behave like radio-active gases, distributed in minute amount
in the air or other gas in which they are tested. With the small
quantities of active material so far investigated, the emanations
have not yet been collected in sufficient amount to determine
their density. Although the molecular weight of the emanations
cannot yet be obtained by direct chemical methods, an indirect
estimate of it can be made by determining the rate of their inter-diffusion
into air or other gases. The coefficients of inter-diffusion
of various gases have long been known, and the results show that
the coefficient of diffusion of one gas into another is, for the
simpler gases, approximately inversely proportional to the square
root of the product of their molecular weights. If, therefore, the
coefficient of diffusion of the emanation into air is found to have
a value, lying between that of two known gases A and B, it is
probable that the molecular weight of the emanation lies between
that of A and B.
Although the volume of the emanation given off from radium is very small, the electrical conductivity produced by the emanation in the gas, with which it is mixed, is often very large, and offers a ready means of measuring the emanation present.
Some experiments have been made by Miss Brooks and the writer[1] to determine the rate of the diffusion of the radium emana-*
- ↑ Rutherford and Miss Brooks, Trans. Roy. Soc. Canada 1901, Chem. News 1902.
