been kept negatively charged during the experiments, had most of the excited activity concentrated on their surfaces. These were removed, new rods substituted and the current immediately determined. The ratio of the currents in the half cylinders under these conditions was proportional to S_{1} and S_{2}, the amounts of emanation present in the two halves of the cylinder.
The values of K, deduced from different values of t, were found to be in good agreement. In the earlier experiments the values of K were found to vary between ·08 and ·12. In some later experiments, where great care was taken to ensure that temperature conditions were very constant, the values of K were found to vary between ·07 and ·09. The lower value ·07 is most likely nearer the true value, as temperature disturbances tend to give too large a value of K. No certain differences were observed in the value of K whether the air was dry or damp, or whether an electric field was acting or not.
161. Some experiments on the rate of diffusion of the radium
emanation into air were made at a later date by P. Curie and Danne[1].
If the emanation is contained in a closed reservoir, it has been shown
that its activity, which is a measure of the amount of emanation
present, decreases according to an exponential law with the time.
If the reservoir is put in communication with the outside air
through a capillary tube, the emanation slowly diffuses out, and
the amount of emanation in the reservoir is found to decrease
according to the same law as before, but at a faster rate. Using
tubes of different lengths and diameters, the rate of diffusion was
found to obey the same laws as a gas. The value of K was found
to be 0·100. This is a slightly greater value of K than the lowest
value 0·07 found by Rutherford and Miss Brooks. No mention
is made by Curie and Danne of having taken any special precautions
against temperature disturbances, and this may account for
the higher value of K obtained by them.
They also found that the emanation, like a gas, always divided itself between two reservoirs, put in connection with one another, in the proportion of their volumes. In one experiment one reservoir was kept at a temperature of 10° C. and the other at 350° C.
- ↑ P. Curie and Danne, C. R. 136, p. 1314, 1903.
