the first change. An experiment made by Miss Brooks (loc. cit.) shows that the rayless product has the slower period of transformation. The active deposit of actinium was dissolved off a platinum wire and then electrolysed. The anode was found to be active, and the activity fell off exponentially with the time, decreasing to half value in about 1·5 minutes. Allowing for the difficulty of accurately measuring such a rapid rate of decay, this result indicates that the product which gives out rays has the rapid period of 2·15 minutes. The analysis of the active deposit of actinium thus leads to the following conclusions:
(1) The matter initially deposited from the emanation, called actinium A, does not give out rays, and is half transformed in 35·7 minutes.
(2) A change into B, which is half transformed in 2·15 minutes, and gives out both α and β (and probably γ) rays.
Godlewski found that the active deposit of actinium was very easily volatilized. Heating for several minutes at a temperature of 100° C. was sufficient to drive off most of the active matter. The active deposit is readily soluble in ammonia and in strong acids.
213. Radiations from actinium and its products.
Actinium in radio-active equilibrium gives out α, β, and γ rays.
Godlewski found several points of distinction between the β and γ
rays of actinium and of radium. The β rays of actinium appear
to be homogeneous, for the activity measured by an electroscope
was found to fall off accurately according to an exponential law
with the thickness of matter traversed. The β rays were half
absorbed in a thickness of 0·21 mm. of aluminium. This indicates
that the β particles are all projected from actinium with the same
velocity. In this respect actinium behaves very differently from
radium, for the latter gives out β particles whose velocities vary
over a wide range.
After the β rays were absorbed, another type of more penetrating rays was observed, which probably corresponds to the γ rays from the other radio-elements. The γ rays of actinium were, however, far less penetrating than those from radium. The activity due to these rays was reduced to one-half after passing
