30. Rate of recombination of the ions. A gas ionized by the radiation preserves its conducting power for some time after it is removed from the presence of the active body. A current of air blown over an active body will thus discharge an electrified body some distance away. The duration of this after conductivity can be examined very conveniently in an apparatus similar to that shown in Fig. 6.
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Fig. 6.
A dry current of air or any other gas is passed at a constant rate through a long metal tube TL. After passing through a quantity of cotton-wool to remove dust particles, the current of air passes over a vessel T containing a radio-active body such as uranium, which does not give off a radio-active emanation. By means of insulated electrodes A and B, charged to a suitable potential, the current between the tube and one of these electrodes can be tested at various points along the tube.
A gauze screen, placed over the cross-section of the tube at D, serves to prevent any direct action of the electric field in abstracting ions from the neighbourhood of T.
If the electric field is sufficiently strong, all the ions travel in to the electrodes at A, and no current is observed at the electrode B. If the current is observed successively at different distances along the tube, all the electrodes except the one under consideration being connected to earth, it is found that the current diminishes with the distance from the active body. If the tube is of fairly wide bore, the loss of the ions due to diffusion is small, and the decrease in conductivity of the gas is due to recombination of the ions alone.
On the ionization theory, the number dn of ions per unit volume which recombine in the time dt is proportional to the square of the number present. Thus
dn/dt = αn^2,
where α is a constant.
