units. This apparent mass increases with the speed as the velocity of light is approached (see section 82).
The ions which are produced in gases at ordinary pressure have an apparent size, as determined from their rates of diffusion, large compared with the molecule of the gas in which they are produced. The negative ion consists of an electron with a cluster of molecules attached to and moving with it; the positive ion consists of a molecule from which an electron has been expelled, with a cluster of molecules attached. At low pressures under the action of an electric field the electron does not form a cluster. The positive ion is always atomic in size, even at low pressures of the gas. Each of the ions carries a charge of value 3·4 × 10^{-10} electrostatic units.
41. Ions produced by collision. The greater part of the
radiation from the radio-active bodies consists of a stream of charged
particles travelling with great velocity. In this radiation, the α
particles, which cause most of the ionization observed in the gas,
consist of positively charged bodies projected with a velocity about
one-tenth the velocity of light. The β rays consist of negatively
charged particles, which are identical with the cathode rays
generated in a vacuum tube, and travel with a speed about one-half
the velocity of light (chapter IV.). Each of these projected
particles, in virtue of its great kinetic energy, sets free a large
number of ions by collision with the gas molecules in its path.
No definite experimental evidence has yet been obtained of the
number of ions produced by a single particle, or of the way in
which the ionization varies with the speed, but there is no doubt
that each projected body gives rise to many thousand ions in its
path before its energy of motion is destroyed.
It has already been mentioned (section 29) that at low pressures ions moving under the action of an electric field are able to produce fresh ions by collision with the molecules of the gas. At low pressures the negative ion is identical with the electron set free in a vacuum tube, or emitted by a radio-active substance.
The mean free path of the ion is inversely proportional to the pressure of the gas. Consequently, if an ion moves in an electric field, the velocity acquired between collisions increases with diminution of the pressure. Townsend has shown that fresh ions are
