section 157.

=142. Effect of thickness of layer.= The amount of emanation emitted by a given area of thorium compound depends on the thickness of the layer. With a very thin layer, the current between two parallel plates, placed in a closed vessel as in Fig. 17, is due very largely to the α rays. Since the α radiation is very readily absorbed, the current due to it practically reaches a maximum when the surface of the plate is completely covered by a thin layer of the active material. On the other hand the current produced by the emanation increases until the layer is several millimetres in thickness, and then is not much altered by adding fresh active matter. This falling off of the current after a certain thickness has been reached is to be expected, since the emanation, which takes several minutes to diffuse through the layer above it, has already lost a large proportion of its activity.

With a thick layer of thorium oxide in a closed vessel, the current between the plates is largely due to the radiation from the emanation lying between the plates. The following tables illustrate the way in which the current varies with the thickness of paper for both a thin and a thick layer.

TABLE I. Thin Layer.

Thickness of sheets of paper ·0027.

No. of Current layers of paper

0 1

1 ·37

2 ·16

3 ·08

TABLE II. Thick Layer.

Thickness of paper ·008 cm.

No. of Current layers of paper

0 1

1 ·74

2 ·74

5 ·72

10 ·67

20 ·55

The initial current with the unscreened compound is taken as unity. In Table I, for a thin layer of thorium oxide, the current diminished rapidly with additional layers of thin paper. In this case the current is due almost entirely to the α rays. In Table II the current falls to ·74 for the first layer. In this case about 26% of the current is due to the α rays, which are practically absorbed by the layer ·008 cm. in thickness. The slow decrease with additional layers shows that the emanation diffuses so rapidly through a few layers of paper that there is little loss of activity during the passage. The time taken to diffuse through 20 layers is however appreciable, and the current consequently has decreased. After passing through a layer of cardboard 1·6 mms. in thickness the current is reduced to about one-fifth of its original value. In closed vessels the proportion of the total current, due to the emanation, varies with the distance between the plates as well as with the thickness of the layer of active material. It also varies greatly with the compound examined. In the nitrate, which gives off only a small amount of emanation, the proportion is very much smaller than in the hydroxide, which gives off a large amount of emanation.

=143. Increase of current with time.= The current due to the emanation does not reach its final value for some time after the active matter has been introduced into the closed vessel. The variation with time is shown in the following table. The saturation current due to thorium oxide, covered with paper, was observed between concentric cylinders of 5·5 cms. and ·8 cm. diameter.

Immediately before observations on the current were made, a rapid stream of air was blown through the apparatus. This removed most of the emanation. However, the current due to the ionization of the gas by the emanation, as it was carried along by the current of air, was still appreciable. The current consequently does not start from zero.

Time in Current seconds

0 9

23 25

53 49

96 67

125 76

194 88

244 98

304 99

484 100

The results are shown graphically in Fig. 52, curve B. The decay of the activity of the emanation with time, and the rate of increase of the activity due to the emanation in a closed space, are connected in the same way as the decay and recovery curves of Th X and Ur X.

With the previous notation, the decay curve is given by

$$ \frac {I_T} {I₀} = e^{–λt} $$ .

and the recovery curve by

$$ \frac {I_t} {I₀} = 1 − e^{–λt} $$,

where λ is the radio-active constant of the emanation.

This relation is to be expected, since the decay and recovery curves of the emanation are determined by exactly the same conditions as the decay and recovery curves of Ur X and Th X. In both cases there is:

(1) A supply of fresh radio-active particles produced at a constant rate.

(2) A loss of activity of the particles following an exponential law with the time.

In the case of Ur X and Th X, the active matter produced manifests its activity in the position in which it is formed; in this new phenomenon, a proportion of the active matter in the form of the emanation escapes into the surrounding gas. The activity of the emanation, due to a thorium compound kept in a closed vessel, thus reaches a maximum when the rate of supply of fresh emanation particles from the compound is balanced by the rate of change of those already present. The time for recovery of half the final activity is about 1 minute, the same as the time taken for the emanation, when left to itself, to lose half its activity.

If q₀ is the number of emanation particles escaping into the gas per second, and N₀ the final number when radio-active equilibrium is reached, then (section 133),

q₀ = λN₀.

Since the activity of the emanation falls to half value in 1 minute

λ = ¹⁄₈₇,

and N₀ = 87q₀, or the number of emanation particles present when a steady state is reached is 87 times the number produced per second.

Radium Emanation.

=144. Discovery of the emanation.= Shortly after the discovery of the thorium emanation, Dorn repeated the results, and, in addition, showed that radium compounds also gave off radio-active emanations, and that the amount given off was much increased by heating the compound. The radium emanation differs from the thorium emanation in the rate at which it loses its activity. It decays far more slowly, but in other respects the emanations of thorium and radium have much the same properties. Both emanations ionize the gas with which they are mixed, and affect a photographic plate. Both diffuse readily through porous substances but are unable to pass through a thin plate of mica; both behave like a temporarily radio-active gas, mixed in minute quantity with the air or other gas in which they are conveyed.

=145. Decay of activity of the emanation.= Very little emanation escapes from radium chloride in the solid state, but the amount is largely increased by heating, or by dissolving the compound in water. By bubbling air through a radium chloride solution, or passing air over a heated radium compound, a large amount of emanation may be obtained which can be collected, mixed with air, in a suitable vessel.

Experiments to determine accurately the rate of decay of activity of the emanation have been made by P. Curie, and Rutherford and Soddy. In the experiments of the latter, the emanation mixed with air was stored over mercury in an ordinary gas-holder. From time to time, equal quantities of air mixed with the emanation were measured off by a gas pipette and delivered into a testing vessel. The latter consisted of an air-tight brass cylinder carrying a central insulated electrode. A saturation voltage was applied to the cylinder, and the inner electrode was connected to the electrometer with a suitable capacity in parallel. The saturation current was observed immediately after the introduction of the active gas into the testing vessel, and was taken as a measure of the activity of the emanation present. The current increased rapidly with the time owing to the production of excited activity on the walls of the containing vessel. This effect is described in detail in chapter VIII.

The measurements were made at suitable intervals over a period of 33 days. The following table expresses the results, the initial activity being taken as 100.

Time in Relative hours Activity

0 100

20·8 85·7

187·6 24·0

354·9 6·9

521·9 1·5

786·9 0·19

The activity falls off according to an exponential law with the time, and decays to half value in 3·71 days. With the usual notation

$$ \frac {I_T} {I₀} = e^{–λt} $$ .

the mean value of λ deduced from the results is given by

λ = 2·16 × 10⁻⁶ = ¹⁄₄₆₃₀₀₀.

P. Curie determined the rate of decay of activity of the emanation by another method. The active matter was placed at one end of a sealed tube. After sufficient time had elapsed the portion of the tube containing the radium compound was removed. The loss of activity of the emanation, stored in the other part, was tested at regular intervals by observing the ionization current due to the rays which passed through the walls of the glass vessel. The testing apparatus and the connections are shown clearly in Fig. 53. The ionization current is observed between the vessels BB and CC. The glass tube A contains the emanation.

Now it will be shown later that the emanation itself gives off only α rays, and these rays are completely absorbed by the glass envelope, unless it is made extremely thin. The rays producing ionization in the testing vessel were thus not due to the α rays from the emanation at all, but to the β and γ rays due to the excited activity produced on the walls of the glass tube by the emanation inside it. What was actually measured was thus the decay of the excited activity derived from the emanation, and not the decay of activity of the emanation itself. Since, however, when a steady state is reached, the amount of excited activity is nearly proportional at any time to the activity of the emanation, the rate of decay of the excited activity on the walls of the vessel indirectly furnishes a measure of the rate of decay of the emanation itself. This is only true if the emanation is placed for four or five hours in the tube before observations begin, in order to allow the excited activity time to reach a maximum value.

Using this method P. Curie obtained results similar to those obtained by Rutherford and Soddy by the direct method. The activity decayed according to an exponential law with the time, falling to half value in 3·99 days.

The experiments were performed under the most varied conditions but the rate of decay was found to remain unaltered. The rate of decay did not depend on the material of the vessel containing the emanation or on the nature or pressure of the gas with which the emanation was mixed. It was unaffected by the amount of emanation present, or by the time of exposure to the radium, provided sufficient time had elapsed to allow the excited activity to reach a maximum value before the observations were begun. P. Curie found that the rate of decay of activity was not altered by exposing the vessel containing the emanation to different temperatures, ranging from +450° to −180° C.

In this respect the emanations of thorium and radium are quite analogous. The rate of decay seems to be unaffected by any physical or chemical agency, and the emanations behave in exactly the same way as the radio-active products Th X and Ur X, already referred to. The radio-active constant λ is thus a fixed and unalterable quantity for both emanations, although in one case its value is about 5000 times greater than in the other.

Emanations from Actinium.

=146.= Debierne found that actinium gives out an emanation similar to the emanation of thorium and radium. The loss of activity of the emanation is even more rapid than for the thorium emanation, for its activity falls to half value in 3·9 seconds. In consequence of the rapid decay of activity, the emanation is able to diffuse through the air only a short distance from the active matter before it loses the greater proportion of its activity. Giesel early observed that the radio-active substance separated by him, which we have seen (section 18) is identical in radio-active properties with actinium, gave off a large amount of emanation. It was in consequence of this property, that he gave it the name of the “emanating substance” and later “emanium.” The impure preparations of this substance emit the emanation very freely and in this respect differ from most of the thorium compounds. The emanation from actinium like those from thorium and radium possesses the property of exciting activity on inactive bodies, but it has not yet been studied so completely as the better known emanations of thorium and radium.

Experiments with large amounts of Radium Emanation.

=147.= With very active specimens of radium a large amount of emanation can be obtained, and the electrical, photographic, and fluorescent effects are correspondingly intense. On account of the small activity of thorium and the rapid decay of its emanation the effects due to it are weak, and can be studied only for a few minutes after its production. The emanation from radium, on the other hand, in consequence of the slow decay of its activity, may be stored mixed with air in an ordinary gas-holder, and its photographic and electrical actions may be examined several days or even weeks after, quite apart from those of the radium from which it was obtained.

It is, in general, difficult to study the radiation due to the emanation alone, on account of the fact that the emanation is continually producing a secondary type of activity on the surface of the vessel in which the emanation is enclosed. This excited activity reaches a maximum value several hours after the introduction of the emanation, and, as long as it is kept in the vessel, this excited activity on the walls decays at the same rate as the emanation itself, i.e. it falls to half its initial value in about 4 days. If, however, the emanation is blown out, the excited activity remains behind on the surface, but rapidly loses its activity in the course of a few hours. After several hours the intensity of the residual radiation is very small.

These effects and their connection with the emanation are discussed more fully in chapter VIII. Giesel has recorded some interesting observations of the effect of the radium emanation on a screen of phosphorescent zinc sulphide. When a few centigrams of moist radium bromide were placed on a screen any slight motion of the air caused the luminosity to move to and fro on the screen. The direction of phosphorescence could be altered at will by a slow current of air. The effect was still further increased by placing the active material in a tube and blowing the air through it towards the screen. A screen of barium platinocyanide or of Balmain’s paint failed to give any visible light under the same conditions. The luminosity was not altered by a magnetic field, but it was affected by an electric field. If the screen were charged the luminosity was more marked when it was negative than when it was positive.

Giesel states that the luminosity was not equally distributed, but was concentrated in a peculiar ring-shaped manner over the surface of the screen. The concentration of luminosity on the negative, rather than on the positive, electrode is probably due to the excited activity, caused by the emanation, and not to the emanation itself, for this excited activity is concentrated chiefly on the negative electrode in an electric field (see chapter VIII).

An experiment to illustrate the phosphorescence produced in some substances by the rays from a large amount of emanation is described in