Page:Radio-activity.djvu/142

 a layer 2·5 sq. cms. in area and 2 mms. thick, a current of the order of 10^{-11} amperes was observed after the rays had traversed a layer of aluminium ·01 mm. thick and a layer of ebonite ·3 mm. thick. The current was the same with discs of lead, copper, and zinc, and also when the ebonite was replaced by paraffin.

Curie also observed in another experiment of a similar character that the radium itself acquired a positive charge. This necessarily follows if the rays carry with them a negative charge. If the β rays alone carried with them a charge, a pellet of radium, if perfectly insulated, and surrounded by a non-conducting medium, would in the course of time be raised to a high positive potential. Since, however, the α rays carry with them a charge opposite in sign to the β rays, the ratio of the charge carried off by the two types of rays must be determined, before it can be settled whether the radium would acquire a positive or a negative charge. If, however, the radium is placed in an insulated metal vessel of a thickness sufficient to absorb all the α rays, but not too thick to allow most of the β rays to escape, the vessel will acquire a positive charge in a vacuum.

An interesting experimental result bearing upon this point has been described by Dorn. A small quantity of radium was placed in a sealed glass tube and left for several months. On opening the tube with a file, a bright electric spark was observed at the moment of fracture, showing that there was a large difference of potential between the inside of the tube and the earth.

In this case the α rays were absorbed in the walls of the tube, but a large proportion of the β rays escaped. The inside of the tube thus became charged, in the course of time, to a high positive potential; a steady state would be reached when the rate of escape of negative electricity was balanced by the leakage of positive electricity through the walls of the tube. The external surface of the glass would be always practically at zero potential, on account of the ionization of the air around it.

Strutt has recently described a simple and striking experiment to illustrate still more clearly that a radium preparation acquires a positive charge, if it is enclosed in an envelope thick enough to