The Mobilities of Electrons

In a recent paper' it was shown that the electrons could presumably travel through N2 and H2 gases!in a free state at atmospheric pressure. It was found in some cases impossible to evaluate the mobilities of these electrons with the low frequencies of commutation available. The values of the mobilities indicated by these results appeared to be so much higher than the values obtained by earlier investigators that it was felt worth while to attempt to measure them accurately. The mobilities of electrons were accordingly determined in N2 using the high frequency oscillations obtained from two Western Electric Company "E" tube oscillators operating in parallel. The diagram of connections is shown in figure 1. In some cases the oscillations were taken directly from the primary condenser C1, and at other times from the condenser C2 of a secondary circuit tuned to resonance with the primary circuit. The method of measurement was the well known Rutherford alternating current method. The electrons used where photo electrons liberated by ultraviolet light from one of the plates. -The ionization chamber used was similar to the one used in measurements of the constant of attachment of electrons to gas molecules,2 except that still-greater precautions were taken in this chamber to avoid contamination. The meas-urements were made in the same manner as were the measurements for the determination of the coefficient of attachment. The current to the electrometer plate was measured as a function of the value of the alternating potential between the plates. This current was then plotted against the potential difference thus yielding a mobility curve. The potential difference Vo, at which this curve cut the axis was substituted in the equation,