Open AccessThe rate of production of helium from radium
Publication year - 1908
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series a, containing papers of a mathematical and physical character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9150
pISSN - 0950-1207
DOI - 10.1098/rspa.1908.0081
Subject(s) - radium , helium , radiometer , kindness , chloride , radiochemistry , bromide , chemistry , environmental science , physics , inorganic chemistry , law , political science , optics , organic chemistry
Some time ago I communicated a paper to the Society entitled “Note or the Use of the Radiometer in Observing Small Gas Pressures: Application to the Detection of the Gaseous Products produced by Radio-active Bodies.” In the course of the experiments recorded in that paper it was shown that a pressure of the fifty millionth of an atmosphere could easily be detected by radiometer motion, and that the helium produced by radioactive processes from some 10 milligrammes of bromide of radium could be definitely detected after a few hours. This led me to desire some direct measurements of the amount of helium produced by radium, and through the kindness of the Royal Society in allowing me the use of some radium chloride belonging to them I am able to give a condensed abstract of the experimental results so far obtained. The salt employed was the 70 milligrammes of radium chloride prepared by Dr. T. E. Thorpe, P. R. S., for his determination of the atomic weight of radium, the preparation of which is fully described in ‘Roy. Soc. Proc., A, vol. 80, p. 298.