Open AccessThe relation between the evolution of heat and the supply of energy during the passage of an electric discharge through hydrogen
Author(s) -
J. K. Roberts
Publication year - 1922
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.1922.0073
Subject(s) - hydrogen , atomic physics , hydrogen atom , stars , nucleus , helium , electron , physics , astrophysics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , medicine , group (periodic table) , psychiatry
In this paper an account is given of measurements of the heat evolved by the passage of a known current under a known potential through a hydrogen discharge tube. The experiment was suggested by Sir Ernest Rutherford as a possible test of the hypothesis in which he supposed that a much closer combination between an electron and a hydrogen nucleus than that existing in the hydrogen atom might occur under suitable conditions. The experiments of Aston, which show that the masses of all atoms except hydrogen are whole numbers, indicate that the close binding of electrons and positive nuclei causes a decrease of mass, owing to the interaction of the fields. Such a decrease of mass might be expected to occur if the supposed close combination of a single hydrogen nucleus and an electron took place. We should expect this decrease of mass to be accompanied by an evolution of energy, since a massm has energy ½mc 2 associated with it,c being the velocity of light. In order to account for the fact that the energy radiated by giant stars is too great to be supplied by the loss of gravitational potential energy by contraction, it has been suggested that atomic changes of this nature occur in these stars. If 1 per cent. of the mass of a giant star were converted from hydrogen to helium the energy evolved would be sufficient to supply the star with energy for 1.5 x 107 years.