Abstract
IN a paper in the October number of the Philosophical Magazine of this year I gave a preliminary account of some attempts to detect and measure the production of helium from the primary radio-elements, on which I have been engaged since 1905. The results given were few, and referred mainly to the element thorium. The following further results, obtained since the publication of the paper, with the element uranium carry the subject a stage further. The method is described in detail in the paper referred to. By special arrangements the solutions of the substances employed can be freed absolutely from air, and maintained in this condition indefinitely. After any desired period of accumulation the gases can be completely expelled by boiling the solution in a stream of gas from a voltameter. The expelled gases are freed from water by cooling, and then subjected to the action of the vapour of calcium in a special vacuum furnace, whereby all but the inert gases are perfectly absorbed. After cooling the furnace is filled with mercury, and the residual gas, if any, compressed into the smallest possible spectrum tube of lead glass. The minimum quantity of helium detectable in a successful experiment has been found by repeated trial to be 2 × 10-10 gram. Blank tests with a similar apparatus containing sodium sulphate solution were performed, and I feel confident that the data obtained are trustworthy.
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SODDY, F. Production of Helium from Uranium. Nature 79, 129 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/079129b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/079129b0
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