Abstract
DURING experiments on the disintegration of metals, particularly those which are not supposed to combine directly with oxygen, such as certain metals of the platinum group, I have found the disintegration to be due to the direct formation of an oxide. The loss of weight of a hot platinum wire, for instance, is zero in nitrogen, in hydrogen, and in a vacuum. By means of an expansion apparatus, all metals tried are found to give nuclei when oxygen is present, but not when it is absent, either in other gases or in a vacuum. The occluded gases come off in a vacuum in molecular aggregations, but there is no evidence that they bring particles of the metal with them. The loss of weight cannot be due to volatilisation, as it diminishes with diminution of pressure of surrounding oxygen.
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ROBERTS, J. The Disintegration of Metals at High Temperatures. Nature 89, 660 (1912). https://doi.org/10.1038/089660b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/089660b0
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