Abstract
The first measurements of the relative abundance of the isotopes 6 and 7 of lithium were made by Dempster with his magnetic spectrograph.1 As the instrument indicated ratios so high as 37 and so low as 4.8 with means around 7–10, the results are of little value. Morand,2 using a heated anode and measuring simultaneously the currents carried by Li6 and Li7, arrived at the figure 14.9, a ratio agreeing well with the atomic weight 6.94 on the assumption that the atoms had exact whole number masses. Costa's measurements (1925) recalculated from my own results3 indicate the masses to be 6.012 and 7.012 (O16 = 16) respectively. This reduces the ratio calculated from the chemical atomic weight to about 13. Quite lately, v. Wijk and v. Koeveringe,4 from observations on band spectra, calculate the ratio to be 7.2.
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References
Phys. Rev., 18, p. 415; 1921.
Thesis for Ph.D., Paris (1927).
Proc. Roy. Soc., A 115, p. 509; 1927.
Proc. Roy. Soc., A 132, p. 98; 1931.
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Aston, F. Constitution of Lithium. Nature 128, 149 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/128149a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/128149a0
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