Abstract
THESE two elements of the vanadium group have properties very unfavourable to mass-spectrum analysis and all attempts previously reported have been completely unsuccessful. I have now been able to obtain their mass lines, owing to the kindness of Dr. P. Kronenberg of Berlin, who has prepared for me specimens of the pentafluorides. These solids are slightly volatile but their great chemical activity makes them troublesome to deal with. If, however, they are volatilised in the discharge tube itself, it is possible to obtain, at least intermittently, a discharge which contains the metallic ions. Under these conditions the data are not complete, but one result is beyond doubt, and this is, that notwithstanding their fractional chemical atomic weights, both elements are essentially simple.
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ASTON, F. Constitution of Tantalum and Niobium. Nature 130, 130 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130130a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130130a0
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