Abstract
IN this paper the author describes experiments on the repulsion produced by the different rays of the solar spectrum. The apparatus employed is a horizontal beam suspended by a glass fibre, and having square pieces of pith at each end coated with lampblack. The whole is fitted up and hermetically sealed in glass, and connected with an improved mercury-pump. In front of the square of pith at one end a quartz window is cemented to the apparatus; and the movements of the beam, when radiation falls on the pith, are observed by a reflected ray of light on a millimetre-scale. The apparatus was fitted up in a room specially devoted to it, and was protected on all sides, except where the rays of light had to pass, with cotton-wool and large bottles of water. A heliostat reflected in a constant direction a beam of sunlight, which was received on an appropriate arrangement of slit, lenses, and prisms for projecting a pure spectrum. Results were obtained in the months of July, August, and September; and they are given in the paper graphically as a curve, the maximum being in the ultra-red, and the minimum in the ultra-violet. Taking the maximum at 100, the following are the mechanical values of the different colours of the spectrum:—
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
On Repulsion Resulting from Radition—Part IV1. Nature 13, 450–452 (1876). https://doi.org/10.1038/013450a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/013450a0