Abstract
PROF. J. J. THOMSON'S interesting article in last week's NATURE raises the question of how long the emission of energy by radium may be expected to continue. I think in this connection that it would be of great importance to determine, if possible, whether radium, as contained in pitchblende, emits as much energy as the same amount of the material in the form of an artificially concentrated product. The mineral must be supposed to have been in existence, in its present condition, for a period of time comparable with the age of the earth—perhaps 50 million years. It is certainly more likely to have lost than gained activity during that time. We may therefore reasonably assume that it has been liberating energy at not less than its present rate for 50 million years. A determination of the amount of energy thus emitted would carry us much further than the most careful and protracted observations on powerful radium preparations.
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STRUTT, R. Energy Emitted by Radio-active Bodies. Nature 68, 6 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/068006c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/068006c0
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