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Ionisation Potential and the Size of the Atom

Abstract

IT is known that there is for different elements a relation between the ionising potential and atomic volume, the one increasing as the other diminishes. Hughes in his book on “Photo-electricity” (p. 51) indicates that the work in removing an electron wholly from an atom might be expected to vary inversely as the radius. In other words, the ionising potential might be inversely proportional to the cube-root of the atomic volume.

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EVE, A. Ionisation Potential and the Size of the Atom. Nature 107, 552–553 (1921). https://doi.org/10.1038/107552a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/107552a0

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