The K Absorption Levels of the Light Atoms: a Correction

Abstract

IN Roy. Soc. Proc., A, vol. 104, p. 455 (1923), I gave the results of measurements of a number of “soft” X-ray absorption levels. The1 v/R values of the levels were deduced from the kinetic energies of the groups of electrons expelled from the atoms by X-rays of known frequency. In most cases the results agreed very well with the values deduced from spectroscopic X-ray data, but fairly wide systematic deviations were observed in the case of the K levels of the light atoms—my values being appreciably higher than those previously accepted. In the case of the oxygen K level the value of v/R came out 42.3, which is 4 units—more than 50 volts—greater than Kurth's value of the K critical excitation potential for oxygen (Kurth, Phys. Rev., 18, p. 461, 1921).