Abstract
EXPLODED WIRES.—The reports of the great American observatories in recent years make frequent mention of observations on ‘exploded wires.’ Those who wish for information on the nature and object of these experiments will welcome an article on the subject by Prof. H. N. Russell in the Scientific American for May. The wires are made of various metals or alloys and drawn out to extreme thinness. A powerful current from a condenser charged up to about 40,000 volts is then passed through them, instantly reducing them to gas. The spectra of this gas at its various stages of cooling are then photographed with the aid of a rapidly revolving mirror, the whole phenomenon lasting about 1/25,000 of a second.
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Our Astronomical Column. Nature 119, 829 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/119829a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/119829a0