Abstract
IN a paper by E. Brüche on “Wirkungsquerschnitt und Molekülbau”1 it is stated on p. 1105 that the curve which shows the variation of the effective cross-section of methane molecules with respect to slow electrons for different velocities of the electrons (we shall call these curves Q-V-curves, since the velocity is given in terms of volts) is of the argon type, namely, that as the velocity of the electrons decreases from 4 volts to 1 volt (that is, from 2V to 1V) the Q-V-curve passes through a maximum and then rapidly sinks to a much lower value. This result was also obtained by R. B. Brode.2 In a later paper by C. Ramsauer and R. Kollath,3 Brüche's Q-V-curve is extended to still lower electronic velocities (to about 0.39V) and is found to pass through a minimum. We have now determined the Q-V-curve for methane by Townsend's diffusion method and have also found that the absolute value of the effective cross-section Q of methane molecules is very low, like that of argon, and that the Q-V-curves of argon and methane closely resemble each other over the range of velocities investigated, which in our case was from 1.74V down, to 0.3V. The minimum Q obtained for methane by Ramsauer and Kollath was 4.7 cm.2/cm.3 at a velocity of 0.62V; our value is 4.3 cm.2/cm.3 at a velocity of 0.52V. The minimum in our curve is a little less sharp than in the curve of Ramsauer and Kollath.
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References
Ann. d. Phys., p. 1065; 1927.
Phys. Rev., 25, 636; 1925.
Ann. d. Phys., 4, p. 97; 1930.
Phil. Mag., vol. 54, p. 1033; 1922.
Ann. d. Phys., 5, p. 797; 1930.
See also a recent paper by J. S. Townsend, Phil. Mag., 9, p. 1145; June 1930.
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BROSE, H., KEYSTON, J. The Behaviour of Methane Molecules and Argon Atoms in Collisions with very slow Electrons. Nature 126, 806–807 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/126806b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/126806b0
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