Abstract
THESE two elements yield volatile tetroxides and by means of these their mass-spectra have now been obtained. Osmium tetroxide was first experimented with; its action on the discharge, even in the smallest amounts, is quite amazing. The whole mechanism of current flow is violently disorganised and only slowly recovers. In consequence the admission could only be by very small periodical doses during the exposure, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that spectra of adequate density were obtained. These indicate four strong isotopes and two very weak ones, one of the latter being isobaric with tungsten, W186 Fortunately it was easy to photograph on the same plate several short exposures of the mercury group, which is sufficiently near in mass to provide a reasonably reliable density scale. The mass numbers and provisional relative abundance are as follows:
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ASTON, F. Constitution of Osmium and Ruthenium. Nature 127, 233 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127233a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/127233a0
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