Abstract
IN a paper published during the War the late Lord Rayleigh reported some new experiments about the hydrogen spectrum, indicating a duration of Balmer lines of more than 10-5 sec., which is roughly one thousand times greater than the values calculated from quantum mechanics and experimental results with positive rays. The method consists in producing a strong luminosity induced by a powerful condenser discharge in an electrodeless glass tube. Each discharge produces a jet of luminosity, squirting out of the electric field by thermal expansion into a side tube where the decay of the Balmer lines is observed and measured1.
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References
Rayleigh, Lord, Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 183, 26 (1944).
Jablonski, A., Nature, 155, 397 (1945).
Born, M., Fürth, R., and Ladenburg, R., Nature, 157, 159 (1946).
Herman, L., C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 225, 112 (1947).
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HERMAN, R., HERMAN, L. Afterglow of the Balmer Spectrum of Hydrogen. Nature 162, 261 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162261a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162261a0
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