These remarkable experiments show that the excited radio-activity obtained from the atmosphere is very similar in character to the excited activity produced by the emanations of radium and thorium. No investigators have contributed more to our knowledge of the radio-activity and ionization of the atmosphere than Elster and Geitel. The experiments here described have been the starting-point of a series of researches by them and others on the radio-active properties of the atmosphere, which have led to a great extension of our knowledge of that important subject.
Rutherford and Allan[[388]] determined the rate of decay of the excited activity produced on a negatively charged wire exposed in the open air. A wire about 15 metres long was exposed in the open air, and kept charged by an influence machine to a potential of about -10,000 volts. An hour’s exposure was sufficient to obtain a large amount of excited activity on the wire. The wire was then rapidly removed and wound on a framework which formed the central electrode in a large cylindrical metal vessel. The ionization current for a saturation voltage was measured by means of a sensitive Dolezalek electrometer. The current, which is a measure of the activity of the wire, was found to diminish according to an exponential law with the time, falling to half value in about 45 minutes. The rate of decay was independent of the material of the wire, of the time of exposure, and of the potential of the wire.
An examination was also made of the nature of the rays emitted by the radio-active wire. For this purpose a lead wire was made radio-active in the manner described, and then rapidly wound into the form of a flat spiral. The penetrating power of the rays was tested in a vessel similar to that shown in [Fig. 17]. Most of the ionization was found to be due to some very easily absorbed rays, which were of a slightly more penetrating character than the α rays emitted from a wire made active by the radium or thorium emanations. The intensity of the rays was cut down to half value by about 0·001 cm. of aluminium. The photographic action observed by Elster and Geitel through 0·1 mm. of aluminium showed that some penetrating rays were also present. This was afterwards confirmed by Allan, who used the electric method. These penetrating rays are probably similar in character to the β rays from the radio-elements.
274. The excited activity produced on the negatively charged wire cannot be due to an action of the strong electric field on the surface of the wire; for very little excited activity is produced if the wire is charged to the same potential inside a closed cylinder.
We have seen that the excited activity produced on the wire can be partially removed by rubbing and by solution in acids, and, in this respect, it is similar to the excited activity produced in bodies by the emanations of radium and thorium. The very close similarity of the excited activity obtained from the atmosphere to that obtained from the radium and thorium emanations suggests the probability that a radio-active emanation exists in the atmosphere. This view is confirmed by a large amount of indirect evidence discussed in sections [276], [277] and [280].
Assuming the presence of a radio-active emanation in the atmosphere, the radio-active effects observed receive a simple explanation. The emanation in the air gradually breaks up, giving rise in some way to positively charged radio-active carriers. These are driven to the negative electrode in the electric field, and there undergo a further change, giving rise to the radiations observed at the surface of the wire. The matter which causes excited activity will thus be analogous to the active deposit of radium and thorium.
Since the earth is negatively electrified with regard to the upper atmosphere, these positive radio-active carriers produced in the air are continuously deposited on the surface of the earth. Everything on the surface of the earth, including the external surface of buildings, the grass, and leaves of trees, must be covered with an invisible deposit of radio-active material. A hill, or mountain peak, or any high mass of rock or land, concentrates the earth’s electric field at that point and consequently will receive more excited radio-activity per unit area than the plain. Elster and Geitel have pointed out that the greater ionization of the air observed in the neighbourhood of projecting peaks receives a satisfactory explanation on this view.
If the radio-active carriers are produced at a uniform rate in the atmosphere, the amount of excited activity It, produced on a wire exposed under given conditions, will, after exposure for a time t, be given by
where I₀ is the maximum activity on the wire and λ is the constant of decay of the excited activity. Since the activity of a wire after removal falls to half value in about 45 minutes, the value of λ is 0·92 (hour)-1. Some experiments made by Allan[[389]] are in rough agreement with the above equation. Accurate comparative results are difficult to obtain on account of the inconstancy of the radio-activity of the open air. After an exposure of a wire for several hours, the activity reached a practical maximum, and was not much increased by continued exposure.