Consider the following imaginary experiment:—Some radium, R, is placed at the bottom of a small deep cavity, hollowed in a block of lead, P (Fig. 4). A sheaf of rays, rectilinear and slightly expanded, streams from the receptacle. Let us suppose that a strong uniform magnetic field is established in the neighbourhood of the receptacle, normal to the plane of the figure and directed towards the back. The three groups of rays, α, β, γ, will now be separated. Then rather faint γ-rays continue in their straight path without a trace of deviation. The β-rays are deflected in the manner of cathode rays, and describe circular paths in the plane of the figure. If the receptacle is placed on a photographic plate, A C, the portion, B C, of the plate which receives the β-rays is acted upon. Lastly, the α-rays form a very intense shaft which is slightly deflected, and which is soon absorbed by the air. These rays describe in the plane of the figure a path of great curvature, the direction of the deflection being the reverse of that with the β-rays.
If the receptacle is covered with a thin sheet of aluminium (0·1 m.m. thick), the α-rays are suppressed almost entirely, the β-rays are lessened, and the γ-rays do not appear to be absorbed to any great extent.
Action of the Magnetic Field.
We have seen that the rays emitted by radio-active bodies have many properties common to cathode rays and to Röntgen rays. Cathode rays, as well as Röntgen rays, ionise the air, act on photographic plates, cause fluorescence, undergo no regular deflection. But the cathode rays differ from Röntgen rays in being deflected from their rectilinear path by the action of the magnetic field, and in the transportation of charges of negative electricity.
The fact that the magnetic field acts upon the rays emitted by radio-active substances was discovered almost simultaneously by MM. Giesel, Meyer and von Schweidler, and Becquerel. These physicists observed that the rays of radio-active substances are deflected by the magnetic field in the same manner and direction as the cathode rays; their observations were in relation to the β-rays.
M. Curie demonstrated that the radiation of radium comprises two groups of quite distinct rays, of which one is readily deflected by the magnetic field (β-rays), whilst the other seems to be unaffected by the action of this field (α- and γ-rays).
M. Becquerel did not find that the specimens of polonium prepared by us emitted rays of the cathode kind. On the contrary, he first noticed the effect of the magnetic field on a specimen of polonium prepared by himself. None of the polonium prepared by us ever gave rise to rays of the cathode order.
The polonium of M. Giesel only gives rise to these rays when recently prepared, and it is probable that the emission is due to the phenomenon of induced radio-activity of which we shall speak later.
The following are experiments which prove that one portion of the radiation of radium, and one portion only, consists of easily deflected rays (β-rays). These experiments were done according to the electrical method.
The radio-active body A (Fig. 5) sends forth radiations in the direction A D between the plates P and P′. The plate P is now at a potential of 500 volts, plate P′ is connected to an electrometer and to a quartz electric piezometer. The intensity of the current passing through the air under the influence of the radiations is measured. The magnetic field can be established at will perpendicular to the plane of the figure over the whole region E E E E. If the rays are deflected, even slightly, they no longer pass between the plates, and the current is suppressed. The region of the passage of the rays is surrounded with masses of lead, B, B′, B″, and by the armatures of the electro-magnet; when the rays are deflected, they are absorbed by the masses of lead B and B′.