| Distance A T | 3·5 | 2·5 | 1·9 | 1·45 | 0·5 |
| Percentage of rays transmitted by one lamina | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 25 |
| Percentage of rays transmitted by two laminæ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0·7 |
In these experiments the distance of the plates, P and P′, was 3 c.m. We see that the interposition of the aluminium screen diminishes the intensity of the radiation to a greater degree at further distances than at nearer distances.
This effect is still more marked than the preceding figures seem to indicate. For a distance of 0·5 c.m. 25 per cent represents the mean penetration for all the rays which pass beyond this distance. If, for example, only those rays between 0·5 c.m. and 1 c.m. be comprehended, the penetration would be greater. And if the plate P be placed at a distance of 0·5 c.m. from P′ the fraction of the radiation transmitted by the aluminium lamina (for A T = 0·5 c.m.) is 47 per cent, and through two laminæ it is 5 per cent of the original radiation.
I have recently performed a second series of experiments with these same specimens of polonium, the activity of which was considerably diminished, the interval of time between the two series of experiments being three years.
In the former experiments, polonium nitrite was used; in the latter, the polonium was in the state of metallic particles obtained by fusing the nitrite with potassium cyanide.
I found that the radiation of polonium had preserved its essential characteristics, and I discovered new results. The following, for different values of the distance A T, are the fractions of the radiation transmitted by a screen composed of four superposed very thin leaves of beaten aluminium.
| Distance A T, in centimetres | 0 | 1·5 | 2·6 |
| Percentage of rays transmitted by the screen | 76 | 66 | 39 |
I also found that the fraction of the radiation absorbed by a given screen increases with the thickness of the material already traversed by the radiation, but this only occurs after the distance A T has reached a certain value. When this distance is zero (the polonium being in contact with the sheet, either outside or inside the condenser), it is observed that with several similar superposed screens, each absorbs the same fraction of the radiation it receives; otherwise expressed, the intensity of the radiation diminishes therefore according to an exponential law as a function of the thickness of the material traversed, as in the case of homogeneous radiation transmitted by the lamina without changing its nature.
The following numerical results are given with reference to these experiments:—
For a distance A T equal to 1·5 c.m. a thin aluminium screen transmits the fraction 0·51 of the radiation it receives when acting alone, and the fraction 0·34 of the radiation it receives when it is preceded by another similar screen.