In the experiments in which the temperature of the liquid is varied, the temperature of the radium may be either that of the surrounding atmosphere or that of the liquid; the same result is obtained in both cases. This leads to the conclusion that the radiation of radium does not vary with the temperature, and remains unaltered even at the temperature of liquid air. This fact has been verified directly by measurements.
Various Effects and Applications of the Ionising Action of the Rays Emitted by Radio-active Substances.
The rays of the new radio-active substances have a strongly ionising action upon air. By the action of radium the condensation of supersaturated water vapour can be easily induced, just as happens by the action of cathode rays and Röntgen rays.
Under the influence of the rays emitted by the new radio-active substances, the distance of discharge between two metallic conductors for a given difference of potential is increased; to put it otherwise, the passage of the spark is facilitated by these rays.
In causing conductivity, by the action of radio-active bodies, in the air in the neighbourhood of two metallic conductors, one of which is connected to earth and the other to a well-insulated electrometer, the electrometer is seen to be permanently deflected, which gives a measure of the electromotive force of the battery formed by the air and the two metals (electromotive force of contact of the two metals, when they are separated by air). This method of measurement was employed by Lord Kelvin and his students, the radiating body being uranium; a similar method had been previously employed by M. Perrin, who was using the ionising action of Röntgen rays.
Radio-active bodies may be employed in the study of atmospheric electricity. The active substance is enclosed in a little box of thin aluminium fixed at the extremity of a metal wire connected with the electrometer. The air is made to conduct in the neighbourhood of the end of the wire, and the latter adopts the potential of the surrounding air. Radium thus replaces, with advantage, the flames or the apparatus of running water of Lord Kelvin, till now in general use for the investigation of atmospheric electricity.
Fluorescent and Luminous Effects.
The rays emitted by the new radio-active bodies cause fluorescence of certain substances. M. Curie and myself first discovered this phenomenon when causing polonium to act upon a layer of barium platinocyanide through aluminium foil. The same experiment succeeds yet more easily with barium containing radium. When the substance is strongly radio-active the fluorescence produced is very beautiful.
A large number of bodies are capable of becoming phosphorescent or fluorescent by the action of the Becquerel rays. M. Becquerel studied the effect upon the uranium salts, the diamond, &c. M. Bary has demonstrated that the salts of the metals of the alkalis and alkaline earths, which are all fluorescent under the action of luminous rays and Röntgen rays, are also fluorescent under the action of the rays of radium. Paper, cotton, glass, &c., are all caused to fluoresce in the neighbourhood of radium. Among the different kinds of glass, Thuringian glass is specially luminous. Metals do not seem to become luminous.
Barium platinocyanide is most conveniently used when the radiation of the radio-active bodies is to be investigated by the fluoroscopic method. The effect of the radium rays may be followed at distances greater than 2 m. Phosphorescent zinc sulphide is made extremely luminous, but this body has the inconvenient property of preserving its luminosity for some time after the action of the rays has ceased.