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32 RA YS OF PQSIT/FE ELECTRICITY

it must be due to particles which were uncharged
when they were passing the first magnet A. On the other hand
it has experienced the full horizontal deflection, showing that
the particle most have acquired a charge before reaching the
second B, This is an example of particle acquiring a

during its path. The appearance of the luminosity
due to the negatively charged particles shows that these, too,
gain and lose negative charges in their passage down the
tube.

When we reduce the pressure to the lowest value we can
reach by the use of charcoal and liquid air, then with the
magnet A on alone we have the spots a and #, Fig. 22. There
Is no luminosity between them and no luminosity above a,
while, when both magnets are on, we have merely the spots a
and V ; b and a' have disappeared along with the luminosity
inside the rectangle.

We shall call the lines we have just been considering
secondary lines, the parabolic arcs primary lines.

It is important to point out that the collision which
Ionizes a neutral particle and gives it a positive charge must
be a collision with a corpuscle and not with a molecule of the
gas through which the positive rays are passing; for the
mass of a molecule of the gas is comparable with that of the
positive ray particle, hence a collision between the two would
result in the particle losing an appreciable fraction of its
energy and being deflected through a considerable angle.
The appearance and inclination of the secondary lines show
that the particles suffer little diminution in velocity in these
encounters and no appreciable change in direction, hence we
conclude that the system with which the particle collides must
have a much smaller mass than the particle, i.e. it must be a
corpuscle and not a molecule.

The secondary curves finally join the parabolic arcs pro-



	32 RA YS OF PQSIT/FE ELECTRICITY it must be due to particles which were uncharged when they were passing the first magnet A. On the other hand it has experienced the full horizontal deflection, showing that the particle most have acquired a charge before reaching the second B, This is an example of particle acquiring a during its path. The appearance of the luminosity due to the negatively charged particles shows that these, too, gain and lose negative charges in their passage down the tube. When we reduce the pressure to the lowest value we can reach by the use of charcoal and liquid air, then with the magnet A on alone we have the spots a and #, Fig. 22. There Is no luminosity between them and no luminosity above a, while, when both magnets are on, we have merely the spots a and V ; b and a' have disappeared along with the luminosity inside the rectangle. We shall call the lines we have just been considering secondary lines, the parabolic arcs primary lines. It is important to point out that the collision which Ionizes a neutral particle and gives it a positive charge must be a collision with a corpuscle and not with a molecule of the gas through which the positive rays are passing; for the mass of a molecule of the gas is comparable with that of the positive ray particle, hence a collision between the two would result in the particle losing an appreciable fraction of its energy and being deflected through a considerable angle. The appearance and inclination of the secondary lines show that the particles suffer little diminution in velocity in these encounters and no appreciable change in direction, hence we conclude that the system with which the particle collides must have a much smaller mass than the particle, i.e. it must be a corpuscle and not a molecule. The secondary curves finally join the parabolic arcs pro-