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48 RAYS OF ELECTRICITY

When exceedingly large electric fields are used It can
be however, that the head of the mercury parabola is

distinctly displaced, and on measuring the amount of the de-
flection it is found to be one-eighth of the normal displace-
of the heads of the parabolas corresponding to the other
elements.

This, as we have seen, implies that the particles which
produce the head of the parabola corresponding to the atom
of mercury must have eight times the maximum amount
of energy possessed by the normal atom; if the theory given
above is true, this means that some of the mercury atoms
had, before passing through the cathode, eight times the nor-
mal charge, i.e. had lost eight corpuscles. Eight corpuscles is
a very large number for an atom to lose, so that if in this
case we can obtain independent evidence of such a loss it
will be a strong confirmation of the theory.

A study of plates taken with large electrostatic deflections
has revealed the existence of seven parabolas due to mercury,
corresponding to the mercury atom with I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
charges respectively. The parabola corresponding to eight
charges has not been detected, but as the parabolas in general
get fainter for each additional charge, it is probably on the
plate although not intense enough to be visible. Fig. 28,
Plate II, taken from a photograph when the gas in the tube was
the residua! gas left after exhaustion by the Gaede pump,
shows these lines very well. The measurements of m\e for the
parabolas on this plate give the following value (mje Is taken
as unity for the atom of hydrogen):—

mfe

200 200/1

102 2-00/2

66-3 2003



	48 *RAYS* OF ELECTRICITY When exceedingly large electric fields are used It can be however, that the head of the mercury parabola is distinctly displaced, and on measuring the amount of the de- flection it is found to be one-eighth of the normal displace- of the heads of the parabolas corresponding to the other elements. This, as we have seen, implies that the particles which produce the head of the parabola corresponding to the atom of mercury must have eight times the maximum amount of energy possessed by the normal atom; if the theory given above is true, this means that some of the mercury atoms had, before passing through the cathode, eight times the nor- mal charge, i.e. had lost eight corpuscles. Eight corpuscles is a very large number for an atom to lose, so that if in this case we can obtain independent evidence of such a loss it will be a strong confirmation of the theory. A study of plates taken with large electrostatic deflections has revealed the existence of seven parabolas due to mercury, corresponding to the mercury atom with I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 charges respectively. The parabola corresponding to eight charges has not been detected, but as the parabolas in general get fainter for each additional charge, it is probably on the plate although not intense enough to be visible. Fig. 28, Plate II, taken from a photograph when the gas in the tube was the residua! gas left after exhaustion by the Gaede pump, shows these lines very well. The measurements of m\e for the parabolas on this plate give the following value (mje Is taken as unity for the atom of hydrogen):— *mfe* 200 200/1 102 2-00/2 66-3 2003