"Debierne has obtained from pitchblende a very active substance which he named actinium. This active substance is precipitated with the iron group, and appears to be very closely allied in chemical properties to thorium, though it is many thousand times more active. It is very difficult to separate from thorium and the rare earths. ...Debierne has obtained a substance comparable in activity with radium. The separation, which is difficult and laborious, has so far not been carried far enough to bring out any new lines in the spectrum. Actinium gives out easily absorbed and penetrating deviable rays like those of radium, and also a radio-active emanation, which is more allied to the emanation of thorium than to that of radium. The emanation has a distinctive rate of decay; it loses its activity in the course of a few seconds, while the thorium emanation loses half its activity in one minute. The distinctive character of the radiations and emanations, together with the permanence of the activity; make it very probable that actinium will prove to be a new element of very great activity."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
p.22
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Radio-activity
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Radio-activity
Radio-activity is a book written in 1904 (a 2nd edition was published in 1905) by Ernest Rutherford. This was the year prior to Albert Eistein's paper on the special theory of relativity would be published. The following quotes are from the 1st edition of Radio-activity, unless otherwise noted. Rutherford's theory of radioactivity was initially opposed by Pierre Curie, who believed, due to conservation of energy concerns, that radioactive substances causing the energy to be produced from the env
50 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Radio-activity →
Related Quotes
"The rapid advance of our knowledge of radio-activity has been dependent on the information already gained by research…"
"The close of the old and the beginning of the new century have been marked by a very rapid increase of our knowledge …"
"The study of the radio-active substances and of the discharge of electricity through gases has supplied very strong e…"
"A great impetus to the study of this subject was initially given by the experiments of Lenard on the cathode rays and…"
"An examination of the conductivity imparted to a gas by the X rays led to a clear view of the mechanism of the transp…"
"This ionization theory of gases has been shown to afford a satisfactory explanation not only of the passage of electr…"
"Study of the cathode rays showed that they consisted of a stream of material particles, projected with great velocity…"
"An examination of natural substance, in order to see if they gave out dark radiations similar to X rays, led to the d…"
"In order to explain the phenomena of radio-activity, a theory has been put forward which regards the atoms of the rad…"
"I have found the theory that the atoms of the radio-active bodies are undergoing spontaneous disintegration extremely…"