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A study of the properties of hydrogen films on tungsten by the method of contact potentials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

R. C. L. Bosworth
Affiliation:
Trinity College

Extract

In a study of the properties of hydrogen on tungsten by the method of contact potentials the following points have been established:

(1) The contact potential of a 92% covered surface of hydrogen on tungsten against bare tungsten is 1·04 V., and the Richardson constants for such a surface are, approximately,

A = 30, b = 5·60 V.

(2) A film of deuterium is 20 m V. positive relative to a similar hydrogen film.

(3) Over the range of temperatures and pressures used by Bryce in a study of the production of atomic hydrogen the films are nearly saturated, so that the production of atomic hydrogen is primarily due to a molecule striking a bare tungsten atom, one atom being adsorbed and the other going into the gas phase.

(4)The condensation coefficient for hydrogen molecules on cold tungsten is 0·01.

(5) The effective dipole moment of each hydrogen atom on the surface is −0·42 Debye unit and is independent of the fraction of the surface covered.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1937

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References

* Roberts, J. K., Proc. Roy. Soc. 152 (1935), 445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Bosworth and Rideal. Paper shortly to appear in Proc. Roy. Soc.

* Reimann, , Phil. Mag. 134 (1935), 594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

* Roberts J. K., loc. cit.

Bosworth, R. C. L., Trans. Faraday Soc. 32 (1936), 1369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Langmuir, , Trans. Faraday Soc. 17 (1921), 1.Google Scholar

§ The temperature coefficient of the work function of pure tungsten is positive, which means that a hot surface is slightly negative relative to a cold one, even when the surfaces have the same chemical nature.

* Langmuir, D. B., Phys. Rev. 47 (1935), 813Google Scholar and 49 (1936), 428.

* Bryce, G., Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 32 (1936), 648.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Roberts, J. K., and Bryce, G., Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 32 (1936), 653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

* Roberts J. K. Paper to appear shortly.

The dipole moment is calculated from the contact potential and surface concentration by means of the equation V = 2πμσ.