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The Energy of the Röntgen Rays
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2014
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The number of experiments that have been made on the Röntgen rays is already very large, and much has been learned from them regarding the properties of these rays. There has been, however, as yet, but little done to determine their energy. Indeed, the only accurate work which has been carried out in this direction is that of E. Dorn (Wied. Ann., Bd. 63, p. 160), who measured the heat produced by Röntgen rays falling on a metal plate. This investigation is, however, not complete, as Dorn did not determine the number per second or the duration of the discharges of the Röntgen rays.
On the suggestion of Professor E. Wiedemann (Erlangen), in whose laboratory I have been working, I have tried to investigate this subject; and, although I have not had time to complete my experiments, as I now find I have to return to India much earlier than I expected, I shall describe the methods adopted and the results obtained, in the hope that they may not be without interest.
I first sought to determine in absolute measure the quantity of light produced on a screen of barium platino-cyanide by Röntgen rays. For this purpose I used an optical bank with the barium platino-cyanide screen and the Röntgen lamp at one end, the source of light which I used as a standard of comparison at the other end, and between them a movable photometer. The arrangement of the apparatus is shown in the following diagram.
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- Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1899
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page 433 note * It is clear that, if the emission of light from the screen continued after the Rontgen rays had ceased to fall upon it, we could not use the abovementioned method, as there would be a broadening of the image, owing to this phosphorescence. This would be the case if barium platino-cyanide phosphoresced, e.g., like the uranium salts or Balmain's luminescent paint.
page 435 note * Between the bright images of the tube H, due to the discharges which gave rise to the Röntgen rays in the Röntgen lamp, I observed about half-a-dozen faint images. These became fewer in number as the length of the airspark was decreased, and were probably due to discharges from the walls of the Röntgen lamp.