When the electrons in the vacuum tube are suddenly brought to a standstill X-rays are given off and in like manner X-rays no doubt would be given off when they start on their journey, providing that they started suddenly enough.
It seems as if the uranium atoms break up first, giving off helium atoms and electrons and leaving an intermediate substance called Ionium which in its turn breaks up giving off the same things again and leaving radium.
These effects are due to the emission of electrons from the metal.
This is explained in electronic theory by the bombardment of the positive electrode by negative electrons or corpuscles of electricity.
I know all this,--but I do not know why the atoms or electrons should exist at all, nor what cause there should be for their constant and often violent state of movement.
We will remember how the Corpuscles or Electrons are thrown off by Substance in a high state of vibration.
Many readers of the magazines have been confused as to the relation between the Corpuscles and the Electrons (or Ions, as some have called the latter.
That will give you an idea of the relative size of the Electrons and Atoms, and the room that the former have to move about in--good many feet between each, you will notice.
Round a central sun, termed a Proton, whirl a number of electrons in rhythmic motion and incessant swing.
Under the influence of the current copper ions travel to the cathode, and there by the gain of two electrons become copper atoms.
Then they are constrained to move in two opposing streams--those which have acquired electrons all move towards the negative electrode, and those which have lost electrons towards the other.
But now they say that it takes 1,740 electrons to make an atom of infinite fineness.
The machine mulled the information over, tossed electrons back and forth, chewed and digested a ream of binary digits, and handed forth a strip of paper printed with an entire set of coordinates in decimal angles.
We have electrons and protons of matter, and photons of light.
Now we know that the mass of protons and electrons will attract other protons and electrons, and hold them near--as in a stone, or in a solar system.
The gravitational attraction of two electrons at the same distance is the forty-thousand-millionth part of this, and so one would think must be entirely negligible.
If ever such a procedure becomes possible, then electrons will thereby be resolved into the general body of the undifferentiated ether of space,--that part which is independent of what we call "matter.
The gravitational attractive force between particles is exceedingly small; and that between two atoms or two electrons is negligibly small, even though they be within molecular distance of each other.
Now when the 6-volt battery current is switched on the filament is heated to brilliancy, and the electrons thrown off by it form a conducting path between it and the plate; the 110 volt current then flows from the latter to the former.
The passage of electrons between the incandescent filament and the cold positively charged plate of a vacuum tube.
The way a simple vacuum tube detector receiving set works is like this: when the filament is heated to brilliancy it gives off electrons as previously described.
We have just learned that when the stream of electrons flow from the hot wire to the cold positive plate in the tube they form a conducting path through which the battery current can flow.
Positive electricity is formed of positive electrons which make up the inside particles of an atom.
Negative electricity is formed of negativeelectrons which make up the outside particles of an atom.
A simple way to do this is to heat a metal to incandescence when the atoms will bombard each other with terrific force and many of the electrons will be knocked off and thrown out into the surrounding space.
In other words a positive ion is an atom that has lost some of its negative electrons while a negative ion is one that has acquired some additional negative electrons.
The beta particles emanating from radium were soon identified with the electrons of the cathode ray.
There must be a perfectly free access for the electrons to pass into and out of the aerial.
A steady flux or drift of electrons in one direction and co-electrons in the opposite direction is a continuous electric current, whilst their mere oscillation about a mean position is an alternating current.
When the aerial wire is statically charged, we may describe it by saying that there is an accumulation of electrons or co-electrons in it.
There is, therefore, an oscillation of electrons in the aerial wire, just as in the case of an organ-pipe there is an oscillation of air molecules in the pipe.
When the discharge takes place, we may consider that electrons rush out of the wire and then rush back again into it.
We may imagine this process to consist in forcing additional electrons into it, the induction coil acting as an electron pump.
We need not stop to speculate on the structure of the atomic core or co-electron, whether it is composed of positive and negative electrons or of something entirely different.
This only means that there must be a perfectly free egress and ingress for the electrons leaving or entering the aerial, so that nothing hinders their access to the conducting surface over which the wave travels.
Nowadays the very qualities of hardness and impenetrability are being ascribed to motion--to the almost inconceivable rapidity of the whirling of electrons within the system of the atom.
The theory of electrons came to the front, and the phenomena of light are being linked on to those of electricity.
If any cause operates to add or remove electrons at one point there is an immediate diffusion of electrons to re-establish equilibrium, and this electronic movement constitutes an electric current.
These negative particles or corpuscles seem to be the ultimate units of negative electricity, and may be identified with the electronsrequired by the theories of H.
In metals the electronscan slip from one atom to the next, since a current can pass without chemical action.
Electric charge consists, therefore, in an excess or deficit of negative electrons in a body.
Atoms of matter are composed of congeries of electrons and the inertia of matter is probably therefore only the inertia of the electromagnetic medium.
Electric waves are produced wherever electrons are accelerated or retarded, that is, whenever the velocity of an electron is changed or accelerated positively or negatively.
The electronic theory of the chemical atom supposes, in fact, that atoms are congeries of electrons in rapid orbital motion.
The operation called an electric current consists in a diffusion or movement of these electrons through matter, and this is controlled by laws of diffusion which are similar to those of the diffusion of liquids or gases.
In gases the electrons sometimes travel alone, but in liquids they are always attached to matter, and their motion involves the movement of chemical atoms or groups of atoms.
The electrons are called units of electricity, and there are perhaps a thousand in an atom.
This central sun is a male or positive electron, and all those revolving about it are females or negative electrons and constitute the harem of the central sun, thus establishing polygamy at the very basis of life.
Besides, we electrons are dependent entirely upon the material atoms for making our work useful to man.
The whole regiment ofelectrons along the line made a forward move.
These stars are great masses of flaming gases, so that the satellite electrons are kept busy dancing attendance to excited atoms.
I have met a very few electrons who have escaped from within an atom, but I shall tell you about them later on.
A few of my fellow-electrons have rather hazy recollections of being disturbed while clinging to a piece of amber.
Therefore if we have electrons revolving round and round the atoms in a piece of iron, there will be a miniature magnetic field around each atom.
The electrons are constantly sending out aether waves, which reach this planet.
You will understand that this to-and-fro motion of the electrons in the line-wire varies according to the vibrations of the sending disc, which is controlled by the speaker's voice.
We shall not refuse, provided man supplies sufficient energy, but I must admit that we electronsprefer the submarine cable.
Every time we electrons in the surrounding wire make a forward move, the electro-magnet pulls down the end of the little lever referred to.
We electrons are at a decided disadvantage, for we are all identical in every respect.
Massless but energetic gamma rays can knock electrons out of neutral atoms in the same fashion as X-rays, leaving them ionized.
The alpha particle, carrying a positive electrical charge, pulls electrons from the atoms through which it passes, while negatively charged beta particles can push electronsout of neutral atoms.
The nuclear fragments of heavy-element fission which are of greatest concern are those radioactive atoms (also called radionuclides) which decay by emitting energetic electrons or gamma particles.
Calorific conductivity is due, in fact, to an exchange of electrons between the hot and the cold regions, the heated electrons having the greater velocity, and consequently the more considerable energy.
This electric flow brings, however, no modification to the material medium traversed, since every electron which disappears at any point is replaced by another which appears at once, and in all metals the electrons are identical.
The atom may be regarded as a sort of solar system in which electrons in considerable numbers gravitate round the sun formed by the positive ion.
It may happen that certain of these electrons are no longer retained in their orbit by the electric attraction of the rest of the atom, and may be projected from it like a small planet or comet which escapes towards the stellar spaces.
Footnote 51: There is much reason for thinking that the canal rays do not contain positive particles alone, but are accompanied by negative electrons of slow velocity.
A metal can, in fact, be electrified, that is to say, may possess an excess of positive or negative electrons which cannot easily leave it in ordinary conditions.
To-day we pass them on to the electronswhich compose these atoms.
In the same way, the movement of electrons may be excited or modified by the electrical forces which exist in any pencil of light they receive, and this pencil may yield up to them a part of the energy it is carrying.
This postulates a nucleus composed of a group of positive units and electrons, with an excess of the positive charges equal to half the atomic weight, with an equal number of electrons circulating about this nucleus in rings.
Some months ago, while they were experimenting upon apparatus for reversing the electrical charges of an atom's electrons and protons, they had first stumbled upon the incredible fact that such a place as Arret really existed.
In Arret the protons were negative, and the electrons positive.
On Earth all atoms are composed of small heavy protons that are always positive in charge, and larger lighter electrons that are always negative.
Since beta particles are electrons and since they come from the nucleus, it seemed to follow that there must be electrons within the nucleus to begin with.
The electric charge of a speeding subatomic particle either repels electrons or attracts them.
It was thought possible that the presence of electrons in a collection of protons might somehow limit the repulsive force and stabilize the nucleus.
If 12 hydrogen nuclei (protons) plus 6 electrons are packed together to form a carbon nucleus, a considerable quantity of energy would have to be given off.
It would wander among the atoms without either attracting or repelling electrons and would therefore leave the atomic structure intact.
Chemical energy was easy to initiate and control, since that involved the shifts ofelectrons on the outskirts of the atoms.
The proton-electron theory seemed to make sense because both protons and electrons were known to exist separately and could be detected.
The electrons were so light, they wouldn’t affect the mass much, and they would succeed in cancelling some of the positive charge.
It seemed reasonable, then, to suppose that a nucleus would contain about half as many electrons in addition to the protons.
In either case, electrons are knocked off atoms that are encountered by the speeding subatomic particle.
Suppose it is wrong to count protons and electrons inside the nucleus as separate particles.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "electrons" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
