Concerning the production of groups of secondaries by the cosmic radiation

✍ Scribed by J.C. Street; Thomas H. Johnson

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1933
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 202 KB
• Volume: 216
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-0032
• DOI: 10.1016/s0016-0032(33)91148-5

✦ Synopsis

Under the assumption that it is the Li 6 isotope which captures an H ~ nucleus and disintegrates into two a-particles, the process may be indicated as Li 6 + H ~ ~ 2a. If one makes the additional assumption that momentum is conserved, the gain in energy in the reaction is 23.7 X lO 6 e-volts, equivalent to 0.0255 mass units on the 016 scale if Am = zXE/C 2.

Taking Aston's value for the mass of helium and the writer's values for H ~ and Li 6, the mass change is 0.0238 4-0.0004 unit. This measured mass change does not agree satisfactorily with the mass equivalent of the energy change in the disintegration. A more strict comparison must wait on values which include the probable error in the determination of the ranges of the a-particles.