Page:Radio-active substances.djvu/20

The thickness of the layer of the uranium compound used has little effect, provided that the layer is uniform. The following illustrate this point:—

	Thickness of layer. M.m.		⁠	$i\times 10^{11.}$
Uranium oxide ...	...	0·5		2·7
⁠"⁠"⁠...	...	3·0		3·0
Ammonium uranate	...	0·5		1·3
⁠"⁠"	...	3·0		1·4

It may be concluded from this that the absorption of uranium rays by the substance which generates them is very great, since the rays proceeding from deep layers produce no significant effect.

The figures I obtained with thorium compounds enable me to state:—

Firstly, that the thickness of the layer used has considerable effect, especially in the case of the oxide.

Secondly, that the action is only regular if a sufficiently thin layer is used (e.g. 0·25 m.m.). On the contrary, when a thick layer of the substance is used (6 m.m.), the figures obtained vary between two extreme limits, especially in the case of the oxide:—

	Thickness of layer. M.m.		⁠	$i\times 10^{11.}$
Thorium oxide ...	...	0·25		2·2
⁠"⁠"⁠...	...	0·5		2·5
⁠"⁠"⁠...	...	2·5		4·7
⁠"⁠"⁠...	...	3·0		5·5 (mean)
⁠"⁠"⁠...	...	6·0		5·5 ⁠"
Thorium sulphate ...	...	0·25		0·8 ⁠"

There is here some cause of irregularities which do not exist in the case of the uranium compounds. The figures obtained for a layer of oxide 6 m.m. thick varied between 3·7 and 7·3.

The experiments that I made on the absorption of uranium and thorium rays showed that those of thorium are more penetrating than those of uranium, and that the rays emitted by the oxide of thorium in a thick layer are more penetrating than those emitted by a thin layer of the same. The following figures (p. 13) give the fraction of the radiation transmitted by a sheet of aluminium 0·01 thick.

With the uranium compounds, the absorption is the same whatever be the compound used, which leads to the conclusion that the rays emitted by the different compounds are of the same nature.