Evolution of Heat by the Salts of Radium.
MM. Curie and Laborde have recently discovered that the salts of radium are the source of a spontaneous and continuous evolution of heat. This evolution has the effect of keeping the salts of radium at a temperature higher than that of their surroundings; an excess of temperature of 1·5° has been observed. This excess of temperature is dependent upon the thermal insulation of the body. MM. Curie and Laborde have determined the amount of heat produced in the case of radium. They found that the output is of the order of magnitude of 100 calories per grm. of radium per hour. One grm.-atom (225 grm.) of radium give rise in one hour to 22,500 cal., a quantity of heat comparable to that produced by the combustion of 1 grm.-atom (1 grm.) of hydrogen. So great an evolution of heat can be explained by no ordinary chemical reaction, more particularly as the condition of the radium remains unaffected for years. The evolution of heat might be attributed to a slow transformation of the radium atom. If this were the case, we should be led to conclude that the quantities of energy generated during the formation and transformation of the atoms are considerable, and that they exceed all that is so far known.
Chemical Effects produced by the New Radio-active Bodies.
Colourations.—The radiations of strongly radio-active bodies are capable of causing certain chemical reactions. The rays emitted by radium products exercise colouring actions upon glass and porcelain.
The colouration of glass, generally brown or violet, is very deep; it is produced in the body of the glass, and remains after removal of the radium. All glasses become coloured after a longer or a shorter interval of time, and the presence of lead is not essential. This fact may be compared to that recently observed of the colouration of the glass of vacuum tubes, after having been long in use for the production of Röntgen rays.
M. Giesel has demonstrated that the crystallised halogen salts of the alkali metals become coloured under the influence of radium, as under the action of cathode rays. M. Giesel points out that similar colourations are obtained when the salts of the alkalis are exposed to sodium vapour.
I investigated the colouration of a collection of glasses of known composition, kindly lent me for the occasion by M. Le Chatelier. I observed no great variety in the colouration. It is generally brown, violet, yellow, or grey.
