Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T22:57:21.431Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

XXIII.—The Number of the Elements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2012

N. Feather
N. Feather
Affiliation:
Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The development of the idea of the chemical element is traced from its early beginnings, and the importance for this development of the Newtonian concept of invariable mass is emphasised. The emergence of the nuclear atom model is outlined, and the discovery of the complex (isotopic) nature of the majority of known chemical elements is described. Nuclear charge (Z) and mass (A) numbers are defined. Previously recognised regularities concerning mass and charge numbers of existing stable species are shown to have exact counterparts in regularities relating to the degree of instability (as measured by the energy of disintegration) of β-active species (“naturally” and “artificially” radioactive species). Naturally occurring a-active species are regarded as the analogues of the stable species for charge numbers greater than 83, and for charge numbers both greater and less than this value the limitation to the number of stable or quasi-stable isotopes of a given element (limitation of A values for a given Z) is established as essentially a question of nuclear stability as against β-emission (positive and negative electron emission). Finally, reasons are given for supposing that the number of possible chemical elements is limited (limitation to Z in the direction of Z increasing) by the susceptibility to spontaneous nuclear fission of species of sufficiently high nuclear charge.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Section A: Mathematics , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , 1946 , pp. 211 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1946

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES TO LITERATURE

For the earlier history see articles “Atom” (Neville, F. H.), “Element” (Ostwald, W.) and “Matter” (Thomson, J. J.), Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition, 1910–1911), II, 870, IX, 253 and xvil, 891.Google Scholar
Aston, F. W., 1919. “A positive-ray spectrograph,” Phil. Mag., XXXVIII, 707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barkla, C. G., 1906. “Secondary Röntgen radiation,” Phil. Mag., XI, 812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berthelot, A., 1942. “Énergies et périodes des désintégrations a, I et II,” Journ. Physique, III, 17 and 52.Google Scholar
Bohr, N. 1913. “On the constitution of atoms and molecules, I, II and III,” Phil. Mag., XXVI, I, 476 and 857.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chadwick, J., 1932. “Possible existence of a neutron,” Nature, cxxix, 312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curie, I., and Joliot, F., 1934. “Un nouveau type de radioactivité,” Comptes rendus Acad. Set., Paris, CXCVIII, 254.Google Scholar
Flint, H. T., 1932. “The uncertainty principle in modern physics,” Nature, CXXIX, 746.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frisch, O. R., 1939. “Physical evidence for the division of heavy nuclei under neutron bombardment,” Nature, CXLIll, 276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuchs, K., 1939. “On the stability of nuclei against β-emission,” Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., XXXV, 242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamow, G., 1929. “Discussion on the structure of atomic nuclei” (p. 386), Proc. Roy. Soc., A, CXXIII, 373.Google Scholar
Geiger, H., and Marsden, E., 1909. “On a diffuse reflection of the a-particles,” Proc. Roy. Soc., A, LXXXII, 495.Google Scholar
Hahn, O., and Strassmann, F., 1939. “Über den Nachweis und das Verhalten der bei der Bestrahlung des Urans mittels neutronen entstehenden Erdalkalimetaille,” Naturwiss., XXVII, 11,CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaye, G. W. C., 1909. “The emission and transmission of Rontgen rays,” Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., CCIX, 123.Google Scholar
Meitner, L., and Frisch, O. R., 1939. “Disintegration of uranium by neutrons: a new type of nuclear reaction,” Nature, CXLIII, 239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moseley, H. G. J., 1913. “The high frequency spectra of the elements, I,” Phil. Mag., XXVI, 1024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moseley, H. G. J., 1914. “The high frequency spectra of the elements, II,” Phil. Mag., XXVII, 703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrzhak, I. S., and Flerov, G. N., 1940. “Spontaneous fission of uranium,” Journ. Physics, U.S.S.R., III, 275.Google Scholar
Rutherford, E., 1911. “The scattering of α and β-particles by matter and the structure of the atom,” Phil. Mag., XXI, 669.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soddy, F., 1917. “Complexity of the chemical elements,” Proc. Roy. Inst., XXII, 117.Google Scholar
Thomson, J. J., 1913. “Rays of positive electricity” (Bakerian Lecture), Proc. Roy. Soc., A, LXXXIX, 1.Google Scholar