Artificial disintegration by radium C' α-particles-aluminium and magnesium

Abstract

A study of the protons emitted from certain elements when bombarded by α-particles has yielded valuable information on the structure of the atomic nuclei of light elements. The development of electrical counters for α-particles and protons has provided a method by which the emitted protons can be analysed in a more detailed manner than was possible by the scintillation method. These electrical methods have been applied to the examination of the protons emitted from many elements when bombarded by α-particles. For several elements the absorption curve of these protons reveals the presence of a number of discrete groups of protons each ending at a definite range. It is a found that an α-particle of given energy may give rise to one or more groups of protons, each group corresponding to a transmutation process in which a definite amount of nuclear energy is either absorbed or released. It also appears that α-particles of all energies are not equally effective in producing protons, since the energies of the α-particles which produce protons fall into definite discrete groups. The experimental evidence so far obtained has been co-ordinated by adopting the picture of the nucleus shown in fig. 1.