in detail by C. T. R. Wilson in the following way. X rays were made to pass in a narrow beam on either side of a plate AB (Fig. 7) dividing the condensation vessel into two equal parts. The opposite poles of a battery of cells were connected with two parallel plates C and D , placed symmetrically with regard to A . The middle point of the battery and the plate A were connected with earth. If the plate C is positively charged, the ions in the space CA at a short distance from A are all negative in sign. Those to the right are all positive. It was found that condensation occurred only for the negative ions in AC when v 2 / v 1 = 1·25 but did not occur in AD for the positive ions until v 2 / v 1 = 1·31.
Thus the negative acts more readily than the positive ion as a centre of condensation. The greater effect of the negative ion in causing condensation has been suggested as an explanation of the positive charge always observed in the upper atmosphere. The negative ions under certain conditions become centres for the formation of small drops of water and are removed to the earth by the action of gravity, while the positive ions remain suspended.
With the apparatus described above, it has been shown that the positive and negative ions are equal in number. If the expansion is large enough to ensure condensation on both ions, the drops formed on the right and left of the vessel in Fig. 7 are equal in number and fall at the same rate, i.e. are equal in size.
Since the ions are produced in equal numbers from a gas electrically neutral, this experiment shows that the charges on positive and negative ions are equal in value but opposite in sign.
36. Charge carried by an ion. For a known sudden expansion of a gas saturated with water vapour, the amount of water precipitated on the ions can be calculated readily. The size of the drops can be determined by observing the rate at which the cloud settles under the action of gravity. From Stokes’ equation, the terminal velocity u of a small sphere of radius r and density d falling through a gas of which the coefficient of viscosity is μ is given by
where g is