53. Methods of Measurement. Three general methods have been employed for examination of the radiations from radio-active bodies, depending on
The third method is very restricted in its application, and can only be employed for intensely active substances like radium or polonium.
The photographic method has been used very widely, especially in the earlier development of the subject, but has gradually been displaced by the electrical method, as a quantitative determination of the radiations became more and more necessary. In certain directions, however, it possesses distinct advantages over the electrical method. For example, it has proved a very valuable means of investigating the curvature of the path of the rays, when deflected by a magnetic or electric field, and has allowed us to determine the constants of these rays with considerable accuracy.
On the other hand, as a general method of study of the radiations, it is open to many objections. A day’s exposure is generally required to produce an appreciable darkening of the sensitive film when exposed to a weak source of radiation like uranium and thorium. It cannot, in consequence, be employed to investigate the radiations of those active products which rapidly lose their activity. Moreover, W. J. Russell has shown that the darkening of a photographic plate can be produced by many agents which do not give out rays like those of the radio-active bodies. This darkening of the plate is produced under the most varied conditions, and very special precautions are necessary when long exposures to a weak source of radiation are required.
The main objection to the photographic method, however, lies in the fact that the radiations which produce the strongest electrical effect are very weak photographically. For example, Soddy1 has shown that the photographic action of uranium is due almost entirely to the more penetrating rays, and that the easily absorbed rays produce in comparison very little effect. Speaking generally, the penetrating rays are the most active photographically, and, under ordinary conditions, the action on the plate is almost entirely due to them.
Most of the energy radiated from active bodies is in the form of easily absorbed rays which are comparatively inactive photographically. These rays are difficult to study by the photographic method, as the layer of black paper which, in many cases, is required in order to absorb the phosphorescent light from active substances, cuts off at the same time most of the rays under examination. These easily absorbed rays will be shown to play a far more important part in the processes occurring in radio-active bodies than the penetrating rays which are more active photographically.
The electrical method, on the other hand, offers a rapid and accurate method of quantitatively examining the radiations. It can be used as a means of measurement of all the types of radiation emitted, excluding light waves, and is capable of accurate measurement over an extremely wide range. With proper precautions it can be used to measure effects produced by radiations of extremely small intensity.