The statistical theory of long-range interactions between adsorbed particles on a plane lattice is worked out approximately, by treating in detail the distribution of adsorbed particles among a few sites inside and on the boundary of a circular region, and regarding the distribution outside the circle as uniform and continuous with a density Kθ per unit area, where K is the number of lattice points per unit area and θ is the fraction of surface covered by adsorbed particles. The continuous distribution begins at a distance ρ from the centre of the circle, ρ being determined by the condition that the probability of occupation of a first shell site is equal to the probability θ of occupation of the central site. Using this method, general formulae for the adsorption isotherm and the heat of adsorption are obtained. Numerical applications for dipole interactions and for quadratic and hexagonal lattices are worked out in detail and the case in which the dipole moment varies with θ is discussed.

In order to be able to identify the type to which an adsorbed film belongs from its experimentally determined behaviour, it is necessary to know theoretically how various simple and general types, which are likely to occur frequently, behave. Films formed on a rectangular solid lattice with another atom at the centre of each rectangle are considered. Each adsorbed molecule is assumed sufficiently large to exclude the possibility of adsorption on the four neighbouring sites and, owing to the rectangular shape of the lattice, reacts appreciably with two and not with four neighbouring adsorbed molecules. The statistics and kinetics of the film are considered. It is shown that the variation of heat of adsorption with fraction of sites occupied is quite different from that of other types of film which have so far been treated. Immobile films of the same type are briefly discussed.

6. Bethe's theory of order and disorder in alloys is generalized so as to include transitions in which the lattice structure changes from cubic to tetragonal. It is shown that, with the assumptions made, there is a discontinuity in the order at the transition temperature and also a latent heat. An expression is derived for the degree of tetragonality as a function of the order.

In the last chapter of his Introduction to statistical mechanics Gibbs introduces the idea of the grand canonical ensemble. He had previously determined the properties of an assembly or a phase containing a given number of systems by averaging the properties of the assembly over an ensemble of examples canonically distributed in phase, keeping the number of systems in the assembly fixed. This means of course constructing what we now call the partition function for the assembly by summing or integrating e−E/kT over the whole of the accessible phase space.

The adsorption of gaseous molecules in a monolayer on solid surfaces has been studied theoretically by several workers, namely Fowler, Peierls and Wang. They have shown that the adsorption isotherm exhibits critical phenomena if there is assumed to be an attractive force between the neighbouring adsorbed molecules, and this has provided an explanation of the critical condensation phenomena observed in deposition experiments, for example those of Cockcroft on the deposition of cadmium on copper. The actual critical phenomena observed consist in the deposition of many layers which are formed if the first layer has fairly started. It is of interest, therefore, to consider if there are other ways in which critical phenomena can arise than through interactions in the first layer. The general problem of adsorption of an arbitrary number of layers is too complicated to study because of the mathematical difficulty in constructing the partition function. We therefore confine ourselves to the consideration of adsorption in two layers only.

The negative coefficient of thermal expansion of He ii is shown to be a consequence of the disordering process which takes place as the temperature rises. The conclusion is reached that the thermal energy of He ii is mainly energy of disorder; the vibrational energy of the sound waves amounts only to a few per cent of the whole energy. A theory of heat conduction considered as a flow of disorder is put forward and is shown to be not incompatible with the experimental data at present available.

Considerable progress has been made recently in the study of the adsorption of gaseous molecules in a monolayer on a solid surface, when the molecules are attached to fixed locations on that surface and allowance is made for interaction between the adsorbed molecules. It has been shown in particular that, if there is an attractive field between two adsorbed molecules so that two adsorbed molecules in neighbouring locations are more tightly bound than when they are adsorbed separately at a distance, the adsorption isotherm shows critical phenomena. This feature of the isotherm may be used to give a generally successful interpretation of the well-known critical condensation phenomena discussed first in this manner by Langmuir and Frenkel. A recent example of experiments on this phenomenon is to be found in the work of Cockcroft on the deposition of cadmium on copper. The work of Peierls, who uses Bethe's method for approximating to the partition function for the adsorbed layer, shows in the most convincing way how interactions between neighbours in the single layer lead to critical phenomena for the degree of completion of the layer.

The present discussion of the conduction levels of copper and silver was undertaken in view of the experimental investigations of the absorption and emission bands of metals, in the soft X-ray region, which have been carried out in this laboratory and elsewhere*. It is a well-known result of the electron theory of metals that, for cubic crystals, of lattice constant a, if k is the wave vector of an electron moving in the crystal lattice, there are discontinuities in the energy E of the electron for values of k such that

(n1, n2, n3) being the Miller indices of the planes for which Bragg reflexion of the electron waves takes place. If we draw the energy E as a function of k for a particular direction in the lattice, then we obtain, using the usual notation, curves such as those shown in fig. 1, d being the half-distance between the corresponding planes for which Bragg reflexion takes place.

The essential difference between mobile and immobile adsorbed films of gases on solids when there is repulsive interaction between adsorbed particles is discussed. Ordinary statistical methods can be applied to the equilibrium configurations of the particles in a mobile film but not to immobile films. Films formed by the adsorption of diatomic molecules with dissociation are then considered. It is pointed out that for a mobile (equilibrium) film there are differences between the true heat of adsorption and the apparent heat obtained from the temperature variation of the evaporation rate. A detailed comparison is made by obtaining a formula for the apparent heat of evaporation and comparing it with that for the true heat obtained earlier by Wang, and the physical reasons for the differences are discussed. A model suitable for studying the pseudo-equilibrium states in immobile films is described and formulae and diagrams in connexion with the kinetics of the formation of such films and the variation of heat of adsorption with fraction of surface covered are given.

A detailed account is given of an absorption method, using the β-radiation of radium E as a standard of comparison, by which the maximum energy and some indication of the form of the energy spectrum of the β-particles from any other radioelement may be obtained. The method is applicable alike to weak sources and to sources of finite thickness and is designed to yield the largest amount of information under such limitations. Experimental results with sources of UX2, Na24, Ag106 and P32 are treated by the method described. A modified empirical range-energy relation is given.

A three-filament mechanism is described which will enable multimolecular films to be studied by the method of contact potentials and this method is applied to the study of the evaporation of sodium films of various thickness from one to twenty layers. It is shown that the vapour pressure and heat of evaporation both increase as the thickness increases from one to three layers and thereafter become practically independent of any further increase in the film thickness. The vapour pressure for a thickness of four layers is within experimental error the same as that for bulk sodium.

A difficulty due to the effect of the evaporating stream of atoms annulling the space charge around the emitter filament is discussed, and attempts are made to use this effect to measure the rate of evaporation at temperatures from 500° K. to 825°K.

The conductivity of thin films of the alkali metals has recently been measured in the H. W. Wills Physical Laboratory, Bristol*. It was found that as the thickness of the film is decreased to that of a few atomic layers the conductivity drops below that of the bulk metal. In the papers quoted the hypothesis was put forward that this effect is due to the shortening of the mean free paths of the conduction electrons of the metal by collisions with the boundaries of the film. The experimental results were compared with a formula derived on the basis of this hypothesis. This formula was, however, obtained subject to a number of simplifying assumptions, and it is the first purpose of this paper to obtain a more accurate formula. I also compare this formula with experiment, and make certain deductions about the surfaces of thin films.

It is shown that the soft X-ray emission bands from Be and A1, present in small quantities in solid solution in Cu and A1, have a form without a sharp highenergy edge, the feature most characteristic of these bands in pure metals. The diffuse form of the bands indicates (1) that all the valence electrons of the impurity atom are given up to the lattice, (2) that the impurity atom refuses to take within it those electrons of the lattice which have energies close to the maximum energy of the conduction electrons.

It is shown that a long-lived radioactive cobalt isotope, which had been previously obtained by Livingood and Seaborg by bombardment of cobalt with slow neutrons, can be produced by irradiation of nickel with fast neutrons.

The rates of condensation and evaporation of adsorbed particles when they interact with long-range forces are deduced from kinetic considerations, including also the case of adsorption of diatomic molecules with dissociation. The rate of evaporation is compared with experiment, and the variation of the dipole moment with θ required to make the theory agree with experiment is discussed.

Finally the formulae for the rates of condensation and evaporation are applied to the problem of the diffusion of gases through metals, and it is found that for the processes considered the effect of interaction does not alter the conclusion arrived at in an earlier paper concerning the diffusion equation at small p and at large p.

The paper is concerned with the influence on the effects produced by slow neutrons, of the temperature of the medium in which they are slowed down, attention being focussed on those neutrons which pass freely through cadmium. Results obtained by Arsenjewa-Heil, Heil and Westcott (10) had appeared to show that the groups A and B responsible for activating silver had energies low enough to be affected by temperature. In the present work, a confirmation of the change for group B has been obtained, and a similar effect has been observed with a boron detector. It is suggested that the explanation of the results is that cadmium transmits neutrons of energies down to about 0·2 e. V., and that “group B” is inhomogeneous. During the course of the work, a study of the conditions under which reproducible results could be obtained was undertaken.

Actinium emanation was introduced into a cloud chamber for the purpose of making a study of the secondary β-rays. The energies were in agreement with those given by Surugue using the magnetic spectrum method, except that his strong line at 105 kV. was absent. By comparing the numbers of β-rays with the relative intensities of the groups of α-particles, measured by Rosenblum, it was found that the internal conversion coefficients were in general agreement with previous experimental values in the same region of energy. Tracks of Auger electrons associated with the secondary β-rays were found in the photographs. In general, the results from the cloud chamber method agreed with accepted theories and confirmed the results obtained by other methods.

The absorption limits for the primary β-particles of mesothorium 2 and uranium X2 have been determined using modified tube counters of various types. Results in good agreement with previous single determinations with gold-leaf electroscopes, and at variance with deductions from expansion chamber observations, show the need for caution in fixing limiting energies in β disintegrations from measurements on a relatively small number of tracks.

When the approximate methods of Bragg and Williams or Bethe are used in theoretical work on cooperative phenomena it is customary to suppose that only the configurational energy of the assembly depends on the molecular arrangement; the contribution which a molecule makes to the partition function, apart from its share in this configurational energy, is supposed to be independent of the positions of the other molecules.

The absorption curve for cosmic-ray shower particles has been observed in lead and iron with a counter arrangement. Since the observed curves are in good agreement with the absorption curve of cosmic ray electrons calculated by Heitler, it has been concluded that nearly all the showers are of the cascade type.

Observations of Schmeisser and Bothe which have previously been interpreted as giving experimental evidence for the occurrence of penetrating particles in showers are not in contradiction with the observations given here, so that they also must be interpreted in terms of energetic electron cascades.