A CONTINUOUS RECORD OF ATMOSPHERIC NUCLEATION. 



25 



nuclei, particularly when considered in parallel with the corresponding case of 

 phosphorus. The contrast would be even more striking if the water nuclei 

 could be tested immediately after production. Several inferences are thus 

 suggested: either the charge of each nucleus is many electrons, or nuclei are 

 lost at the outset at a rapid rate (this is disproved by experiment), or each 

 nucleus emits many electrons. 



lo. Evanescence of the charges of water nuclei. — ^The same remarkable con- 

 trast between the initial charges and the subsequent charges on the nuclei that 

 has been already pointed out for phosphorus will now be observed, if only a 

 little time is allowed to intervene. Table 6 refers to nuclei produced in the 

 receiver, A, figure i, by allowing the accumulating water to run off by the 

 cock, k. They were then conveyed to the condenser, C, about 5 or 10 minutes 

 later, by aid of the Mariotte flask, M. The conduction is enormously reduced, 

 though for positive charges in the condenser it is greater than for negative 

 charges, showing that an excess of negative nuclei has persisted. 



TABLE 6.— IONIZATION OF WATER NUCLEI AFTER 5 MIN. 



-S (log5)/S/. 



In table 7 the data refer to nuclei which were left in the vessel A for about 

 one hour after they were produced. The original ionization has all btit 



TABLE 7.— IONIZATION OF WATER NUCLEI AFTER i HOUR. a = S (log.^)/S/. 



