252 RATIO O : 1 6. 



But we have not time nor space to enter upon that subject 

 now. 



Morley's Ratio 0:16. 



Let us divide the actual weight found for a liter of oxy- 

 gen by 16, the standard atomic weight of oxygen; the 

 quotient will be the weight of our liter of oxygen per unit of 

 atomic weight. 



This weight must 'be compared to the weight actually 

 found by Morley for a liter of hydrogen, 

 i Liter of: Oxygen. -^ Oxygen. Hydrogen. Excess. 

 Lowest, 1428.3 89.27 89.78 0.51 



Mean, 1429.0 89.31 89.91 0.60 



Highest, 1429.6 89.35 90.14 0.79 



All weights in milligrammes. 



We see that hydrogen, according to Morley's weighing, 

 exceeds the sixteenth part of the weight of oxygen by from 

 0.5 to 0.8 a milligramme per liter. 



It is not constant, this excess, because the actual uncer- 

 tainty in the weight of hydrogen is one in 250 and of oxygen 

 one in noo only; that is, oxygen is weighed with 4 to 5 

 times the precision attained for hydrogen. 



The data given in our table (p. 251), plainly show that 

 the uncertainty for hydrogen is a little less than one-half of 

 one per cent, while for oxygen it is less than one-tenth of 

 one per cent. 



Accordingly we might well accept the sixteenth of the 

 weight of oxygen as a more reliable determination than the 

 directly weighed hydrogen. 



As a matter of fact, Morley left an uncertainty of 0.36 

 mgr or over ^ of one milligramme in the weight of one liter 

 of hydrogen. 



This is but a very little less than the actual difference 

 between the weight of a liter of hydrogen and the one-six- 

 teenth of the weight of a liter of oxygen. 



Compare General Chemistry, 1897, p. 378. 



Can these results of Morley be taken as positive experi- 

 mental demonstration that O : H is not 16:1? 



When Lord Rayleigh found " atmospheric " nitrogen a 



