NO. II 



STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM PARSON 



47 



magneton numbers to give a curve of gaseous atomic volumes as 

 shown below, a much more striking relation is brought out. In- 



a 



\Te 



4&GQ- 



Zn 



\ Se 



As* 



i 



,v 



Xe 



, N N° 



fKr 



u 



»y ¥*e 



complete as this curve is, it may be seen that its maxima correspond 

 closely to the minima of the ordinary atomic volumes curve. It is 

 true that the n — I relation holds in strictness for monatomic gases 

 only, but if O, N, P, S, etc., could be obtained in the monatomic state, 

 their values for /x—i would almost certainly be even higher than they 

 are here, for the atoms in a polyatomic molecule must be somewhat 

 compressed. 



It seems then that the presence of a large number of valence 

 magnetons, which we have held responsible for the abnormally low 

 atomic volumes of some solid elements, is accompanied by an abnor- 

 mally high atomic volume in the case of gaseous elements. This 

 result, remarkable as it may seem at first, is not at all out of harmony 

 with the present assumptions : indeed, the curve of gaseous atomic 

 volumes is easier to explain than the other. 



We saw in §7 that the extent of the compression of the positive 

 sphere depended in part upon the magnetic attractions between the 

 magnetons. Now when an atom contains valence magnetons («. e., 



