THE PHILIPPINE 



Journal of Science 



A, Chemical and Geological Sciences 

 AND THE Industries 



Vol. XIII MARCH, 1918 No. 2 



THE RADIUM CONTENT OF WATER FROM THE CHINA SEA* 



By J. R. Wright ' and G. W. Heise 

 {From the Bureau of Science, Manila) 



TWO TEXT FIGURES 



The importance of accurate determinations of the radiu: 

 content of sea water in different parts of the world is just begin- 

 ning to be fully appreciated. A knowledge of the radium 

 content of the waters of the sea is necessary in a study of such 

 distantly related problems as geological processes and the ioniza- 

 tion of the atmosphere with all the consequent questions, such 

 as cloud formation, atmospheric electricity, and transmission of 

 electromagnetic waves around the earth's surface. 



Determinations of the radium content of sea water have been 

 made by several investigators, but the determinations have been 

 for the most part limited to the Atlantic Ocean or to the Pacific 

 Ocean in the immediate neighborhood of South America. This 

 is the first record of a determination of the radium content of 

 the water of the China Sea in the vicinity of the Philippines. 

 Throughout this discussion, unless otherwise specified, all results 

 will be expressed in grams x 10'^ per liter of water. 



The first attempt to obtain an idea of the amount of radium 

 contained in sea water was made by Strutt,- who determined 

 the radium content of a sample of sea salt. His result reduced 



* Received for publication October 22, 1917. 

 ' Professor of physics, University of the Philippines. 

 ' On the distribution of radium in the earth's crust, Proc. Roy. Soc. 

 London, A (1907), 78, 150-153. 



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