608 Research Staff of the G. E. C, London, on the 



these actions results in the production of! some compounds 

 of the carbon and oxygen, which are solid and are deposited 

 on the walls or electrodes ; it may be the formation of 

 carbides and oxides of the metals of the electrodes, or it may 

 be the formation of the compound WCO which Langmuir 

 has detected. And this action again is accompanied by its 

 reverse. The ultimate result of this complex of reversible 

 reactions will depend, according to the accepted doctrines of 

 chemical theory, upon which of the products of the reaction 

 is being removed from the scene of action. If C0 2 is con- 

 tinually being removed by access to a cooled tube, then the 

 action in which C0 2 is involved will proceed to completion 

 in one direction, and all the carbon monoxide will ultimately 

 be converted into C0 2 . If it is not removed, then, since the 

 equilibrium concentration of C0 2 is very small, no appreciable 

 amount of the monoxide is converted into the dioxide. On 

 the other hand, the equilibrium concentration of the solid 

 products is greater, and much of the gas is converted into 

 them ; but since they are not effectively removed from the 

 scene of action, but remain on the walls and electrodes, 

 where they are still influenced by the discharge, the pro- 

 duction of these products does not proceed beyond the 

 equilibrium concentration ; and if the removal of C0 2 is 

 resumed, these products are decomposed once more and the 

 ultimate complete conversion into C0 2 is again attained. 



Nor is there anything extravagant in supposing that such 

 reversible reactions are proceeding concurrently ; for the 

 evidence of positive ray analysis has shown that, when a 

 molecule is ionized, there are usually or always produced 

 free atoms of all the elements contained in it, bearing 

 electrical charges of both signs. Accordingly in an ionized 

 gas there are always present positively and negatively 

 -charged atoms of all the elements on the scene of action. 

 In these circumstances it is only reasonable to suppose that 

 there will be formed in some quantity any chemical com- 

 pound that can be formed from any grouping of those 

 elements ; some of the compounds may be formed in very 

 small amount, and all of them, like the original compounds, 

 will be broken up again after a short life. But this is 

 precisely what is asserted when it is said that several 

 reversible reactions are proceeding in the gas. If the 

 discharge, when accompanied by any appreciable ionization 

 of the gas, produces any chemical changes whatever, the 

 changes that are produced would be expected to he precisely 

 of the nature that is necessary to explain the observations 

 which have been described. 



