﻿312 Dr. A. C. (Jrehore on the 



The distance 10" 

 order of atomic dimensions. This seems unfortunate, be- 

 cause it implies that this is the approximate size of atoms. 

 This distance, obtained from the kinetic theory of gases, 

 means that the atoms in collision approach each other to 

 within about this average distance before rebounding, thus 

 behaving as though they are of this size. On the present 

 conception of atoms, it is the magnetic and electric fields 

 accompanying and surrouncUng them which determine this 

 distance of rebound, and in one sense this is the effective 

 size of the atom. In another and more rational sense, the 

 size of the atom is determined by the size of the orbits of 

 the electrons composing it, and in this theory of the atom 

 these are of the order of 10" 12 cm., from one to ten thousand 

 times smaller than the so-called atomic dimensions. 



It will aid in the discussion to point out the characteristic 

 features of this corpuscular-ring gyroscopic theory of the 

 atom, not only because th^ small absolute dimensions of the 

 atom have altered the whole case, but because the ascendency 

 of the central nucleus theory has deterred many from serious 

 consideration of another form of atom. The small magnitm e 

 of the electron orbits alters the case again, because the 

 electron, with a radius ot the order of 10~ 13 cm , is not of 

 a negligible size compared w T ith the distances between 

 electrons in the same atom. Even if the law of repulsion 

 between them is the same as for electric charges as we know 

 them in the gross, there is no reason for applying the inverse 

 square law of repul-ion to the electrons within the atom, 

 which at such distances does not hold for two charged 

 spheres. The law of repulsion may not be different for 

 single electrons and for aggregates of them, but in dis- 

 carding the inverse square law the equilibrium figures 

 originally calculated by Thomson using this law are greatly 

 modified. 



In this theory, the volume of the positive electricity is 

 supposed to increase by a fixed amount with the addition of 

 each electron. This fixed increment in volume is the volume 

 of the smallest positive portion, or unit of electricity, having 

 a charge equal to and a volume larger than the electron. 

 It may be called the* positive electron. The volume of this 

 elementary positive unit may be found by dividing the 

 volume of the positive electricity of any neutral atom by the 

 number of electrons it contains. There is just the same 

 difficulty here connected with the positive electricity as there 

 is in the central nucleus atom referred to in regard to the 

 amalgamation of the different positive electrons, and no 



