Radiation and (lie Structure oj the Atom. 405 



was found that, the component of highest frequency is the 

 stronger if the rays travel against, the electric field, while if 

 it travels in the direction of the field the component of 

 smallest frequency is the stronger (Joe cit. p. 40). This 

 indicates that the components are produced independently 

 of each other — a result to be expected if they correspond to 

 quite different orbits of the electron. That the orbit of the 

 electron in general need not be circular is also very strongly 

 indicated by the observation that the hydrogen lines emitted 

 from positive rays under certain conditions are partly 

 polarized without the presence of a strong external field 

 (Joe. (it. p. 12). This polarization, as well as the observed 

 intensity differences of the two components, would be 

 explained if we can assume that for some reason, when the 

 atom is in rapid motion, there is a greater probability for 

 the orbit of the electron to lie behind the nucleus rather 

 than in front of it. 



§ 3. Spectra emitted from systems containing more than 

 one electron. 



According to Rydberg and Ritz, the frequency of the 

 lines in the ordinary spectrum of an element is given by 



*=/r(7l,)-/.(» 2 ), (11) 



where n x and n 2 are whole numbers and f u / 2 , are a 



series of functions of n which can be expressed hv 



./;(«)= ^<M<0, (12) 



where K is a universal constant and <j> a function which for 

 large values of n approaches unity. The complete spectrum 

 is obtained by combining the numbers n { and w 3 as well as 



the functions /x, / a in every possible way. 



On the present theory, this indicates that the system 

 which emits the spectrum possesses a number of series of 

 stationary states for which the energy in the nth state in the 

 rth series is given by (see IV. p. 511) 



A n>r =C-^ r (n), (13) 



where C is an arbitrary constant, the same for the whole 

 system of stationary states. The first factor in the second 

 term is equal to the expression (5) if N = l. 



In the present state of the theory it is not possible to 

 account in detail for the formula (13), but it was pointed 



