Residual Ionization in Gases. 427 



as well. The natural ionization in the laboratory in hydrogen 

 prepared in this manner, however, was 1'6 ions per c.c. per 

 second, which is very close to 1'90 ions per c.c. per second, 

 the value found with hydrogen prepared by the action of 

 sulphuric acid on zinc. It would seem therefore that in 

 acetylene we have an ionization where the atoms or mole- 

 cules of the gas are being broken up into portions oppositely 

 charged, and that this process goes on naturally without the 

 assistance of an agency such as alpha, beta, or gamma rays. 

 It should be added that, although the argument presented in 

 this paper precludes the possibility of the residual ionization 

 in air being due to collisions between molecules in thermal 

 agitation, it does not exclude this agency in the case of 

 acetylene. The ionization in acetylene may then be due 

 either to molecular collisions or to a spontaneous breaking 

 up of the atoms or molecules of the gas, but to decide 

 between these two hypotheses additional experiments will 

 have to be made. 



V. Summary of Results, 



(1) From experiments made on the ice on Lake Ontario 

 it would appear that the residual ionization observed in air, 

 carbon dioxide, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, and ethylene is not 

 spontaneous, even in part, but is due to a radiation emitted 

 by the zinc walls of the electrometer which consists of 

 rays of the alpha and beta and possibly of the gamma 



tyP e - 



(2) The residual ionization in acetylene lias been shown 



to be exceptionally high, 21 ions per c.c. per second, and 

 evidence has been adduced which goes to show that this 

 ionization cannot be wholly due to a radiation of the alpha, 

 beta, or gamma type, but that it must to a considerable 

 extent be due either to molecular collisions or to a spon- 

 taneous disruption of the atoms or molecules which 

 constitute the gas. 



The Physical Laboratory, 

 University of Toronto. 

 Mav 1,1915. 



