322 Scientific Intelligence. 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



I Chemistry and Physics. 



1. A Revision of the Atomic Weight of Beryllium: The Analy- 

 sis of Beryllium Chloride. — 0. Honigschmid and L. Birkenbach 

 call attention to the circumstance that the atomic weight of this 

 metal, usually called glucinum in this country, is of much theo- 

 retical interest in connection with the study of the structure of 

 atoms. For instance, according to the idea of Rydberg, as it has 

 the even atomic number 4, its atom should consist of two helium 

 atoms with 8 as its atomic weight, instead of about 9 as now 

 accepted, or it might be composed of two isotopes of the values 



8 to 12. Another view is that the atom is composed of two 

 heliums and one hydrogen, making 9 the value. The fact 

 observed by Strutt that beryl contains appreciable quantities of 

 enclosed helium, indicating radioactive transformation, which is 

 not known to be the case with any other minerals except those 

 containing thorium or uranium, adds interest to the problem of 

 this atomic weight. 



The present investigators have made a very careful analysis of 

 beryllium chloride, using the most refined modern methods and 

 have obtained remarkably closely agreeing, results with an aver- 

 age of 9.018. This is 1% lower than 9.1, the value accepted by 

 the International Committee. The authors have pointed out a 

 very probable source of error in previous determinations where 

 the oxide was weighed in the fact that this powder is capable of 

 absorbing atmospheric air to an appreciable extent. The fact 

 that this atomic weight appears to be so close to the whole number 



9 is of much interest. — Berichte, 55, 4. h. l. w. 



2. Experimental Attempts to Decompose Tungsten at High 

 Temperatures. — Gerald L. Wendt and Clarence B. Irion have 

 considered the circumstances that atomic disintegration by radio- 

 activity has been recognized for 20 years, that this decomposi- 

 tion has been artificially produced recently by Rutherford by the 

 impact of a-p articles on light atoms, that there is astronomical 

 evidence that the heavier atoms do not exist at the temperatures 

 of the hottest stars, and that Anderson, two or three years ago, 

 devised a method of exploding wires at temperatures above 

 20,000°, well above that attributed to the hot stars, a method 

 which has become valuable in spectroscopy. They have, therefore, 

 carried out the explosion of fine tungsten wires within strong 

 glass bulbs, so that the gaseous products of the explosions could 

 be collected for analysis. A powerful electric current, usually 

 of about 30,000 volts, which passed suddenly across a spark-gap, 

 was used to cause the explosions. These were made either in a 

 vacuum, or in carbon dioxide. The greatest precautions were 



