AEPJNUS ATOMIZED. 



847 



Number 

 of 



Electrions. 



• Configuration. 



©' 



r 



a 



a 



— r X work 



required to re- 

 move the elec- 

 trions to infi- 

 nité distance 



= w 



2 



At the ends of a diameter 



. 1 



o 



o 



•5000 



4-500 



3 

 4 



At the corners of an equi- 

 lateral triangle 



At the corners of a square 



1 



1/2 1 

 8 16 



•5774 

 •6208 



9-000 

 14-750 



4 



At the corners of an equi- 

 lateral tetrahedron 



3 / 3 



îêv 2 



•6124 



15-000 



6 



At the corners of an equi- 

 lateral octahedron 



l + 4|/2 

 24 



•6522 



33-335 



8 



At the corners of a cube 





•6756 



52-180 



§ 21. In the configurations thus expressed the equilibrium is certainly 

 stable for the cases of two, three, and four electrions. It seems to me, 

 without calculation, also probably stable for the case of six, and possibly 

 even for the case of eight. For the case of twenty at the corners of a 

 pentagonal dodecahedron the equilibrium is probably not stable; and 

 even for the cases of twelve electrions and ten electrions, the equilibrium 

 in the configurations described in §§ 18, 19 may probably be unstable, 

 when, as now, we have the attraction of the atom towards the centre 

 instead of the inextensible strings. 



§ 22. In fact when the number of electrions exceeds four, we must 

 think of the tendency to be crowded out of one spherical surface, which 

 with very large numbers gives a tendency to uniform distribution 

 throughout the volume of the atom as described in § 16 above. Thus, 

 in the case of five electrions, § 18 shows a configuration of equilibrium 

 in which the two electrions lying in one diameter are, by the mutual 

 repulsions, pushed very slightly further from the centre than are the 

 three in the equatoreal plane. In this case the equilibrium isclearly stable. 

 Another obvious configuration, also stable, of five electrions within an 

 atom is one at the centre, and four on a concentric spherical surface at the 



