Abstract
FOR many months past we have been engaged in preparing a large quantity of argon from atmospheric air by absorbg the oxygen with red-hot copper, and the nitrogen with magnesium. The amount we have at our disposal is some 18 litres. It will be remembered that one of us, in conjunction with Dr. Norman Collie, attempted to separate argon into light and heavy portions by means of diffusion, and, although there was a slight difference2 in density between the light and the heavy portions, yet we thought the difference too slight to warrant the conclusion that argon is a composite substance. But our experience with helium taught us that it is a matter of the greatest difficulty to separate a very small portion of a heavy gas from a large admixture of a light gas; and it therefore appeared advisable to re-investigate argon, with the view of ascertaining whether it is indeed complex.
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References
Density of lighter portion, 19.93; of heavier portion, 20.01 (Roy. Soc. Proc., vol. 60, p. 206).
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Companions of Argon1. Nature 58, 182–183 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/058182a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/058182a0