Abstract
THE shift, recently discovered by A. H. Compton, in the spectral lines due to the scattering process, or rather the explanation of the shift proposed (Phys. Rev. p. 483, vol. 21, No. 5, May 1923) by Compton on the basis of the scattering of one quantum by one electron, furnishes considerable support for a corpuscular theory of radiation. On the basis of a corpuscular theory, an effect, recently discovered by the present writer (NATURE, September 8, 1923) takes on a new significance. The effect was discovered by taking photographs by Wilson's cloud expansion method, of the tracks of photo-electrons ejected by plane polarised X-rays. Such photographs bring out the fact that most of the photo-electrons are ejected nearly parallel to the electric force of the radiation. Variations in direction of ejection on all sides of the electric force may be accounted for by the initial momentum of the electron in its atomic orbit.
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BUBB, F. The Vector Quantum. Nature 113, 237 (1924). https://doi.org/10.1038/113237a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/113237a0
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