Abstract
IN order to explain the observed relation between the number of condensation nuclei in atmospheric air and the ionization, an equilibrium equation was proposed1 of the type q = an + bnZ, where q is the rate of production of ion–pairs per cm., n and Z the concentrations of small ions (of one sign) and nuclei, and a and b are constants for any given conditions. This implies that, in atmospheric air, the rate of loss of ions by recombination among themselves is proportional to n and not to n2. It was suggested that, where a volume of air is traversed at any time by only a few ionizing particles, the rate of loss of ions from the space by recombination is proportional to the number of ion tracks and hence approximately to n.
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Nolan, J. J., Proc. Royal Irish Acad., 46, 77 (1940).
Power, A. D., J. Frank. Inst., 96, 327 (1923).
Sayers, J., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 169, 83 (1938).
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NOLAN, P. The Recombination Law for Weak Ionization. Nature 148, 26 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/148026a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/148026a0
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