Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Effect of Gaseous Impurities on the First Townsend Coefficient in Hydrogen

Abstract

SEVERAL experimental determinations of α/p0 (ionizations/cm./mm. mercury at 0° C.) as a function of E/p0 (volts/cm./mm. mercury at 0° C.) have been made recently1–4 in hydrogen under conditions of uniform static electric fields. These recent determinations agree to better than 10 per cent over the range 23 < E/p0 < 40, but they diverge quite considerably from earlier measurements in the same range of E/p0 by both Ayres5 and Hale6. At larger values of E/p0 (> 40) the only recent measurements which have been published are those of Rose1. These agree well with the corresponding values of Ayres, but still show poor agreement with the values obtained by Hale.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Rose, D. J., de Bitetto, D. J., and Fisher, L. H., Nature, 177, 945 (1956).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Crompton, R. W., Dutton, J., and Haydon, S. C., Proc. Phys. Soc., B, 69, 1 (1956).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Crompton, R. W., Dutton, J., and Haydon, S. C., Nature, 176, 1079 (1955).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wilkes, A., Hopwood, W., and Peacock, N. J., Nature, 176, 837 (1955). Hopwood, W., Peacock, N. J., and Wilkes, A., Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 235, 334 (1956).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ayres, T. L. R., Phil. Mag., 45, 353 (1923).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Hale, D. H., Phys. Rev., 55, 815 (1939).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Rose, D. J., Gaseous Electronics Conference, New York (October 1954); see Phys. Rev., 98, 558 (1955).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Posin, D. Q., Phys. Rev., 50, 650 (1936).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Masch, K., Arch. Elektrotech., 26, 589 (1932).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

BLEVIN, H., HAYDON, S. & SOMERVILLE, J. Effect of Gaseous Impurities on the First Townsend Coefficient in Hydrogen. Nature 179, 38–39 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1038/179038a0

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/179038a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing