Abstract
LONDON. Royal Society, Dec. 10.—Sir Arthur Eddington: On the mass of the proton. From the theory of the cosmical constant developed in a previous paper, a wave equation for an electron is developed, which, however, is incomplete. The correct equation contains the factors 10 and 136, representing the number of degrees of freedom associated with the respective energy terms. The mass of a particle satisfying this wave equation is given by an equation having two roots, which evidently correspond to electrons and protons, and their ratio is 1847.60. It is verified that the two roots represent charges of opposite sign.—P. S. H. Henry: The specific heats of air, oxygen, and nitrogen from 20° C. to 370° C. Further developments of the new constant flow calorimeter for the determination of the specific heats of gases at constant pressure are given. These results, whilst agreeing with those obtained by the sound velocity method at room temperature, show a much higher rate of increase of the specific heats with temperature, and a closer approximation to the curves predicted by means of Boltzmann's hypothesis from the spectroscopie frequencies of vibration of the molecules.—W. L. Francis: Studies in membrane behaviour (1). Equilibrium membrane potentials are measured for a buffer concentration gradient of 10: 1 using N/40-N/400 and N-N/10 solutions. The e.m.f.'s with and without gelatine on the membranes are compared over the pH range 2.35-7.3. The results, more particularly with weaker solutions, appear to support the modified diffusion theory, that is, the anions are retarded in basic solution and the cations in acid solution. Direct evidence, given by determinations of the transport numbers of the sodium and acetate ions across the membrane in N/2 solution, vetoes this theory. Assuming that the membrane potentials are made up of the ordinary diffusion potential and an opposed e.m.f. due to the combination or adsorption of ions on the protein, an explanation is suggested which conforms with the known behaviour of gelatine in electrolyte solutions.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Societies and Academies. Nature 128, 1049–1051 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/1281049b0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1281049b0