Abstract
THE reversal of rectification by heat in molybdenite1 led to the study of the rectifying properties of copper – copper pyrites contacts. In most cases, it has been found that below 1 steady volt the normal direction of easy flow is from the metal, but it reversed between 20° and 200° C. For voltages of the order of several volts, the conductive direction is from the crystal, but it reversed between 20° and -78° C. The relation between the transition voltage and the transition temperature indicates that above a critical temperature of about 500° K., or above a critical P.D. in the neighbourhood of 20 volts extrapolated at the absolute zero, the direction of rectification is always the same. A similar phenomenon occurs in thermocouples when the cold junction is above the neutral point, or when the temperature difference between the two junctions exceeds twice the neutral temperature.
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El-Sherbini and Yousef, Proc. Phys. Soc., 51, 449 (1939).
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EL-SHERBINI, M., YOUSEF, Y. Dependence of the Direction of Rectification in Copper Pyrites on Voltage, Temperature and Time of Measurement. Nature 147, 543 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147543a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/147543a0
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