Scattering of Positive Lithium Ions in Mercury Vapor

Abstract

The number of positive lithium ions passing through a fixed distance was observed with different pressures of mercury vapor. The rate of absorption deduced was found to depend on the aperture of the apparatus. This indicates that the absorption is due largely to small angle scattering of the ion at a collision with a mercury atom. This scattering is incompatible with that due to elastic collisions. A computation with a law of electrostatic repulsion gives a dependence of absorption on aperture in qualitative agreement with the observations.