Measurement of the Thermal-Diffusion Factor of Dilute Neon–Xenon Mixtures with the Thermal-Diffusion Column

Abstract

Apparatus and techniques were developed for obtaining the thermal‐diffusion factor from static separation measurements in the thermal‐diffusion column. Reduction of the column data does not depend on the use of a theoretically derived value of the convective remixing coefficient, $K_c$ ; however, a factor related to the ratio of experimental to theoretical values of $K_c$ is used as a test of the consistency of the data with the theory of the column. The thermal‐diffusion factor was obtained at an average temperature of 311°K for mixtures containing 1 at.% Ne, 99% Xe, and 1.3% Xe, 98.7% Ne. The results were in good agreement with the data of other investigators. The consistency test showed that the experiments were in good agreement with predictions based on a recently modified theory of the thermal‐diffusion column.