The Existence of Homogeneous Groups of Large Ions

Abstract

Non-existence of groups.—Certain observers have found evidence indicating that the large ions produced by spraying water constitute several distinct groups each having a definite mobility. Using an apparatus similar to theirs, the author fails to confirm this result but finds that the ions distribute themselves continuously over a wide range with all intermediate mobilities present. In other words, he finds a continuous spectrum of mobilities and not a band spectrum. Conclusive proof of this has been obtained by a series of mobility determinations made with a Zeleney tube having a "resolving power" twenty times as large as that of the apparatus mentioned above.