The Mobility of Electrons in Pure Nitrogen
Open Access
- 1 January 1922
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review B
- Vol. 19 (1), 24-37
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrev.19.24
Abstract
Mobility of electrons in pure nitrogen was determined, using the Rutherford alternating potential method, for pressures ranging from mm., for frequencies ranging from cycles (obtained from an audion oscillating circuit), and with electric fields of from 10 to 100 volts/cm. Reduced to atmospheric pressure the mobility found is of the order of 10,000· cm. sec.,/many times the highest value previously obtained, and it was observed to vary with pressure and electric field according to the equation , where is in volts/cm. and in mm. of Hg. A discussion of the possible sources of error shows that none can be responsible for this variation with , and the form of the mobility curves confirms this variation. A theoretical interpretation of these results on the basis of the Townsend equation for electron mobility leads to the conclusions: that if the Townsend theory is correct (1) either the energy lost at each impact of an electron with a nitrogen molecule or the mean free path must be a function of , and (2) in either case the mean free path for velocities of the normal agitation must be about 22 times the mean free path of the gas molecules instead of times, as given by the kinetic theory.
Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
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