Disintegration of Nitrogen and Boron and Possible Emission of Deuterons

Abstract

An account is given of the technique of detecting nuclear particles by the use of a proportional counter, and its advantages and limitations are discussed. The counter was used to investigate the disintegration of nitrogen and boron by alpha-particles. In the case of nitrogen no group which could be ascribed to deuterons was found while for boron the presence of a short range group of about the expected energy, first found by Heidenreich, was confirmed. The values of the magnetic deflections of particles from both elements were compared with those for known protons and deuterons of the same velocity and shown to be protons in each case. Further evidence for resonance was found in the experiments on nitrogen and the work of Heidenreich and Paton confirmed in the experiments on boron.