Matter transmitter

“ The study of the radio-active substances and of the discharge of electricity through gases has supplied very strong experimental evidence in support of the fundamental ideas of the existing atomic theory. It has also indicated that the atom itself is not the smallest unit of matter, but is a complicated structure made up of a number of smaller bodies. ”

“ Even if it were supposed that the radio-elements possess the property of absorbing the energy of some unknown type of radiation, which is able to pass through ordinary matter with little absorption, there still remains the fundamental difficulty of accounting for the peculiar radiations from the radio-elements, and the series of changes that occur in them. ”

“ It will, however, be shown later that these two products are only examples of many other types of active matter which are produced by the radio-elements, and that each of these types of active matter has definite chemical as well as radio-active properties, which distinguish it, not only from the other active products, but also from the substance from which it is produced. ”

“ I described the contact-sensitiveness of various elementary substances to electric radiation. It was shown that though many substances exhibit a diminution of contact-resistance, there are others which show an increase of resistance—an increase which, in certain cases, lasts only during the impact of electric waves, the sensitive substance automatically recovering its original conductivity on the cessation of radiation. There are thus produced two opposite effects, either an increase or a diminution of resistance, depending on the nature of the substance. ”

“ The temperature of interplanetary space is in the neighbourhood of absolute zero. On the other hand, the atmosphere becomes warm under the sun’s rays. Why this difference? Because the energy of the electromagnetic waves is transformed into molecular agitation when the waves impinge on matter, just as a spark is produced when two flints are struck together. The more rarefied the matter on which the waves impinge, the smaller will be the percentage of the electromagnetic energy transformed or degraded into molecular agitation. ”

“ We have only begun to know of X-rays and the alpha, beta, and gamma rays from them, of radium, radioactivity, and finally of this new force which I have discovered and call 'protodyne,' the original force.
"In short, we find in the universe Matter, Force, and Ether. Matter is simply ether in motion, is composed of corpuscles, electrically charged ions, or electrons, moving units of negative electricity about one one-thousandth part of the hydrogen atom. Matter is made up of electricity and nothing but electricity. ”

“ From every laboratory in the world came a cry for radium salts (as pure radium was too precious) , and hundreds of brilliant workers fastened on the new element. The inquiry was broadened, and, as year followed year, one substance after another was found to possess the power of emitting rays, that is, to be radio-active. We know to-day that nearly every form of matter can be stimulated to radio-activity; which, as we shall see, means that its atoms break up into smaller and wonderfully energetic particles which we call "electrons." ”

“ I hope also to prove that nearly all the detectors of radiation are molecular receivers in reality. The investigation of this aspect of the subject has given me some extraordinary results; they seem to connect together many phenomena which at first sight do not seem to have anything in common. Another interesting question, the consideration of which has for the present to be postponed, is, Why is it that the sensitiveness is so marked in discontinuous metallic particles? ”

“ The extraordinary properties of this emanation, or gas, have already been discussed, and there can be no doubt that, while it exists, it must be considered a new element allied in chemical properties to the argon-helium group of gases.
There can be no doubt that in the radio-elements we are witnessing the spontaneous transformation of matter, and that the different products which arise mark the stages or halting-places in the process of transformation, where the atoms are able to exist for a short time before again breaking up into new systems. ”

“ In the various investigations on the properties of electric waves, one property has not yet attracted so much attention as it deserves—the action of long ether waves in modifying the molecular structure of matter. Apart from the interest attached to the relation between ether, electricity, and matter, the subject is of importance as affording not only a very important verification of the identity of visible and electric radiation, but also establishing the continuity of all radiation phenomena. ”

“ The distribution of radio-active matter throughout the constituents of the earth renders it difficult to be certain that any substance, however carefully prepared, is freed from radio-active impurities. ”

“ The radio-active elements indeed furnish us with direct evidence of this unity of composition of matter, for not only does one element uranium, produce another, radium, but all the radio-active substances give rise to helium, so that the substance of the atoms of this gas must be contained in the atoms of the radio-active elements. ”

“ The quite recent discovery of the wholly new and unsuspected property of radio-activity in a group of heavy elements has done much to confirm the views already expressed of the connection between electricity and matter, and much more, for radio-active phenomena suggest for the first time that some kinds of matter are not only unstable, but mutable. ”

“ In communicating through space, our position is very similar to that of two men shouting to one another over a distance. The one man disturbs the air, thus sending air-waves (sound) over to his friend, and these waves produce certain sensations which he can interpret. I should like you to understand that we electrons are upon a higher plane than atoms of matter. We cause waves in the all-pervading æther, not among clumsy particles of air. After these æther waves have travelled enormous distances they retain sufficient energy to disturb electrons situated at the distant place. ”

“ It would be most surprising if the many forms of radiation, including those of the radio-active substances, discovered in the train of the X-rays, should not throw strong light upon the constitution of matter. And how shall we deal intelligently with the forms of matter in other worlds before we understand the constitution of matter upon the earth? The modern theory of electrons, in which material atoms play the subordinate part, and electric charges the principal part, promises to have a wide application to celestial phenomena. ”

“ In the main, these facts may be summed up as the emission of certain radiations from known elemental matter: the material alpha particles with positive charge, the beta particles or negative electrons, and the gamma rays analogous to X rays. The emission of these rays results in the production of great heat. Then there is the law of transformations by which whole series of new elements are generated from the original element and maintain a constant equilibrium of growth and decay in the series. Lastly, we have the production of helium from the alpha particles. ”

“ I found that in these cases the sensibility was increased by subjecting the substance to strong radiation or even by passing a few induction shocks. The increase of sensitiveness thus produced appears to be due to the removal of molecular sluggishness. The improvement in sensitiveness often obtained by shaking of the particles is no doubt due to the same cause. In the various types of molecular receivers, whether responding to electric radiation, light, or mechanical vibration, the same effect is noticed. Generally speaking, the receiver in the first place improves gradually with working. ”

“ It will be found that the power or electric force required to plate one metal is just the same as to disintegrate it, and the electric force is a great solvent, while the magnetic force is a concentrating form-moulding world-building power. And these two forces evenly balanced perpetuate the universe. The fluidic condition of matter arises from molecular activity before the atoms have assumed the crystalline state, and all fluids are easily vaporized to invisible gases. ”

“ We have endeavored to follow step by step the discoveries which have led up to our present knowledge of the nature of radio-activity. These discoveries have seemed to prove conclusively that the atoms of radio-active substances are slowly undergoing a process of disintegration, this disintegration being indicated, first by the fact that there is a continuous projection from them of particles of matter, the alpha and beta rays; and second, by the fact that we are able to detect the presence of new and unstable types of matter accompanying the phenomena of radio-activity. ”

“ We shall first consider the results obtained on the absorption of β rays by measuring the variation of the ionization current, when screens of different thickness are placed over the active substance. When the active matter is covered with aluminium foil of thickness ·1 mm., the current in a testing vessel such as is shown in Fig. 17, is due almost entirely to the β rays. If a uranium compound is used, it is found that the saturation current decreases with the thickness of matter traversed nearly according to an exponential law. ”

“ This is an extremely small ratio, and it is evident that the process could continue for long intervals of time, before the amount of matter changed would be capable of detection by the spectroscope or by the balance. ”

“ The greatest care is necessary in such experiments to ensure that the radio-activity is not due to other causes besides the rays from the radium. This care is especially necessary in laboratories where considerable quantities of the radium emanation have been allowed to escape into the air. The surface of every substance becomes coated with the slow transformation products of radium, viz. radium D, E, and F. The activity communicated in this way to originally inactive matter is often considerable. ”

“ The penetrating power of each type is complex and varies with the source, so the statements given are but generalizations. The alpha rays are projected particles which lose energy in penetrating matter. As to the power of ionizing gases, if that for the α rays is taken as 10,000, then the β rays would be approximately 100 and the γ rays 1. ”

“ Our scientists no longer believe that we have some eighty different elements, essentially different kinds of matter, that cannot by any chance or process be changed one {110} into another. We have seen one form of elementary matter changing into another, helium emanations becoming radium, have heard of Professor Ramsay's transmutation of various elements, and have about come to the conclusion that in the radio-active substances we have a wonderful transmuting power. ”

“ It is necessary in addition to examine the radiations, and to test whether the actions take place through appreciable thicknesses of all kinds of matter opaque to ordinary light. For example, a body giving out short waves of ultra-violet light can be made to behave in many respects like a radio-active body. ”

“ Since radio-activity has been observed in the atmosphere at all points at which observations have, so far, been made, radio-active matter must be distributed in minute quantities throughout the soil of the earth. The volatile emanations escape into the atmosphere by diffusion, or are carried to the surface in spring water or by the escape of underground gases, and cause the radio-active phenomena observed in the atmosphere. ”

“ When any of these energetic charged particles moves through matter, it interacts with electrons in the atoms. As a result of this interaction, the electrons may be dislodged from their usual states of motion. If the interaction is gentle—either because the charged particle passes the atom at a considerable distance or else because the particle is moving so rapidly that the interaction lasts for only a short time—the electron may be left undisturbed. ”

“ The bearing of the discovery of radium and radioactivity upon theories of the atom and matter will be considered in a moment; first the more tangible qualities of this wonderful substance may be briefly referred to. The fact that radio-active emanations traverse all forms of matter to greater or less depth—that is, pass through wood and iron with something the same ease that light passes through a window-glass—makes the subject one of greatest interest; and particularly so as the demonstration of this fact is so tangible. ”

“ The α rays from all the radio-active substances and their products, such as the radio-active emanations and the matter causing excited activity, possess the same general properties and do not vary very much in penetrating power. ”

“ That matter is nothing but protons; there are no electrons there, and the positive electrical field is inconceivably great, but it is artificial matter, and that electrical field exerts its strain not in pulling and electrifying other bodies, but in holding space open, in keeping it from closing in about that concentrated matter, just as it does about a single proton, except that here the entire field energy is so absorbed. ”