The Scattering of Slow Electrons in Gases

Author: Skinner, Selby Millmore

Year: 1933

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisor: Millikan, Robert Andrews

Committee Member: Unknown, Unknown

Option: Physics

DOI: 10.7907/16yh-4903

Abstract

The earliest attempts to investigate the nature of the atom using an electron stream directed into a gas as the investigating tool were the experiments of Lenard (1), who determined the total cross section offered to an electron by the gas through which it was directed. Using fast cathode rays, and photo-electrons, he covered the high velocity electron range. The results obtained, indicated that the molecular cross section decreased monotonically with increasing electron velocity. Later work of Lenard and others (2) showed that the molecular cross section for fast elections was proportional to the sum of the atomic numbers of the atoms in the molecule. During the same period, the experiments of Bragg and Moseley were laying the foundation for the modern view of the constitution of the atom. The conception developed slowly, culminating in the model advanced by Bohr (3), a very useful and reasonably accurate picture, which has been merely slightly modified conceptually by the newer quantum mechanics.

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