By means of this relation the emanating power of compounds which are not of equal weight can be compared.
It was found that thorium compounds varied enormously in emanating power, although the percentage proportion of thorium present in the compound was not very different. For example, the emanating power of thorium hydroxide was generally 3 to 4 times greater than that of ordinary thoria, obtained from the manufacturer. Thorium nitrate, in the solid state, had only 1/200 of the emanating power of ordinary thoria, while preparations of the carbonate were found to vary widely among themselves in emanating power, which depended upon slight variations in the method of preparation.
150. Effect of conditions on emanating power. The
emanating power of different compounds of thorium and radium is
much affected by the alteration of chemical and physical conditions.
In this respect the emanating power, which is a measure of the
rate of escape of the emanation into the surrounding gas, must not
be confused with the rate of decay of the activity of the emanations
themselves, which has already been shown to be unaffected by
external conditions.
Dorn (loc. cit.) first observed that the emanating power of thorium and radium compounds was much affected by moisture. In a fuller investigation of this point by Rutherford and Soddy, it was found that the emanating power of thoria is from two to three times greater in a moist than in a dry gas. Continued desiccation of the thoria in a glass tube, containing phosphorus pentoxide, did not reduce the emanating power much below that observed in ordinary dry air. In the same way radium chloride in the solid state gives off very little emanation when in a dry gas, but the amount is much increased in a moist gas.
The rate of escape of emanation is much increased by solution of the compound. For example, thorium nitrate, which has an emanating power of only 1/200 that of thoria in the solid state, has in solution an emanating power of 3 to 4 times that of thoria. P. Curie and Debierne observed that the emanating power of radium was also much increased by solution.
Temperature has a very marked effect on the emanating power.
