Glass bulb experiment
Date
1891
Creator
William Crookes (1832 - 1919, British) , Knight Chemist, Chemist
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 102mm
width (drawing): 130mm
width (drawing): 130mm
Subject
Description
Diagram of an experiment on the evaporation and deposition of silver and aluminium from electrodes within a vacuum tube. The experiment was intended to determine show whether metal ‘shot’ from each pole was responsible for phosphorescence.
Crookes described the apparatus and result thus: ‘A tube was made…it had two negative poles connected together…A’ was of silver, a volatile metal…A was of aluminium, practically non-volatile...in the course of half-an-hour…a considerable quantity of metal had been projected from the silver negative pole…while no projection of metallic particles took place from the aluminium positive pole…C and C’ had been glowing with exactly the same intensity…’
Plate from the manuscript version of the paper ‘On electrical evaporation’, by William Crookes, Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol.50 (1891), pp.88-105. The illustration was printed as figure 10 in the published paper.
The image has a paper label inscribed in ink: ‘Fig.10’. Various pencil and ink annotations verso.
Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) British chemist was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1863. He served as President of the Royal Society in 1913-1915.
Crookes described the apparatus and result thus: ‘A tube was made…it had two negative poles connected together…A’ was of silver, a volatile metal…A was of aluminium, practically non-volatile...in the course of half-an-hour…a considerable quantity of metal had been projected from the silver negative pole…while no projection of metallic particles took place from the aluminium positive pole…C and C’ had been glowing with exactly the same intensity…’
Plate from the manuscript version of the paper ‘On electrical evaporation’, by William Crookes, Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol.50 (1891), pp.88-105. The illustration was printed as figure 10 in the published paper.
The image has a paper label inscribed in ink: ‘Fig.10’. Various pencil and ink annotations verso.
Sir William Crookes (1832-1919) British chemist was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1863. He served as President of the Royal Society in 1913-1915.
Associated place