Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-06
SIZE OF A CORPUsCLE.
Scientific Inquiry into Molecules-At-
oms and Their Electrons.

From Current Literature
To obtain any adequate conception of the
size of a corpuscle we must have recourse
to what Prof. G.. H. Darwin. president of
the British Association, styles ga scheme
OF threefold magnification." Lord Kelvin
has shown that If drop of water were
magnified to the size of the earth the mole
cuies of water would be Of size intermedi-
ate between that of a cricket ball and Of
marble. Now" proceeds Prof. Darwin
tas quoted in London Nature), leach mole
Guile contains three atoms, two being of
hydrogen and one of oxygen" The molecu-
| lar system in all likelihood has some sort of
resemblance to that of triple star: ''The
three atoms replacing the stars, revolve
about one another in some sort of dance
which cannot be axactly described doubt
whether 1t Is possible to say how large
part of the space occupied by the whole
molecule Is occupied by the atoms; but per-
haps the atoms bear to the molecue some
such relationship as the molecule to the
drop of water referred to- Finally, the cor
puscles may stand to the atom in similar
scale of magnitude. Accordingly a threefold
magntication would be needed to bring
these ultimate parts of the atom within the
range of our ordinary scales of measure
ment.
This. to Prof. Darwin, seems the most
striking of all the results flowing from the
stream of 1.-The new knowledge If only for
tho reason that 1.-THE vast edfice of modern
chemistry must no longer be regarded as
built with atomic bricks" He writes:
The atom, previously supposed to be in
Invisible, really consists of a large number
OF component parts. By various convergent
lines of experiment 1t has been proved that
thu simplest of all atoms-namely, that OF
hydrogen--conSists of about $40 separate
parts while the number of parts in the
atom of the denser metals must be counted
by tens OF thousands. These separate parts
of the atom have been called corpuscles
al nd
ticles of negative electricity. 1t is para
doxical, yet true, that the physicist knows
more about these uhra-atomic corpuscles
and can more easily count them than Is the
case with the atoms of which they form
thu parts. The corpuseles. being negatively
electrified repel one another just as the
hairs on a persons head mutually repel one
another when combed with valcanite
comb. The mechanism Is as yet obscure
whereby the mutual repulsion of the mega
tive ecrpuscles Is restrained from breaking
up the atom, but a positive electrical
charge, or something equivalent there o
must exist in the atom, so as to prevent
disruption. The existence in the 9ton or
this community of negative corpuscies is
certain and we know further that they are
moving with speeds which may in some
cases be comparable to the velocity or
light, namely @0oV miles a second But
the mechanism whereby they are held TO-
gether In a group is hypothetical 1t Is only
just a year ago that Thomson suggested,
as representing the atom, mechanical or
el6ctrlcal nOuel WHOSE pIoptIlltS couiu po
accurately examined by mathematical
methods He would be the first to~admit
that his model is at most merely a crude
representation of actually, yet he has been
able to show that such an atom must pos
sess mechanical and electrical properties
which simulate. with what WNetham de-
scribes as almost satanic exactness some
of the most obscure AMI yet most funda-
mental properties of the chemical elements
Sc non vero, ben trovato, and we are
surely justified in believing that we have
the clew which the alchenists sought IN
vain. Thomson's atom consists of a glote
charged with positive electricity inside
which are some thousand or thousa nds or
corpuscles of negative electricity, ~svo'vfng
in regular orbits with great yelocities since
two electrical charges Nepel one AZ fher 1
they are of the same kind and attract ore
another if they are OF opposite kinds. the
seorpuscles mutually repel one another: but
all are attracted by the globe containing
them"