Electrons (+ and -), Protons, Photons, Neutrons, and Cosmic Rays

Originally published in 1935, this book was written to provide an accessible guide to developments in physics.

Introduction; 1. Early views of electricity; 2. The extension of the electrolytic laws to conduction in gases; 3. Early attempts at the direct determination of e; 4. General proof of the atomic nature of electricity; 5. The exact evaluation of e; 6. The mechanism of ionization of gases by x-rays and radium rays; 7. Brownian movements in gases; 8. Is the electron itself divisible?; 9. The structure of the atom; 10. The nature of radiant energy; 11. Waves and particles; 12. The spinning electron; 13. The discovery and origin of the cosmic rays; 14. The direct measurement of the energy of cosmic rays and the discovery of the free positive electron; 15. The neutron and the transmutation of the elements; 16. The nature of the cosmic rays; Appendix A. ne from mobilities and diffusion co-efficients; Appendix B. Townsend's first attempt at a determination of e; Appendix C. The Brownian-movement equation; Appendix D. The inertia or mass of an electrical charge on a sphere of radius a; Appendix E. Molecular cross-section and mean free path; Appendix F. Number of free positive electrons in the nucleus of an atom by Rutherford's method; Appendix G. Bohr's theoretical derivation of the value of the Rydberg constant; Appendix H. A. H. Compton's theoretical derivation of the change in the wave-length of ether-waves because of a scattering by free electrons; Appendix I. The elements, their atomic numbers, atomic weights, and chemical positions; Appendix J. Physical constants; Indexes.