The field of force and the form of the carbon dioxide molecule. - Part I. Thermal diffusion in mixtures containing carbon dioxide

Abstract

All experimental workers on thermal diffusion have examined mixtures containing carbon dioxide. We find, however, that mixtures containing this gas still appear to present novel and interesting features. An account of these special features will be given in this work. In a previous series of experiments it was found that k t , the ratio of the coefficient of thermal diffusion to the coefficient of ordinary diffusion, generally tends to decrease gradually at low temperatures. We decided, therefore, to make further experiments with the object of finding whether any change in k t also occurred at high temperatures. The original intention was to make a general survey of a number of gas mixtures working up to about 750° C. or 1000° C. After this work was begun Lugg published an account of his experiments showing that k t for a mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide is greater at high temperatures than it is at ordinary temperatures. This contribution to the subject furnished a valuable connection between the results obtained by Elliott and Masson and the lower results we had previously obtained using a, smaller range of temperature. From his results Lugg concluded that there is a gradual increase in k t as the temperature is raised.