Of late years these new questions have been the object of a multitude
of researches, and if it has not always been possible to avoid some
confusion, yet certain general conclusions may be drawn. The
ionisation by flames, in particular, is fairly well known. For it to
be produced spontaneously, it would appear that there must exist
simultaneously a rather high temperature and a chemical action in the
gas. According to M. Moreau, the ionisation is very marked when the
flame contains the vapour of the salt of an alkali or of an alkaline
earth, but much less so when it contains that of other salts.
Arrhenius, Mr C.T.R. Wilson, and M. Moreau, have studied all the
circumstances of the phenomenon; and it seems indeed that there is a
somewhat close analogy between what first occurs in the saline vapours
and that which is noted in liquid electrolytes. There should be
produced, as soon as a certain temperature is reached, a dissociation
of the saline molecule; and, as M. Moreau has shown in a series of
very well conducted researches, the ions formed at about 100 deg.
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