The Atomic Weight of Silver

Abstract

THANKS to the courtesy of the Editor of NATURE, we are able to reply at once to the very kindly expressed criticism of Prof. Brauner. He considers that there is a possible source of error in our recent determination of the atomic weight of silver owing to the loss of traces of silver, by volatilisation, during its final melting in hydrogen. It is certain that, at the temperature of 900°, silver does give off some vapour, but we are convinced that no silver left the weighed tube. The silica tube was 17 cm. in length, not more than half of which was heated in the furnace. The rest, shielded from the heat of the furnace by asbestos board, together with the ground joint and narrow glass tube, has a length of 20 cm. They were kept cool by fanning during the whole time of the experiment. The current of hydrogen was very slow, about one bubble in 3 seconds.