The new gas from radium

In this pioneering work, two scholars explore the mysterious “new gas” that streams from radium, a substance whose invisible emissions bewildered early physicists. Drawing on recent reports from the Curie laboratory, they describe how a tiny amount of this gas can make glass glow, darken surfaces, and continuously emit X‑rays that turn ordinary gases into fleeting conductors. Their careful experiments reveal that the gas retains its powerful radioactivity for weeks, inviting curious listeners into the frontiers of early atomic research.

The authors then turn to a broader investigation of radioactive emanations, comparing radium’s behavior with that of thorium. By manipulating temperature, electric fields, and diffusion rates, they devise clever methods to measure the gas’s properties without ever seeing it directly. The narrative captures the excitement of discovery, the painstaking ingenuity of laboratory work, and the lingering mystery of what exactly this elusive “emanation” really is.