The Electromotive Behaviour of Single Metal Crystals

Abstract

ALTHOUGH the results of crystal analysis indicate that the electromotive characteristics of a metal, in common with other properties conditioned by interparticle electrostatic forces, presumably vary with the orientation of the surface measured, no attempt seems to have been made to relate electrode potential measurements to a structure definitely describable in the crystallographic sense. The study of this structure-potential relation seems particularly desirable if electromotive data are to be correlated with photoelectric and electron condensation measurements. The measurement of a definite cleavage plane of a typical single metal crystal suggests itself as a suitable starting-point for such a study.