Abstract
DR. A. HOLMES and Dr. R. W. Lawson in their paper on “The Radioactivity of Potassium and its Geological Significance” (Phil. Mag., Dec. 1926, p. 1218) have estimated the heating effect of potassium by multiplying the average energy of the emitted β-ray by the number emitted per second. The energy can be obtained from the β-ray absorption coefficient, and the number emitted per second from the half value period. From the best data at the time available, they decided that the energy was 7.3 × 10−7 erg, and the half value period 1.5 × 1012 years; that is, about 225 β-rays are emitted per second per gram of potassium.
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JOLY, J. The Geological Importance of the Radioactivity of Potassium. Nature 126, 953 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/126953b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/126953b0
