How Did William Crooks Contribute To The Discovery Of Thallium

1289 Words3 Pages

One of the most known scientists, William Crookes was born June17.1832, in London, England, the son of Joseph Crookes and his second wife, Mary Scott. “At the age of 15, he despite his father’s wish that he become an architect, he chose industrial chemistry as a career; he entered the Royal College of chemistry in London, where he began conducting research. At the age of 19, in 1855 he became Superintendent of the Meteorological Department, Radcliffe Observatory, at Oxford”. The most remarkable among Crookes’s chemical studies is the one that led him to a discovery of thallium through the spectroscopic method in 1861. In 1879, Crookes studied the effects of passing an electric current through a gas in a sealed tube. The tube contained electrodes …show more content…

Based on the new element that he saw by its bright green emission line, he chose the name of the element using the Greek word “thallos” means "a young, green shoot" or "twig." He continued his study of thallium for so many years, succeeding in differentiating it, by characterizing the properties of its compounds. Especially after a long delay, in 1873, he has been able to get the atomic weight of his new element “Thallium”. His discovery of thallium brought Crookes a significant amount of recognition, trust and also he was able to take a part in his election into the Royal Society of London in “1863”. The discovery of the element also led to his discovery of the principle upon which he built the Crookes radiometer which is also known as “light mill”. The light mill is an instrument that helps to measure the radiant energy of the heat and light, this instrument was also able to produce rotational motion from light. This fundamental of measuring the radiant energy of the heat and light of the radiometer helped Crookes to discover numerous applications in the development and evolution of sensitive measuring …show more content…

Crookes tubes are glass vacuum chambers that contain a positive electrode (anode) and a negative electrode (cathode). When an electrical current is passed between the electrodes of one of the tubes, a glow can be seen in the chamber. It is now known that the glow is due to the interaction of electrons, which travel from the cathode to the anode, with residual gas present in the device.” At the beginning when Crookes started his studies with the fluorescent light, it was not understood very well, just because of the mysterious rays, which were called “cathode rays” because they were seemed to be produced by the negative electrode. But his experiments, was so helpful to show how the new information was important for the nature of the unknown rays. The discovery or invention of cathode rays has influenced many scientists, it is very remarkable that many other scientists had devised to change or improve the tubes almost similar to those that Crookes has invented in the years before he begin his studies in the

More about How Did William Crooks Contribute To The Discovery Of Thallium

Open Document