William Crookes Quotes


Probably our atomic weights merely represent a mean value around which the actual atomic weights of the atoms vary within certain narrow limits... when we say, the atomic weight of, for instance, calcium is 40, we really express the fact that, while the majority of calcium atoms have an actual atomic weight of 40, there are not but a few which are represented by 39 or 41, a less number by 38 or 42, and so on.


Citations

Crookes, William. "Elements and Meta-Elements." Journal of the Chemical Society, Transactions, vol. 53, Gurney & Jackson, 1888, p. 490.

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William Crookes
William Crookes
  • Born: June 17, 1832
  • Died: April 4, 1919
  • Nationality: English
  • Profession:

Sir William Crookes OM PRS was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry in London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing the Crookes tube which was made in 1875. This was a foundational discovery that eventually changed the whole of chemistry and physics.