IV. The action of magnetised electrodes upon electrical discharge phenomena in rarefied gases

Source abstract

Abstract In two previous communications which I have had the honour to lay before the Royal Society, reference is made to the action of a magnetic field, either constant or changing, upon the distribution of ions within a highly evacuated space. The chief result dealt with in the first case was the formation of a luminous ring which appeared to be in rapid rotation about the lines of magnetic induction. The other note described a case in which a positively electrified body placed in a rarefied gas became diselectrified when a magnetic field was created in its neighbourhood. I now beg to submit an account of some further experiments which have been made in this matter, with a view to obtaining evidence as to the cause of both these phenomena. The Luminous Ring. A detailed account of the apparatus most suitable for the production of the luminous ring in rarefied gases has already been given in the first of the papers just referred to; nor has it so far been found possible to materially improve upon the method there described.