Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7551921 | Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics | 2017 | 15 Pages |
Abstract
In 1920, James Franck together with Fritz Reiche and Paul Knipping found strong experimental evidence that the lowest-lying triplet state in helium is metastable-an atom in this state cannot make a spontaneous transition to the ground state. Even though their evidence was entirely experimental, they tied their results almost inextricably to Alfred Landé's 1919 model of the helium atom, and in the process, misunderstood the new theoretical selection rules of Adalbert Rubinowicz and Niels Bohr. In an additional complication, experiments of the English physicists Frank Horton and Ann Catherine Davies contradicted Franck's. Although Franck's result has held up, the reasons for the discrepancies remain unclear.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Physics and Astronomy
Physics and Astronomy (General)
Authors
Clayton A. Gearhart,