Formulæ and Equations in Nuclear Chemistry

Abstract

THE question which Prof. Lowry raises on p. 36 of NATURE of January 5 is one which has perforce exercised my mind in the last few days, since I am at present revising the final page-proofs of the report of the International Conference on Physics. He refers to the different positions in which the numerals indicating the mass and atomic number of a nucleus are placed by different writers. Thus, we have ₂He⁴ and He₂⁴. He points out that if the last form is used, there is a difficulty in showing the number of atoms in a molecule in the customary English fashion (for example, C1₂) whilst both the second and third forms introduce a difficulty for the French chemist, who is in the habit of writing Cl² for a molecule of chlorine.