The Single Scattering of Electrons in Gases

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Abstract
The single scattering of electrons was measured by means of a cloud chamber. Electrons having energies from 0.9 to 12 Mev were used in air, argon, krypton, and xenon. A total of 2173 meters of track yielded 801 deflections between 15° and 90°. The projected angles of scattering were compared with the theoretical values obtained by making a plane projection of the Mott scattering distribution. The errors inherent in the cloud chamber method and the corrections to be applied were treated in detail. From a combination of the data for all the energies and gases, the ratio of the experimental to the theoretical scattering was found to be 1.02. The angle intervals 25°-35°, 35°-45°, and 45°-55°, taken individually, show a somewhat greater ratio: 1.20, 1.43, and 1.25, respectively. Throughout the data the variations of the scattering cross section with changes in atomic number, energy, and angle were as expected within the experimental accuracy. No support whatever was found for the large discrepancies reported by several other authors.

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