The Angular Distribution of Electrons Scattered by Mercury Vapor

Instead of using pressures of the order of ${10}^{-2\mathrm{}}$ mm the apparatus described is designed for pressures in the range ${10}^{-3\mathrm{}}$ to ${10}^{-4\mathrm{}}$ mm. Heavy primary current densities are used to afford measurable scattered currents, and high angle scattering is found to be more easily measurable. It is found that the angular distribution curves for electrons scattered by mercury are not monotonic functions of the angle of scattering. For a given energy of incident electrons the curve passes through a minimum, the angular position of which depends upon the energy.