Photographing the Weight of Atoms | University of Illinois Archives

Caption on back: Prof. E. B. Jordan [sic, should be E.C. Jordan], University of Illinois scientist, with the big mass-spectrograph which he built to photograph the weight of atoms. The two black curved sections are special magnets. Atoms come through a tube from the far end of the large magnet. It focusses [sic] them into a small beam, which is bent by the small magnet and fans out in a funnel-shaped section at the right. A photographic plate is in the cover of this section. Heavy atoms are less influenced by the bending magnet, and mark the plate at the far right, while light atoms, more easily deflected, strike the plate farther to the left. Measurement of the point of impact reveals the amount of bending, and consequently the mass or weight of the atoms.

Found in RS: 39/2/20, Box FAC - 4 Folder FAC - 4 J