ANALYSIS OF TOWNSEND-HYXLEY DIFFUSION EXPERIMENT .I. CONSTANT COLLISIONAL FREQUENCY

The Townsend-Huxley diffusion experiment is analysed from the view-point of kinetic theory. The transport equation which has been derived and solved previously is discussed here for the case of elastic collisions and constant collisional frequency. Approximate solutions which result in unique transport coefficients are presented and experimental conditions for which these apply are given. The results are compared with experimental results and the Huxley-Crompton relation for the current ratio is derived. Corrections to this expression are given. An upper limit for the Townsend energy factor is found for constant collisional frequency. The distribution function is shown to depend on the ratio of electric field strength to gas concentration.