Countercurrent multiplier system

The thermal diffusion factor a is proportional to the mass difference, (mi — mo)/(mi + m2). The thermal diffusion process depends on the transport of momentum in collisions between unlike molecules. The momentum transport vanishes for Maxwellian molecules, particles which repel one another with a force which falls off as the inverse fifth power of the distance between them. If the repulsive force between the molecules falls off more rapidly than the fifth power of the distance, then the light molecule will concentrate in the high temperature region of the space, while the heavy molecule concentrates in the cold temperature region. When the force law falls off less rapidly than the fifth power of the distance, then the thermal diffusion separation occurs in the opposite sense. The theory of the thermal diffusion factor a is as yet incomplete even for classical molecules. A summary of the theory has been given by Jones and Furry 15) and by Hirschfelder, Curtiss, and Bird 14), Since the thermal diffusion factor a for isotope mixtures is small, of the order of 10", it remained for Clusius and Dickel (8) to develop an elegant countercurrent system which could multiply the elementary effect. 

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