Name of special gas?

Question

What was the name of a special gas used by William Conrad Roentgent to fill the cathod ray tube .?
Can somebody tell me the name of special gas that a German physist used in filling the cathode ray tube in the discovery of x-rays.

Answer 1

"When the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen did experiments on Cathode ray's with a Crookes tube, he discovered while working, that a plate of barium platinocyanide (fluorescent crystals) on a nearby table in his workroom glowed when he activated the tube"
Crookes tubes were near vacuum tubes, Rontgen experimented with filling the tubes with paraffin, chlorine, a mixture of chlorine and hydrogen, dry hydrogen, to test the effect of the electrified bodies in solid insolulators.

The English translation of Rontgen's writings on X rays: 'On a New Kind of Rays by Dr. W. RÖNTGEN Würzburg' is at site 1 below.
Site 2 has pictures of Rontgen, his lab and the equipment he used in his experiments.
Site 3 has pictures of the scientist Sir William Crookes' tubes.

Answer 2

The simplest version of a cathode ray tube consists of a gas-filled glass tube in which two metal plates, one negatively charged (the cathode) and the other positively charged (the anode), have been placed. When a very large voltage is placed across the electrodes, the neutral gas inside the tube will ionize into a conducting plasma, and a current will flow as electrons travel from the cathode to the other side.

The cathode ray tube was used in the experiments of Röntgen and J. J. Thomson that led to the discoveries of X-rays and the electron, respectively. Cathode ray tubes remain familiar objects today as a result of the popularity of the neon sign.

Answer 3

There was no gas.
In order for the electrons to pass from the cathode, to the screen ( anodes ) there must be an absents of any atoms, as the atoms would absorb or deflect the electrons.
Also the cathode must be hot, for electrons to boil off, and the anode must have a very high positive charge to attract the electrons.

If the tube had gas, then you would basically have a neon tube, and render the cathode ray tube useless.

what made the screen glow was the screen, when struck with high energy electrons, the electrons struck the screen ( made of a phosphor material, similar to florescent tubes) would absorb the energy and convert it to visible light. Which is still in use today

William used barium tetracyanoplatinate, as this would fluoresce when struck with UV light or x-rays, ( similar to our florescent tubes used today)

Answer 4

what bev said