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 Computer Graphics
Programming in OpenGL
with Java
Third Edition

CGP.Java3E.Ch00.FM.2pp.indd 1 8/17/2021 12:04:50 PM

 LICENSE, DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY, AND LIMITED WARRANTY

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CGP.Java3E.Ch00.FM.2pp.indd 2 8/17/2021 12:04:50 PM

 Computer Graphics
Programming in OpenGL
with Java
Third Edition

V. Scott Gordon, PhD

California State University, Sacramento

John Clevenger, PhD

California State University, Sacramento

Mercury Learning and Information

Dulles, Virginia
Boston, Massachusetts
New Delhi

CGP.Java3E.Ch00.FM.2pp.indd 3 8/17/2021 12:04:50 PM

 Copyright ©2021 by Mercury Learning and Information LLC. All rights reserved.

This publication, portions of it, or any accompanying software may not be reproduced in any way,
stored in a retrieval system of any type, or transmitted by any means, media, electronic display
or mechanical display, including, but not limited to, photocopy, recording, Internet postings, or
scanning, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Publisher: David Pallai

Mercury Learning and Information

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Dulles, VA 20166
info@merclearning.com
www.merclearning.com
(800) 232-0223

V. Scott Gordon & John Clevenger.

Computer Graphics Programming in OpenGL with Java, Third Edition
ISBN: 978-1-68392-736-5

The publisher recognizes and respects all marks used by companies, manufacturers, and
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CGP.Java3E.Ch00.FM.2pp.indd 4 8/17/2021 12:04:50 PM

 Contents
Preface xi
What’s New in This Edition xiii
Intended Audience xiv
How to Use This Book xv
Acknowledgments xvii
About the Authors xix

Chapter 1 Getting Started 1

1.1 Languages and Libraries 1
1.1.1 Java 2
1.1.2 OpenGL / GLSL 2
1.1.3 JOGL 3
1.1.4 JOML 3
1.2 Installation and Configuration 4

Chapter 2 The OpenGL Graphics Pipeline 5

2.1 The OpenGL Pipeline 6
2.1.1 Java/JOGL Application 7
2.1.2 Vertex and Fragment Shaders 10
2.1.3 Tessellation 15
2.1.4 Geometry Shader 16
2.1.5 Rasterization 17
2.1.6 Fragment Shader 19
2.1.7 Pixel Operations 20

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 vi ■ C o n ten ts

2.2 Detecting OpenGL and GLSL Errors 21

2.3 Reading GLSL Source Code from Files 26
2.4 Building Objects from Vertices 27
2.5 Animating a Scene 28
2.6 Organizing the Java Code Files 32

Chapter 3 Mathematical Foundations 37

3.1 3D Coordinate Systems 38
3.2 Points 38
3.3 Matrices 39
3.4 Transformation Matrices 42
3.4.1 Translation 42
3.4.2 Scaling 43
3.4.3 Rotation 44
3.5 Vectors 45
3.5.1 Uses for Dot Product 47
3.5.2 Uses for Cross Product 48
3.6 Local and World Space 49
3.7 Eye Space and the Synthetic Camera 50
3.8 Projection Matrices 53
3.8.1 The Perspective Projection Matrix 53
3.8.2 The Orthographic Projection Matrix 56
3.9 Look-At Matrix 57
3.10 GLSL Functions for Building Matrix Transforms 58

Chapter 4 Managing 3D Graphics Data 63

4.1 Buffers and Vertex Attributes 64
4.2 Uniform Variables 67
4.3 Interpolation of Vertex Attributes 68
4.4 Model-View and Perspective Matrices 69
4.5 Our First 3D Program—A 3D Cube 71
4.6 Rendering Multiple Copies of an Object 80
4.6.1 Instancing 81
4.7 Rendering Multiple Different Models in a Scene 84
4.8 Matrix Stacks 87
4.9 Combating “Z-Fighting” Artifacts 94
4.10 Other Options for Primitives 95
4.11 Coding for Performance 97

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 C onte nts ■ vii

4.11.1 Minimizing Dynamic Memory Allocation 97

4.11.2 Pre-Computing the Perspective Matrix 99
4.11.3 Back-Face Culling 100

Chapter 5 Texture Mapping 107

5.1 Loading Texture Image Files 108
5.2 Texture Coordinates 110
5.3 Creating a Texture Object 112
5.4 Constructing Texture Coordinates 112
5.5 Loading Texture Coordinates into Buffers 114
5.6 Using the Texture in a Shader: Sampler Variables and Texture Units 114
5.7 Texture Mapping: Example Program 115
5.8 Mipmapping 118
5.9 Anisotropic Filtering 123
5.10 Wrapping and Tiling 124
5.11 Perspective Distortion 126
5.12 Loading Texture Image Files using Java AWT Classes 128

Chapter 6 3D Models 133

6.1 Procedural Models—Building a Sphere 134
6.2 OpenGL Indexing—Building a Torus 142
6.2.1 The Torus 142
6.2.2 Indexing in OpenGL 143
6.3 Loading Externally Produced Models 148

Chapter 7 Lighting 161

7.1 Lighting Models 161
7.2 Lights 163
7.3 Materials 166
7.4 ADS Lighting Computations 168
7.5 Implementing ADS Lighting 171
7.5.1 Gouraud Shading 172
7.5.2 Phong Shading 180
7.6 Combining Lighting and Textures 185

Chapter 8 Shadows 191

8.1 The Importance of Shadows 191
8.2 Projective Shadows 192

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 viii ■ Co n te n ts

8.3 Shadow Volumes 193

8.4 Shadow Mapping 194
8.4.1 Shadow Mapping (Pass One)—“Draw” Objects from
Light Position 195
8.4.2 Shadow Mapping (Intermediate Step)—Copying the
Z-Buffer to a Texture 196
8.4.3 Shadow Mapping (Pass Two)—Rendering the Scene with
Shadows 197
8.5 A Shadow Mapping Example 201
8.6 Shadow Mapping Artifacts 208
8.7 Soft Shadows 210
8.7.1 Soft Shadows in the Real World 211
8.7.2 Generating Soft Shadows—Percentage Closer Filtering (PCF) 212
8.7.3 A Soft Shadow/PCF Program 216

Chapter 9 Sky and Backgrounds 221

9.1 Skyboxes 221
9.2 Skydomes 224
9.3 Implementing a Skybox 226
9.3.1 Building a Skybox from Scratch 226
9.3.2 Using OpenGL Cube Maps 229
9.4 Environment Mapping 234

Chapter 10 Enhancing Surface Detail 243

10.1 Bump Mapping 243
10.2 Normal Mapping 245
10.3 Height Mapping 254

Chapter 11 Parametric Surfaces 261

11.1 Quadratic Bézier Curves 261
11.2 Cubic Bézier Curves 263
11.3 Quadratic Bézier Surfaces 266
11.4 Cubic Bézier Surfaces 268

Chapter 12 Tessellation 273

12.1 Tessellation in OpenGL 273
12.2 Tessellation for Bézier Surfaces 279
12.3 Tessellation for Terrain/Height Maps 286
12.4 Controlling Level of Detail (LOD) 293

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 C onte nts ■ ix

Chapter 13 Geometry Shaders 299

13.1 Per-Primitive Processing in OpenGL 299
13.2 Altering Primitives 301
13.3 Deleting Primitives 305
13.4 Adding Primitives 306
13.5 Changing Primitive Types 309

Chapter 14 Other Techniques 313

14.1 Fog 313
14.2 Compositing/Blending/Transparency 316
14.3 User-Defined Clipping Planes 322
14.4 3D Textures 324
14.5 Noise 330
14.6 Noise Application - Marble 335
14.7 Noise Application - Wood 340
14.8 Noise Application - Clouds 344
14.9 Noise Application - Special Effects 349

Chapter 15 Simulating Water 355

15.1 Pool Surface and Floor Geometry Setup 355
15.2 Adding Surface Reflection and Refraction 360
15.3 Adding Surface Waves 371
15.4 Additional Corrections 374
15.5 Animating the Water Movement 379
15.6 Underwater Caustics 381

Chapter 16 Ray Tracing and Compute Shaders 387

16.1 Compute Shaders 389
16.1.1 Compiling and Using Compute Shaders 389
16.1.2 Parallel Computing in Compute Shaders 390
16.1.3 Work Groups 394
16.1.4 Work Group Details 395
16.1.5 Work Group Limitations 398
16.2 Ray Casting 399
16.2.1 Defining the 2D Texture Image 399
16.2.2 Building and Displaying the Ray Cast Image 400
16.2.3 Ray-Sphere Intersection 408
16.2.4 Axis-Aligned Ray-Box Intersection 409

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 x ■ C o n te n ts

16.2.5 Output of Simple Ray Casting Without Lighting 411

16.2.6 Adding ADS Lighting 411
16.2.7 Adding Shadows 413
16.2.8 Non-Axis-Aligned Ray-Box Intersection 415
16.2.9 Determining Texture Coordinates 418
16.2.10 Plane Intersection and Procedural Textures 426
16.3 Ray Tracing 430
16.3.1 Reflection 430
16.3.2 Refraction 434
16.3.3 Combining Reflection, Refraction, and Textures 437
16.3.4 Increasing the Number of Rays 439
16.3.5 Generalizing the Solution 446
16.3.6 Additional Examples 450
16.3.7 Blending Colors for Transparent Objects 455

Chapter 17 Stereoscopy for 3D Glasses and VR Headsets 467

17.1 View and Projection Matrices for Two Eyes 469
17.2 Anaglyph Rendering 471
17.3 Side-by-Side Rendering 474
17.4 Correcting Lens Distortion in Headsets 475
17.5 A Simple Testing Hardware Configuration 483

Appendix A Installation and Setup for PC (Windows) 487

Appendix B Installation and Setup for Macintosh 491
Appendix C Using the Nsight Graphics Debugger 497

Index 505

CGP.Java3E.Ch00.FM.2pp.indd 10 8/17/2021 12:04:51 PM

 Preface
This book is designed primarily as a textbook for a typical computer science ­undergraduate
course in modern shader-based, OpenGL 3D graphics programming. However, we have
also endeavored to create a text that could be used to teach oneself, without an accom-
panying course. With both of those aims in mind, we have tried to explain things as
clearly and as simply as we can. All of the programming examples are stripped down and
­simplified as much as possible, but they are still complete, so the reader may run them all
as presented.

One of the things we hope is unique about this book is that we have strived to make it
accessible to a beginner – that is, someone new to 3D graphics programming. While there
is by no means a lack of information available on the topic—quite the contrary—many
students are initially overwhelmed. This text is our attempt to write the book we wish we
had had when we were starting out, with step-by-step explanations of the basics, progress-
ing in an organized manner up through advanced topics. We considered titling the book
“shader programming made easy”; however, we don’t think that there really is any way of
making shader programming “easy.” We hope that we have come close.

This book teaches OpenGL programming in Java, using JOGL—a Java “wrapper”
for OpenGL’s native C calls [JO21]. There are several advantages to learning graphics
programming in Java rather than in C:
• It is more convenient for students at schools that conduct most of their curriculum
in Java
• Installation and setup is easier in Java than for C or C++
• Java’s I/O, window, and event handling are arguably cleaner than in C

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 xii ■ Pr e fa c e

• Java’s excellent support for object-oriented design patterns can foster good design
• JOGL includes some very nice tools, such as for loading textures, animation
loops, etc.
It is worth mentioning that there do exist other Java bindings for OpenGL. One that
has become very popular is Lightweight Java Game Library, or LWJGL [LW21]. Like
JOGL, LWJGL also offers bindings for OpenAL and OpenCL. This textbook focuses
only on JOGL.

Another thing that makes this book unique is that it has a “sister” textbook: Computer
Graphics Programming in OpenGL with C++, Second Edition. The two books are orga-
nized in lockstep, with the same chapter and section numbers and topics, figures, exer-
cises, and theoretical descriptions. Wherever possible, the code is organized similarly.
Of course, the use of Java versus C++ leads to considerable programming differences
(although all of the shader code is identical). Still, we believe that we have provided vir-
tually identical learning paths, even allowing a student to choose either option within a
single classroom.

An important point of clarification is that there exist both different versions of

OpenGL (briefly discussed later) and different variants of OpenGL. For example, in
addition to “standard OpenGL” (sometimes called “desktop OpenGL”), there exists a
variant called “OpenGL ES,” which is tailored for development of embedded systems
(hence the “ES”). “Embedded systems” include devices such as mobile phones, game
consoles, automobiles, and industrial control systems. OpenGL ES is mostly a subset of
standard OpenGL, eliminating a large number of operations that are typically not needed
for embedded systems. OpenGL ES also adds some additional functionality, typically
application-specific operations for particular target environments. The JOGL suite of Java
bindings includes interfaces for different versions of OpenGL ES, although we do not use
them in this book.

Yet another variant of OpenGL is called “WebGL.” Based on OpenGL ES, WebGL is
designed to support the use of OpenGL in web browsers. WebGL allows an application to
use JavaScript1 to invoke OpenGL ES operations, which makes it easy to embed OpenGL
graphics into standard HTML (web) documents. Most modern web browsers support
WebGL, including Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Internet
Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera. Since web programming is outside the scope of
this book, we will not cover any WebGL specifics. Note however, that because WebGL

1 JavaScript is a scripting language that can be used to embed code in web pages. It has strong
similarities to Java, but also many important differences.

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 Pre fa c e ■ xiii

is based on OpenGL ES, which in turn is based on standard OpenGL, much of what is
covered in this book can be transferred directly to learning about these OpenGL variants.

The very topic of 3D graphics lends itself to impressive, even beautiful images.
Indeed, many popular textbooks on the topic are filled with breathtaking scenes, and it is
enticing to leaf through their galleries. While we acknowledge the motivational utility of
such examples, our aim is to teach, not to impress. The images in this book are simply the
outputs of the example programs, and because this is an introductory text, the resulting
scenes are unlikely to impress an expert. However, the techniques presented do constitute
the foundational elements for producing today’s stunning 3D effects.

We also haven’t tried to create an OpenGL or JOGL “reference.” Our coverage of

OpenGL and JOGL represents only a tiny fraction of their capabilities. Rather, our aim is
to use OpenGL and JOGL as vehicles for teaching the fundamentals of modern shader-
based 3D graphics programming, and provide the reader with a sufficiently deep under-
standing for further study. If along the way this text helps to expand awareness of JOGL
and other JogAmp technologies, that would be nice, too.

What’s New in This Edition

We have added three new chapters in this 3rd edition of Computer Graphics Programming
in OpenGL with Java:
• Chapter 15 – Simulating Water
• Chapter 16 – Ray Tracing
• Chapter 17 – Stereoscopy
Ray tracing in particular has become “hot” recently, so we are especially excited that
it is now included in our book. It is also a huge topic, so even though our coverage is just
a basic introduction, Chapter 16 is now the longest chapter in the book. Chapter 16 also
includes an introduction to compute shaders, which were introduced in OpenGL 4.3, and
an introduction to additive and subtractive color blending, which expands on a topic that
was introduced in Section 14.2.

For years our own students have repeatedly expressed an interest in simulating water.
However, water takes so many forms that writing an introductory section on the topic is
challenging. Ultimately, we decided to present water in a way that would complement
related topics in the book such as terrain, sky, etc., and so in Chapter 15 we focus on utiliz-
ing our noise maps from Chapter 14 to generate water surfaces such as are seen in lakes
and oceans.

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 xiv ■ P refa c e

The new chapter on stereoscopy is motivated by the increased popularity of virtual

reality. However, it is also applicable to the development of animation for “3D movies,”
and we have tried to provide introductory coverage of both uses equally.

As a result of these additions, this 3rd edition is larger than the previous edition.

Besides the new material, there are important revisions throughout the book. For
example, we fixed bugs in our Torus class in Chapter 6, and made significant improve-
ments to our noise map functions in Chapter 14. Another small, but important, modifica-
tion was to change all of our lighting computations so that they are done in world space
rather than in camera space – this makes it easier to develop applications that require
being able to move the camera around. We also expanded our Utils.java utility class to
handle the loading of compute shaders.

There are dozens of small changes in every chapter that the reader might not even
notice: fixing typos, cleaning up code inconsistencies, updating the installation instruc-
tions, making slight wording changes, sprucing up figures, updating references, etc.
Completely eliminating typos is virtually impossible in a book that covers an ever-chang-
ing technology-rich topic, but we have attempted it.

Intended Audience
This book is targeted at students of computer science. This could mean undergraduates
pursuing a BS degree, but it could also mean anyone who studies computer science. As
such, we are assuming that the reader has at least a solid background in object-oriented
programming, at the level of someone who is, say, a computer science major at the junior
or senior level.

There are also some specific things that we use in this book, but that we don’t cover,
because we assume the reader already has sufficient background. In particular:
• Java and its Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) or Swing library, especially for
GUI-building
• Java configuration details, such as manipulating the CLASSPATH
• basic data structures and algorithms, such as linked lists, stacks and queues, etc.
• recursion
• event-driven programming concepts
• basic matrix algebra and trigonometry
• basic analytic geometry, such as for defining points, lines, vectors, planes, and circles

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 Pre fa c e ■ xv

• awareness of color models, such as RGB, RGBA, etc.

• basic familiarity with C or C++ (some shader syntax is based on C)
The audience for this new 3rd edition is also hoped to be expanded by the similar
updates made for the 2nd edition of its “sister” textbook, Computer Graphics Programming
in OpenGL with C++. In particular, we envision a learning environment where students
are free to utilize either Java or C++ in the same classroom, selecting one or the other
book. The two texts cover the material sufficiently in lockstep that we have been conduct-
ing our graphics programming course successfully in this manner.

How to Use This Book

This book is designed to be read from front to back. That is, material in later chapters
frequently relies on information learned in earlier chapters. So, it probably won’t work to
jump back and forth in the chapters; rather, work your way forward through the material.

This is also intended mostly as a practical, hands-on guide. While there is plenty of
theoretical material included, the reader should treat this text as a sort of “workbook,” in
which you learn basic concepts by actually programming them yourself. We have pro-
vided code for all of the examples, but to really learn the concepts you will want to “play”
with those examples—extend them to build your own 3D scenes.

At the end of each chapter are a few exercises to solve. Some are very simple, involv-
ing merely making simple modifications to the provided code. The problems that are
marked “(PROJECT),” however, are expected to take some time to solve, and require writ-
ing a significant amount of code, or combining techniques from various examples. There
are also a few marked “(RESEARCH)”—those are problems that encourage independent
study because this textbook doesn’t provide sufficient detail to solve them.

OpenGL calls, whether made in C or in Java through JOGL, often involve long lists of
parameters. While writing this book, the authors debated whether or not to, in each case,
describe all of the parameters. We decided that in the early chapters we would describe
every detail. But as the topics progress, we decided to avoid getting bogged down in every
piece of minutiae in the OpenGL calls (and there are many), for fear of the reader losing
sight of the big picture. For this reason, it is essential when working through the examples
to have ready access to reference material for Java, OpenGL, and JOGL.

For this, there are a number of excellent reference sources that we recommend using
in conjunction with this book. The javadocs for Java and JOGL are absolutely essential,
and can be accessed online or downloaded. The reader should bookmark them for easy

CGP.Java3E.Ch00.FM.2pp.indd 15 8/17/2021 12:04:51 PM

 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 -particle comes out exactly twice the charge which I measure in my
oil-drop experiments.
While then it would not be in keeping with the spirit or with the
method of modern science to make any dogmatic assertion about
the existence or non-existence of a sub-electron, it can be asserted
with entire confidence that there has not appeared up to the present
a scrap of evidence for the existence of charges smaller than the
electron. If all of Dr. Ehrenhaft’s assumptions as to the nature of his
particles were correct, then his experiments would mean simply that
Einstein’s Brownian-movement equation is not of universal validity
and that the law of motion of minute charged particles is quite
different from that which he has assumed. It is exceedingly unlikely
that either of these results can be drawn from his experiments, for
Nordlund[132] and Westgren[133] have apparently verified the
Einstein equation in liquids with very much smaller particles than Dr.
Ehrenhaft uses; and, on the other hand, while I have worked with
particles as small as cm. and with values of as large as
135, which is very much larger than any which appear in the work of
Dr. Ehrenhaft and his pupils, I have thus far found no evidence of a
law of motion essentially different from that which I published in
1913, and further elaborated and refined in 1923.
There has then appeared up to the present time no evidence
whatever for the existence of a sub-electron. The chapter having to
do with its discussion is now considered for the present at least to
have been closed,[134] but it constitutes an interesting historical
document worthy of study as an illustration on the one hand of the
solidity of the foundations upon which the atomic theory of electricity
now rests, and on the other hand of the severity of the gauntlet of
criticism which new results must run before they gain admission to
the body of established truth in physics.
 CHAPTER IX
THE STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM
We have shown in the preceding chapters how within the last two decades there has been
discovered beneath the nineteenth-century world of molecules and atoms a wholly new world of
electrons, the very existence of which was undreamed of twenty years ago. We have seen that
these electrons, since they can be detached by X-rays from all kinds of neutral atoms, must be
constituents of all atoms. Whether or not they are the sole constituents we have thus far made no
attempt to determine. We have concerned ourselves with studying the properties of these electrons
themselves and have found that they are of two kinds, negative and positive, which are, however,
exactly alike in strength of charge but wholly different in inertia or mass, the negative being
commonly associated with a mass which is but ¹⁄₁₈₄₅ of that of the lightest known atom, that of
hydrogen, while the positive appears never to be associated with a mass smaller than that of the
hydrogen atom. We have found how to isolate and measure accurately the electronic charge and
have found that this was the key which unlocked the door to many another otherwise inaccessible
physical magnitude. It is the purpose of this chapter to consider certain other fields of exact
knowledge which have been opened up through the measurement of the electron, and in particular
to discuss what the physicist, as he has peered with his newly discovered agencies, X-rays,
radioactivity, ultra-violet light, etc., into the insides of atoms, has been able to discover regarding
the numbers and sizes and relative positions and motions of these electronic constituents, and to
show how far he has gone in answering the question as to whether the electrons are the sole
building-stones of the atoms.

1. THE SIZES OF ATOMS

One of the results of the measurement of the electronic charge was to make it possible to find
the quantity which is called the diameter of an atom with a definiteness and precision theretofore
altogether unattained.
It was shown in chap. V that the determination of gave us at once a knowledge of the exact
number of molecules in a cubic centimeter of a gas. Before this was known we had fairly
satisfactory information as to the relative diameters of different molecules, for we have known for a
hundred years that different gases when at the same temperature and pressure possess the same
number of molecules per cubic centimeter (Avogadro’s rule). From this it is at once evident that, as
the molecules of gases eternally dart hither and thither and ricochet against one another and the
walls of the containing vessel, the average distance through which one of them will go between
collisions with its neighbors will depend upon how big it is. The larger the diameter the less will be
the mean distance between collisions—a quantity which is technically called “the mean free path.”
Indeed, it is not difficult to see that in different gases the mean free path is an inverse measure of
the molecular cross-section. The exact relation is easily deduced (see Appendix E). It is

in which is the molecular diameter and is the number of molecules per cubic centimeter of the
gas. Now, we have long had methods of measuring , for it is upon this that the coefficient of
viscosity of the gas largely depends. When, therefore, we have measured the viscosities of
different gases we can compute the corresponding ’s, and then from equation (31) the relative
diameters , since is the same for all gases at the same temperature and pressure. But the
absolute value of can be found only after the absolute value of is known. If we insert in
equation (31) the value of found from by the method presented in chap. V, it is found that the
average diameter of the atom of the monatomic gas helium is , that of the diatomic
hydrogen molecule is a trifle more, while the diameters of the molecules of the diatomic gases,
oxygen and nitrogen, are 50 per cent larger.[135] This would make the diameter of a single atom of
hydrogen a trifle smaller, and that of a single atom of oxygen or nitrogen a trifle larger than that of
helium. By the average molecular diameter we mean the average distance to which the centers of
two molecules approach one another in such impacts as are continually occurring in connection
with the motions of thermal agitation of gas molecules—this and nothing more.
As will presently appear, the reason that two molecules thus rebound from one another when in
their motion of thermal agitation their centers of gravity approach to a distance of about
is presumably that the atom is a system with negative electrons in its outer regions.
When these negative electrons in two different systems which are coming into collision approach to
about this distance, the repulsions between these similarly charged bodies begin to be felt,
although at a distance the atoms are forceless. With decreasing distance this repulsion increases
very rapidly until it becomes so great as to overcome the inertias of the systems and drive them
asunder.

II. THE RADIUS OF THE ELECTRON FROM THE ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY OF THE
ORIGIN OF MASS
The first estimates of the volume occupied by a single one of the electronic constituents of an
atom were obtained from the electromagnetic theory of the origin of mass, and were therefore to a
pretty large degree speculative, but since these estimates are strikingly in accord with results
which follow from direct experiments and are independent of any theory, and since, further, they
are of extraordinary philosophic as well as historic interest, they will briefly be presented here.
Since Rowland proved that an electrically charged body in motion is an electrical current the
magnitude of which is proportional to the speed of motion of the charge, and since an electric
current, by virtue of the property called its self-induction, opposes any attempt to increase or
diminish its magnitude, it is clear that an electrical charge, as such, possesses the property of
inertia. But inertia is the only invariable property of matter. It is the quantitative measure of matter,
and matter quantitatively considered is called mass. It is clear, then, theoretically, that an
electrically charged pith ball must possess more mass than the same pith ball when uncharged.
But when we compute how much the mass of a pith ball is increased by any charge which we can
actually get it to hold, we find that the increase is so extraordinarily minute as to be hopelessly
beyond the possibility of experimental detection. However, the method of making this computation,
which was first pointed out by Sir J. J. Thomson in 1881,[136] is of unquestioned validity, so that we
may feel quite sure of the correctness of the result. Further, when we combine the discovery that
an electric charge possesses the distinguishing property of matter, namely, inertia, with the
discovery that all electric charges are built up out of electrical specks all alike in charge, we have
made it entirely legitimate to consider an electric current as the passage of a definite, material,
granular substance along the conductor. In other words, the two entities, electricity and matter,
which the nineteenth century tried to keep distinct, begin to look like different aspects of one and
the same thing.
But, though we have thus justified the statement that electricity is material, have we any
evidence as yet that all matter is electrical—that is, that all inertia is of the same origin as that of an
electrical charge? The answer is that we have evidence, but as yet no proof. The theory that this is
the case is still a speculation, but one which rests upon certain very significant facts. These facts
are as follows:
 If a pith ball is spherical and of radius , then the mass due to a charge spread uniformly
over its surface is given, as is shown in Appendix D) by,

The point of especial interest in this result is that the mass is inversely proportional to the radius,
so that the smaller the sphere upon which we can condense a given charge the larger the mass
of that charge. If, then, we had any means of measuring the minute increase in mass of a pith ball
when we charge it electrically with a known quantity of electricity , we could compute from
equation (32) the size of this pith ball, even if we could not see it or measure it in any other way.
This is much the sort of a position in which we find ourselves with respect to the negative electron.
We can measure its mass, and it is found to be accurately ¹⁄₁₈₄₅ of that of the hydrogen atom. We
have measured accurately its charge and hence can compute the radius of the equivalent
sphere, that is, the sphere over which would have to be uniformly distributed to have the
observed mass, provided we assume that the observed mass of the electron is all due to its
charge.
The justification for such an assumption is of two kinds. First, since we have found that
electrons are constituents of all atoms and that mass is a property of an electrical charge, it is of
course in the interests of simplicity to assume that all the mass of an atom is due to its contained
electrical charges, rather than that there are two wholly different kinds of mass, one of electrical
origin and the other of some other sort of an origin. Secondly, if the mass of a negative electron is
all of electrical origin, then we can show from electromagnetic theory that this mass ought to be
independent of the speed with which the electron may chance to be moving unless that speed
approaches close to the speed of light. But from one-tenth the speed of light up to that speed the
mass ought to vary with speed in a definitely predictable way.
Now, it is a piece of rare good fortune for the testing of this theory that radium actually does
eject negative electrons with speeds which can be accurately measured and which do vary from
three-tenths up to ninety-eight hundredths of that of light. It is further one of the capital discoveries
of the twentieth century[137] that within these limits the observed rate of variation of the mass of the
negative electron with speed agrees accurately with the rate of variation computed on the
assumption that this mass is all of electrical origin. Such is the experimental argument for the
electrical origin of mass.[138]
Solving then equation (32) for , we find that the radius of the sphere over which the charge
of the negative electron would have to be distributed to have the observed mass is but
, or but one fifty-thousandth of the radius of the atom ( ). From this point of
view, then, the negative electron represents a charge of electricity which is condensed into an
exceedingly minute volume. In fact, its radius cannot be larger in comparison with the radius of the
atom than is the radius of the earth in comparison with the radius of her orbit about the sun.
In the case of the positive electron there is no direct experimental justification for the
assumption that the mass is also wholly of electrical origin, for we cannot impart to the positive
electrons speeds which approach the speed of light, nor have we as yet found in nature any of
them which are endowed with speeds greater than about one-tenth that of light. But in view of the
experimental results obtained with the negative electron, the carrying over of the same assumption
to the positive electron is at least natural. Further, if this step be taken, it is clear from equation
(32), since for the positive is nearly two thousand times larger than for the negative, that for
the positive can be only ¹⁄₂₀₀₀ of what it is for the negative. In other words, the size of the positive
electron would be to the size of the negative as a sphere having a two-mile radius would be to the
size of the earth. From the standpoint, then, of the electromagnetic theory of the origin of mass, the
dimensions of the negative and positive constituents of atoms in comparison with the dimensions
of the atoms themselves are like the dimensions of the planets and asteroids in comparison with
the size of the solar system. All of these computations, whatever their value, are rendered possible
by the fact that is now known.
Now we know from methods which have nothing to do with the electromagnetic theory of the
origin of mass, that the excessive minuteness predicted by that theory for both the positive and the
negative constituents of atoms is in fact correct, though we have no evidence as to whether the
foregoing ratio is right.

III. DIRECT EXPERIMENTAL PROOF OF THE EXCESSIVE MINUTENESS OF THE

ELECTRONIC CONSTITUENTS OF ATOMS
For at least twenty years we have had direct experimental proof[139] that the fastest of the -
particles, or helium atoms, which are ejected by radium, shoot in practically straight lines through
as much as 7 cm. of air at atmospheric pressure before being brought to rest. This distance is then
called the “range” of these -rays. Figs. 14 and 15 show actual photographs of the tracks of such
particles. We know too, for the reasons given on p. 139, that these -particles do not penetrate the
air after the manner of a bullet, namely, by pushing the molecules of air aside, but rather that they
actually shoot through all the molecules of air which they encounter. The number of such passages
through molecules which an -particle would have to make in traversing seven centimeters of air
would be about a hundred and thirty thousand.
Further, the very rapid -particles, or negative electrons, which are shot out by radium have
been known for a still longer time to shoot in straight lines through much greater distances in air
than 7 cm., and even to pass practically undeflected through appreciable thicknesses of glass or
metal.
We saw in chap. VI that the tracks of both the - and the -particles through air could be
photographed because they ionize some of the molecules through which they pass. These ions
then have the property of condensing water vapor about themselves, so that water droplets are
formed which can be photographed by virtue of the light which they reflect. Fig. 17 shows the track
of a very high-speed -ray. A little to the right of the middle of the photograph a straight line can be
drawn from bottom to top which will pass through a dozen or so of pairs of specks. These specks
are the water droplets formed about the ions which were produced at these points.
Fig. 14—Photographs of the Tracks of -Particles Shooting through Air
Fig. 15—Photographs of the Tracks of -Particles Shooting through Air
Fig. 16—Photographs of the Tracks of -Particles Shooting through Air
 Fig. 17—Photographs of the Tracks of -Particles Shooting through Air

Since we know the size of a molecule and the number of molecules per cubic centimeter, we can
compute, as in the case of the -particle, the number of molecules through which a -particle must
pass in going a given distance. The extraordinary situation revealed by this photograph is that this
particular particle shot through on an average as many as 10,000 atoms before it came near
enough to an electronic constituent of any one of these atoms to detach it from its system and form
an ion. This shows conclusively that the electronic or other constituents of atoms can occupy but
an exceedingly small fraction of the space inclosed within the atomic system. Practically the whole
of this space must be empty to an electron going with this speed.
The left panel in the lower half of the plate (Fig. 16) shows the track of a negative electron of
much slower speed, and it will be seen, first, that it ionizes much more frequently, and, secondly,
that instead of continuing in a straight line it is deflected at certain points from its original direction.
The reason for both of these facts can readily be seen from the considerations on p. 139, which it
may be worth while to extend to the case in hand as follows.
If a new planet or other relatively small body were to shoot with stupendous speed through our
solar system, the tune which it spent within our system might be so small that the force between it
and the earth or any other member of the solar system would not have time either to deflect the
stranger from its path or to pull the earth out of its orbit. If the speed of the strange body were
smaller, however, the effect would be more disastrous both to the constituents of our solar system
and to the path of the strange body, for the latter would then have a much better chance of pulling
one of the planets out of our solar system and also a much better chance of being deflected from a
straight path itself. The slower a negative electron moves, then, the more is it liable to deflection
and the more frequently does it ionize the molecules through which it passes.
This conclusion finds beautiful experimental confirmation in the three panels of the plate
opposite this page, for the speed with which X-rays hurl out negative electrons from atoms has
long been known to be much less than the speed of -rays from radium, and the zigzag tracks in
these photographs are the paths of these corpuscles. It will be seen that they bend much more
often and ionize much more frequently than do the rays shown in Figs. 16 and 17.
But the study of the tracks of the -particles (Figs. 14 and 15, opposite p. 190) is even more
illuminating as to the structure of the atom. For the -particle, being an atom of helium eight
thousand times more massive than a negative electron, could no more be deflected by one of the
latter in an atom through which it passes than a cannon ball could be deflected by a pea. Yet Figs.
14 and 15 show that toward the end of its path the -particle does in general suffer several sudden
deflections. Such deflections could be produced only by a very powerful center of force within the
atom whose mass is at least comparable with the mass of the helium atom.
Fig. 18—Photographs of the tracks of -particles ejected by x-rays from molecules of air
Fig. 19—Photographs of the tracks of -particles ejected by x-rays from molecules of air
 Fig. 20—Photographs of the tracks of -particles ejected by x-rays from molecules of air

These sharp deflections, which occasionally amount to as much as 150° to 180°, lend the
strongest of support to the view that the atom consists of a heavy positively charged nucleus about
which are grouped enough electrons to render the whole atom neutral. But the fact that in these
experiments the -particle goes through 130,000 atoms without approaching near enough to this
central nucleus to suffer appreciable deflection more than two or three times constitutes the most
convincing evidence that this central nucleus which holds the negative electrons within the atomic
system occupies an excessively minute volume, just as we computed from the electromagnetic
theory of the origin of mass that the positive electron ought to do. Indeed, knowing as he did by
direct measurement the speed of the -particle, Rutherford, who is largely responsible for the
nucleus-atom theory, first computed,[140] with the aid of the inverse square law, which we know to
hold between charged bodies of dimensions which are small compared with their distances apart,
how close the -particle would approach to the nucleus of a given atom like that of gold before it
would be turned back upon its course (see Appendix F). The result was in the case of gold, one of
the heaviest atoms, about , and in the case of hydrogen, the lightest atom, about
. These are merely upper limits for the dimensions of the nuclei.
However uncertain, then, we may feel about the sizes of positive and negative electrons
computed from the electromagnetic theory of the origin of the mass, we may regard it as fairly well
established by such direct experiments as these that the electronic constituents of atoms are as
small, in comparison with the dimensions of the atomic systems, as are the sun and planets in
comparison with the dimensions of the solar system. Indeed, when we reflect that we can shoot
helium atoms by the billion through a thin-walled highly evacuated glass tube without leaving any
holes behind, i.e., without impairing in the slightest degree the vacuum or perceptibly weakening
the glass, we see from this alone that the atom itself must consist mostly of “hole”; in other words,
that an atom, like a solar system, must be an exceedingly loose structure whose impenetrable
portions must be extraordinarily minute in comparison with the penetrable portions. The notion that
an atom can appropriate to itself all the space within its boundaries to the exclusion of all others is
then altogether exploded by these experiments. A particular atom can certainly occupy the same
space at the same time as any other atom if it is only endowed with sufficient kinetic energy. Such
energies as correspond to the motions of thermal agitation of molecules are not, however,
sufficient to enable one atom to penetrate the boundaries of another, hence the seeming
impenetrability of atoms in ordinary experiments in mechanics. That there is, however, a portion of
the atom which is wholly impenetrable to the alpha particles is definitely proved by experiments of
the sort we have been considering; for it occasionally happens that an alpha particle hits this
nucleus “head on,” and, when it does so, it is turned straight back upon its course. As indicated
above, the size of this impenetrable portion, which may be defined as the size of the nucleus, is in
no case larger than ¹⁄₁₀₀₀₀ the diameter of the atom, and yet there may be contained within it, as
will presently be shown, several hundred positive and negative electrons, so that the excessive
minuteness of these bodies is established, altogether without reference to any theory as to what
they are.

IV. THE NUMBER OF ELECTRONS IN AN ATOM

If it be considered as fairly conclusively established by the experiments just described that an
atom consists of a heavy but very minute positively charged nucleus which holds light negative
electrons in some sort of a configuration about it, then the number of negative electrons outside
the nucleus must be such as to have a total charge equal to the free positive charge of the
nucleus, since otherwise the atom could not be neutral.
But the positive charge on the nucleus has been approximately determined as follows: With the
aid of the knowledge, already obtained through the determination of , of the exact number of
atoms in a given weight of a given substance, Sir Ernest Rutherford[141] first computed the chance
that a single helium atom in being shot with a known speed through a sheet of gold foil containing
a known number of atoms per unit of area of the sheet would suffer a deflection through a given
angle. This computation can easily be made in terms of the known kinetic energy and charge of
the -particle, the known number of atoms in the gold foil, and the unknown charge on the nucleus
of the gold atom (see Appendix F). Geiger and Marsden[142] then actually counted in Rutherford’s
laboratory, by means of the scintillations produced on a zinc-sulphide screen, what fraction of, say,
a thousand -particles, which were shot normally into the gold foil, were deflected through a given
angle, and from this observed number and Rutherford’s theory they obtained the number of free
positive charges on the nucleus of the gold atom.
Repeating the experiment and the computations with foils made from a considerable number of
other metals, they found that in every case the number of free positive charges on the atoms of
different substances was approximately equal to half its atomic weight. This means that the
aluminum atom, for example, has a nucleus containing about thirteen free positive charges and
that the nucleus of the atom of gold contains in the neighborhood of a hundred. This result was in
excellent agreement with the conclusion reached independently by Barkla[143] from experiments of
a wholly different kind, namely, experiments on the scattering of X-rays. These indicated that the
number of scattering centers in an atom—that is, its number of free negative electrons—was equal
to about half the atomic weight. But this number must, of course, equal the number of free positive
electrons in the nucleus.

V. MOSELEY’S REMARKABLE DISCOVERY

The foregoing result was only approximate. Indeed, there was internal evidence in Geiger and
Marsden’s work itself that a half was somewhat too high. The answer was made very definite and
very precise in 1913 through the extraordinary work of a brilliant young Englishman, Moseley, who,
at the age of twenty-seven, had accomplished as notable a piece of research in physics as has
appeared during the last fifty years. Such a mind was one of the early victims of the world-war. He
was shot and killed instantly in the trenches in Gallipoli in the summer of 1915.
Laue in Munich had suggested in 1912 the use of the regular spacing of the molecules of a
crystal for the analysis, according to the principle of the grating, of ether waves of very short wave-
length, such as X-rays were supposed to be, and the Braggs[144] had not only perfected an X-ray
spectrometer which utilized this principle, but had determined accurately the wave-lengths of the
X-rays which are characteristic of certain metals. The accuracy with which this can be done is
limited simply by the accuracy in the determination of , so that the whole new field of exact X-ray
spectrometry is made available through our exact knowledge of . Moseley’s discovery,[145] made
as a result of an elaborate and difficult study of the wave-lengths of the characteristic X-rays which
were excited when cathode rays were made to impinge in succession upon anticathodes
embracing most of the known elements, was that these characteristic wave-lengths of the different
elements, or, better, their characteristic frequencies, are related in a very simple but a very
significant way. These frequencies were found to constitute the same sort of an arithmetical
progression as do the charges which we found to exist on our oil drops. It was the square root of
the frequencies rather than the frequencies themselves which showed this beautifully simple
relationship, but this is an unimportant detail. The significant fact is that, arranged in the order of
increasing frequency of their characteristic X-ray spectra, all the known elements which have been
examined constitute a simple arithmetical series each member of which is obtained from its
predecessor by adding always the same quantity.
The plate opposite this page shows photographs of the X-ray spectra of a number of elements
whose atomic numbers—that is, the numbers assigned them in Moseley’s arrangement of the
elements on the basis of increasing X-ray frequency—are given on the left. These photographs
were taken by Siegbahn.[146] The distance from the “central image”—in this case the black line on
the left—to a given line of the line spectrum on the right is approximately proportional to the wave-
length of the rays producing this line. The photographs show beautifully, first, how the atoms of all
the elements produce spectra of just the same type, and, secondly, how the wave-lengths of
corresponding lines decrease, or the frequencies increase, with increasing atomic number. The
photograph on the left shows this progression for the highest frequency rays which the atoms
produce, the so-called series, while the one on the right shows the same sort of a progression
for the rays of next lower frequency, namely, those of the so-called series, which have uniformly
from seven to eight times the wave-length of the series. The plate opposite p. 200 shows some
very beautiful photographs taken by De Broglie in Paris[147] in October, 1916.
The upper one is the X-ray emission spectrum of tungsten. It consists of general radiations,
corresponding to white light, scattered throughout the whole length of the spectrum as a
background and superposed upon these two groups of lines.
 Fig. 21a—PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SPECTRA OF THE CHARACTERISTIC X-RAYS FROM CERTAIN
SUBSTANCES

The remarkable element in these photographs is the exact similarity of the spectra produced by
the different elements and the step-by-step shortening of the wave-length (which is proportional to
the distance from the line on the left to the spectral lines) as the atomic number increases. This
is shown both in the series, which is produced by stimulating the inmost pair of electrons in
each atom, and the series, which is produced by stimulating the group of eight electrons in the
second ring or shell from the center.
 Fig. 21b—PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE SPECTRA OF THE CHARACTERISTIC X-RAYS FROM CERTAIN
SUBSTANCES

The two lines are here close to the central image, for the wave-lengths are here very short,
since tungsten has a high atomic number (74). Farther to the right is the series of tungsten lines
which will be recognized because of its similarity to the series in the plate opposite p. 198.
Between the and the lines are two absorption edges marked and . The former
represents the frequency above which the silver absorbs all the general radiation of tungsten but
below which it lets it all through. The latter is the corresponding line for bromine. In a print from a
photograph absorption in the plate itself obviously appears as a darkening, transmission as a
lightening. Just below is the spectrum obtained by inserting a sheet of molybdenum in the path of
the beam, i.e., before the slit of the spectrometer. Absorption in the molybdenum will obviously
appear as a lightening, transmission as a darkening. It will be seen that the molybdenum absorbs
all the frequencies in the X-ray emission of tungsten higher than a particular frequency and lets
through all frequencies lower than this value. This remarkable characteristic of the absorption of X-
rays was discovered by Barkla in 1909.[148] The absorption edge at which, with increasing
frequency, absorption suddenly begins is very sharply marked.
This edge coincides with the highest emission frequency of which molybdenum is theoretically
capable, and is a trifle higher than the highest observed emission frequency. De Broglie has
measured accurately these critical absorption frequencies for all the heavy elements up to thorium,
thus extending the series from atomic number where he found it, to , a notable
advance. The two absorption edges characteristic of the silver and the bromine in the photographic
plate appear in the same place on all the photographs in which they could appear. The other
absorption edges vary from element to element and are characteristic each of its particular
element. The way in which this critical absorption edge moves toward the central image as the
atomic number increases in the steps Br 35, Mo 42, Ag 47, Cd 48, Sb 51, Ba 56, W 74, Hg 80, is
very beautifully shown in De Broglie’s photographs all the way up to mercury, where the absorption
edge is somewhat inside the shortest of the characteristic radiations of tungsten. There must be
twelve more of these edges between mercury (N = 80) and uranium ( ) and De Broglie has
measured them up to thorium ( ). They become, however, very difficult to locate in this
region of frequencies on account of their extreme closeness to the central image. But the
radiations, which are of seven times longer wave-length, may then be used, and Fig. 23 of the
plate opposite this page shows the -ray absorption edges, of which there are three, as obtained
by De Broglie in both uranium and thorium, so that the position in the Moseley table of each
element all the way to the heaviest one, uranium, is fixed in this way by direct experiment. Fig. 25
shows the progression of square-root frequencies as it appears from measurements made on the
successive absorption edges of De Broglie’s photographs and on a particular one of Siegbahn’s
emission lines. It will be noticed that, in going from bromine (35) to uranium (92), the length of the
step does change by a few per cent. The probable cause of this will be considered later.

Fig. 22—X-ray absorption spectra. series

 Fig. 23—X-ray absorption spectra, series

Fig. 24—Hydrogen spectrum from the star Vega

 Fig. 25

According to modern theory an absorption edge appears where the incident energy—which is
proportional to the incident frequency—has become just large enough to lift the particular electron
which absorbs it entirely out of the atom. If this removed electron should then fall back to its old
place in the atom, it would emit in so doing precisely the frequency which was absorbed in the
process of removal.
Since these enormously high X-ray frequencies must arise from electrons which fall into
extraordinarily powerful fields of force, such as might be expected to exist in the inner regions of
the atom close to the nucleus, Moseley’s discovery strongly suggests that the charge on this
nucleus is produced in the case of each atom by adding some particular invariable charge to the
nucleus of the atom next below it in Moseley’s table. This suggestion gains added weight when it is
found that with one or two trifling exceptions, to be considered later, Moseley’s series of increasing
X-ray frequencies is exactly the series of increasing atomic weights. It also receives powerful
support from the following discovery.
Mendeleéff’s periodic table shows that the progression of chemical properties among the
elements coincides in general with the progression of atomic weights. Now it was pointed out ten
years ago that whenever a radioactive substance loses a doubly charged -particle it moves two
places to the left in the periodic table, while whenever it loses a singly charged -particle it moves
one place to the right,[149] thus showing that the chemical character of a substance depends upon
the number of free positive charges in its nucleus.
One of the most interesting and striking characteristics of Moseley’s table is that all the known
elements between sodium (atomic number 11, atomic weight 23) and lead (atomic number 82,
atomic weight, 207.2) have been fitted into it and there are left but three vacancies within this
range. Below sodium there are just 10 known elements, and very recent study[150] of their spectra
in the extreme ultra-violet has fixed the place of each in the Moseley progression, though in this
region the progression of atomic weights and of chemical properties is also altogether definite and
unambiguous. It seems highly probable, then, from Moseley’s work that we have already found all