Studies on extensive air showers. Part I. - Sea level observations on the variation with shower size of the total number of nuclear-interacting particles in showers of (10<SUP>4</SUP> ÷ 2.5·10<SUP>6</SUP>) particles

An experiment carried out at sea level on the lateral distribution of nuclear-interacting particles in air showers and the variation of their number with the size of the showers, is described; the showers recorded ranged in size from 10<SUP>4</SUP> to 2.5&#183;10<SUP>6</SUP> particles. The results indicate that the number of nuclear-interacting particles is proportional to N <SUB>e</SUB> <SUP>0.45&#177;0.05</SUP> for showers of size N<SUB>e</SUB> less than about 6&#183;10<SUP>5</SUP> particles, and the number is proportional to &#8764;N <SUB>e</SUB> <SUP>1.2</SUP> for larger sizes. What has been obtained in this experiment and in similar experiments conducted by other groups (Nicol'sky et al. and Lehane et al.), is the average number of nuclear-interacting particles in a large number of showers of a given size. The possibility that such an average may not be meaningful if large intrinsic fluctuations (other than normal statistical variations) exist, is pointed out