The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-01


 due to the fuorescent, photographic or electric effect of these rays, for other in. visible rays such as heat. ultra violet light and x-rays are able to produce sim- liar effects Nor Is 1t the more recently discovered fact that radium Is able to maintain its temperature above that of surrounding objects. Many if not all an- finals and plants are able to do the same
 There are i've principal reasons why these radioactive substances are of spe- cial interest to the scientist:
 First-The first Is that radium throws off particles which are not radium but a different substance. having lowcr ato- mic weight. This Is seen In the alpha rays and the gaseous emanation. It i'm. plies the dissociaticn of the atom into smaller atoms and of the element into other substances. It implies a law of matter analogous to the correlation of energy. Just as one kind of energy can be converted into another kind, 90 one substance can De converted Into another. It hints at the possibility of a transmu- tation of metals which the ancient philos- ophers so eagerly sought. It does not af- feet the law of conservation of mass. or the indestructibility of matter.
 Second-A second important fact Is that radium throws off particles that arc SmalIeT than the SII1dlltSt hSSc are the Beta rays. which. as we have seen, are the same as the cathode rays of the Crookes tube. These particles all seem to have the same mass whatever the substance from which they come. This implies new unit of matter and a new element from which all the different chemical elements are built up This Is not a new idea but 1t Is another confir- nation of a theory that has been grow ing in strength for several years Facts are accommodating from many lines of re- search that all the different kinds of mat ter have been evolved from some simple primordial substance like the other, ex- tremely rare and all prevailing. The names protyle or nebulum have been sug- gested for such a substance.
 Third-A third point Of theoretical in- terest is the fact that the minute parti- cles composing the cathode and beta rays always bear a definite charge of electric ity which cannot be divided or removed from t"nrn. And since the presence of sue, -=n. as will be shown in an- other can be made to explain many or t... essential properties of mat ter such as impenetra plity, inertia, CO., hesion, and chemical affinity. is it not probable that the ultimate atoms of mat ter are the same as the ultimate atoms of electricity and that in the final analy- sis matter and electricity are the same? And since an electric charge always man. ifests itself as a stress in the ether. may not these ultimate atoms of matter and electricity be only an ether stress. result ing from some vortex motion?
 Fourth-Another interesting scientific fact connected with the Becquerel rays is the enormous velocity of the particles emitted. A cannon ball moves at the rate
 
 earth in It's orbit has velocity of about seventeen miles per second. Venus and Mercury move still faster and some of the stars are known to have a velocity Of 200 miles per second. But the particles in the Becduerel rays are moving at the rate of 10000 to 1S,000 miles per second. This implies a new order of motion, the intra-atomic, and makes 1t necessary to restrict Newton's celebrated laws of mo- ton to masses moving at ordinary veloc- ities.
 Fifth-But the most interesting point of all is the fact that these radioactive substances are constantly manifesting en- ergy without any apparent adequate source. When other bodies radiate en- ergy 1t can be traced to some source. Many bodies will glow for time after being exposed to light or heat or the electric current. or as the result of some chemical combination But as soon as the source of energy is shut off they soon cease to radiate. But radium continues to send forth it's multiple rays for months and years, without diminution, even when reduced to the temperature of liquid air and shut up in vacuum in lead box with walls a foot thick. At first thought it might seem to be an exception to the law of conservation of energy upon which all physical science is based. But never for moment has science entertained such a conclusion. To the scientist 1t is unthinkable. He could no more think of radium creating the energy which it man. ifests than it creates the material par ticles which 1t hurls into space. It must have store of potential energy from which 1t gradually draws in manifesting its different properties, and which will finally be exhausted. or 1t must be con stantly receiving energy from some as yet unknown external source and which it transforms into heat and radiant en- ergy.
 Theories as to the Source of Energy.
 Two hypotheses have been advanced to account for the energy manifested by these newly discovered radioactive sub stances The first. which is held by Sir Oliver Lodge Is that there Is a store of energy in the atomic structure of the sub stance. just as the explosive energy Of dynamite is stored in the complex mole cular structure of this substance. The theory Is based upon the fact that all of the radioactive substances are composed of massive atoms, which are disinteg- rated in radiation, According to this the ory an atom of radium consists of some 25SOOO electrons. all revolving in inter locked orbits with great velocity around common center In much the same way as the bodies of the solar system revolve around their common center. The energy is stored in these revolving electrons just as there is immense energy stored in the revolving planets. By resistance of the ether or some other cause the orbits of the eectrons became smaller and thelr speed increases in accordance with a known law until they approach the speed of light, when the system becomes un- stable and finally breaks up, some of the electrons being hurled into space. others recombining into smaller systems, form ing atoms of a different substance. The collisions of these flying particles with each other and with the molecules of the substance would account for the heat, the gamma rays and the visible glow light of the radium. Since only few atoms out of the millions of billions composing the substance reach the unstable condition at the same time the process may continue for thousands of years before the entire