Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1914-08-21
ENERGY IN ATOMS
Likened to Infinite Power In an
lntinitesimal Space.
EACH ONE IS A TINY WORLD.

" All Should Burst Their Walls at
Once the Universe Would Dissolve
IN an lnstant-A Magic Force That
Science Is Seeking TO Control.
DO you remember when Aladdin
had, at last, got down into the cave
under the tree, what inexpressible mar
vels he found around him1 But among
ull The riches of the cave there was
Oniy one little dust covered thing that
was really worth the risk he had run,
because It alone was truly novel and
unlike anything else in the world-the
necromantie lamp that had the genie
for its slave With that ia his posses
sion the poor boy was more powerful
than all the monarchs in the world
provided that he knew how to handle
the lamp, and that knowledge came to
him by accident
l have Just been p0ndering over some
statements by Jean Becquerel. the
French physicist. about the contents
of the atoms Of which matter is com
posed. and they have forcibly recalled
Aladdins adventures to my mind The
Interior Of an atom is a little world
infinitely more marvellous than the
cave that contained the magic lamp.
and 1t conceals powers incomparably
greater than that of Aladdin's good
genie.
To the scientific Imagination the in-
side of an atom is inversely as won
drous as the starry heavens. 1t is In
finite power packed into infinltesimal
space. That. of course, is an exag-
geratiOn; but this is a case in which
one has to speak in imposing figures,
because the facts surpass all ordinary
experience.
1.-THE atom," says Jean Becquerel,
lis a closed world. or almost closed.
and it is that fact which constitutes
its individuality"
This CLOSED world" of the atom is
so small that If we conld increase the
powers of our microscopes thou
sandfOld we could not render II visible,
and vet that minute speck of matter
incloses a solar system" as elaborate
RS that of the great sun with its
planets. and keeps locked up there an
energy so colossal that the plainest
statements of fact that can be made
about 1t seem like wild dreams.
"The emanation from radlun" IA
substance whose atoms spontaneously
give ont nj least part Of their en-.
ergyl ''is capable of Iiberating 100000
times more energy than the most VIC
lent chemical reaction known"
The world within the atom ordinarily
behaves as II it had no concern with
the world outside. II is sufficient unto
itself. Ii is a little medieval China.
with closed ports and insurmounta Bile
walls all round. Still. very few atoms.
like those OF radium. have tendency
to communicate with the outer world
by kind of explosion.
II all atoms should burst their walls
simultaneously the whole universe
would be dissolved in an instant.
The atoms that do disintegrate pass
from change to change. Within their
limits the foundations of matter are
broken up; the distinctions of the fun.
damental elements are confounded: /:
things lose their nature and shift into
other things; uranium gives birth to
radlum and to polonium; radium brings
forth helinm. and the last transfOrma.
tion of polonium that has thus far been
observed is into plain lead! 1t is ike a
transmigration of atomic souls.
But this is not the only consequence
OF the opening of the world of the
atom. That opening releases energy in
forms which we can recognize and
which some day perhaps we may be
able to utilize.
Atomic energy is the magic lamp
that the Aladdin of science has found
In natures secret cave.
One day Aladdin's mother found the
rusty lamp where he had cast It aside
as useless and Thought that she would
polish It up. Instantly, at the 6rst Wig
Orous rub. the slave of the lamp stood
before her, ready to do her biddingi
The Aladdin of science has not
thrown his lamp aside. He knows 1t is
full of magic. He is sure that II be
rubs 1t Alright the genie will appear be-
fore him, but he has not yet learned
the right stroke. And perhaps after all
1t will be with him as 1t was with the
other Aladdin-aecident will teach him
the secret.
When that day comes, II ever it does.
there will hardly be any limit to the
transforming power OF man over the
world be lives in.-Garrett P. Serviss
In New York Journal.