Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-07-23
ENERGY IN ATOMS
likened to Infinite Power In an
lntinitesimal Space.
EACH ONE IS A TINY WORLD.
u All Should Burst Their Walls At
Once the Universe Would Dissolve
In an Instant-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.
wells he found around himf But among
all the riches OF the cave there was
only one little dust covered thing that
was really worth the risk he had run,
because 1t alone was truly novel and
unlike anything else In the world--ths
necrOmanuc lamp that had the genie
for its slave With that in 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
have just been pondering 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
Aladdin's 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 imaginat ton the In
side OF an atom is inversely as won.
drous as the starry heavens 1t Is In.
finite power packed into infinitesimal
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
''The atom" says Jean Becquerel
rs closed world. or almost closed.
and II Is that fact which constitutes
Its Individuality"
This CLOSED world" OF the atom IL
80 small that ir we could increase the
powers OF our microscopes thou.
sandfOld we could not render II visible.
and yet that minute speck OF matter
inclOses "sOlar system" as elaborate
as 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 II seem like wild dreams
1.-The emanation from radium" IA
substance whose atoms spontaneously
give out at least part of their en-
ergy, us capable of hberating 100000
times more energy than the most VIC
lent chemical reaction known"
| The world within the atom ordina rily
behaves as II II had no concern with
the world outside. 1t is sufficient unto
itself 1t is u little medieval China.
with closed ports and insurmountable
walls all round Stll. very few atoms.
like those OF rndium. have tendency
to communicate with the outer world
by kind OF explosion.
1f all atoms should burst their walls
simultaneously the whole universe
would be dissolved In nm instant
The atoms that do disinteGrate pass
from change to change. Within their
limits the foundations or matter are
broken up; the distinctions OF the fun
damental elements are COMPOUNDED:
things lose their nature and shift into
other things; uranium gives birth to
radium and to pOlonium: rndium brings
forth helinm. and the last transtOrmn
don OF polonium that has thus far been
observed IL into plain lead. Ii Is like u
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 recognizes and
which some day perhaps we may be-
able to utilize.
Atomic energy - the magic lamp
that the Aladdin OF science has found
IN natures secret cave
One day Aaddin's mother FOUND the
rusty lamp where he had cast II aside
as useless and thought that she would
| polish II up. Instantly, MT the first Vt.
oruuS rub, the slave 81 the lamp stoed
| before her. ready 10 do her bidding
The Aladdin ot science has not
| thrown his lamp aside He knows /, Is
! full OF magic. He Is sure that II ne
! rubs II Alright the genie viii appear IN
fore him. but he has not yet learned
| the right stroke And perhaps aftet all
| Il viii be With MIN rs II was With the
other Aladdin accident viii teach him
! the secret
When that day comes. II ever II does,
there will hardly he any limit to the
TRANSFORMING power OF man over the
world he lives In Garrett SeTvtss
In New York journal.