Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1914-07-02
ENERGY IN ATOMS
Likened to Infinite Power In an
lntiniteSimaI Space.
EACH ONE is A TINY WORLD.


Once the Universe Would Dissolve
In an lnstant-A Magic Force That
Science Is Seeking to Control.
do you remember when Aladdin
mad, at last. got down into the cave
under the tree. what inexpressible mar
VelS he found around hiini 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 II alone was truly novel and
unlike anything else In the world-the
necrOmantc lamp that had the genie
for its slave. With that in his posses.
sion the poor boy was more powerful
tnan all the mOnarchs in the world
provided that he knew how to handle
the lamp. and that knowledge came to
him by accident.
nave 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 adveDtnrPs to my mind. The
interior of an atom is little world
Infinitely more marvellous than the
| cave that contained the magic lamp.
and 1t conceals powers incoDIparabl
greater than that OF Aladdin's good
genie.
10 the scientific Imagination the in.
side OF an atom is inversely as won.
drous as the starry heavens Ii is in.
Unite power packed into infinitesimal
space That. OF course. is an exag-
geration; but this is case In which
one has to speak In imposing figures.
because the facts surpass all ordinary
experience.
THE atom" says Jean Becqnerel.
rs closed world. or almost closed,
and II 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 a thou-
sandfold we could not render II visible.
| and yet that minnie speck of matter
incloses a solar system" as elaborate
as that Of the great sun with its
planets, and keeps locked up there an
energy 80 colossal that the plainest
statements of fact that can be made
abont II seem like wild dreams.
"The emanation from radium" ia
substance whose atoms Jsponta neousIy
give ont at least part OF their en-
ergy, "is capable of liberating 25OO.OOO
times more energy than the most vio-
lent chemical reaction known"
The world within the atom ordinarily
behaves as If II had no concern with
the world outside. Ii is sufficient unto
itself. Ii is little medieval China.
with closed ports and insurmountab BILE
walls all round. Still. very few atoms
like those of radium. have a 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
radium and TO pOlOniuD: radium brings
forth helinm. and the last transforma.
tOn OF polOniuD that has thus far been
observed is into plain lead! II Is like
transnigration of atomic souls.
Bnt 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 east Il aside
as useless and thought that she would
polish it up. Instantly, at the first Wig.
orOus rub, the slave of the lamp stood
before her. ready to do her bidding!
The Aladdin OF science has not
thrown his lamp aside. He knows 1t is
full of magic. He is sure that If he
rubs II Alright the genie will appear be-
fore him, bur he has not vet learned
the right stroke. And perhaps after all
It will be with him as It was with the
other Aladdn-accident will teach him
the secret.
When that day comes. II ever II does.
there will hardly be any limit To the
TRANSFORMING power OF man over the
world he lives in.-Garrett P. Serviss
In New York Journal.