Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1914-11-26
ENERGY IN ATOMS
Llkened to Infinite Power In an
Infinitesimal Space.
EACH ONE IS A TINY WORLD.

" All Should Burst Their Walls at
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 inexpressiDle mar
yels he found around him. 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 worId-the
necromantic 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 10 handle
the lamp. and that knowledge came 10
him by accident
have just been bordering 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 lnmp
and 1t conceals powers incomparably
greater than that Of Aladdin's good
genie.
To the scientific Imagination the in
side of an atom Is lnversely as Won
drous as the starry heavens. II is In.
finite power packed into infnitesimnI
space. That. of course. is an exag-
geration; but this Is q case IN which
one has to speak In imposing figures.
because the facts snrpass all ordinary
experience.
'The atom" says Jean BecqUerei.
is 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 thor
sandfold we could not render II visible.
and yet that minnie speck OF matter
fncloses a solar system" rs 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 it seem like wild dreams.
1.-The emanation from radlum" "a
substance whose atoms spontaneously
give out at least a part Of their en-
ergyl lis capable of liberating 2.5O0.0O0
times more energy than the most vic
lent chemical reaction known"
The world within the atom ordinarily
behaves as If 1t had no concern with
the world outside. II is sufficient unto
itself. Ii is a little medieval China
with closed ports and insurmountab bic
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 4
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 polonium: radium brings
forth helium, and the last transforms /
ton of polonium that has thus far been /
observed Is into plain lead. 1t is like y /
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 tn utilize.
Atomic energy is the magic lamp /
that the Aladdin of science has found !
in natures secret cave.
One day Aladdin's mother found tile (
rusty lamp where he had cast II aside |
as useless and thought that she would
polish II up. Instantly, at the first Wig I
orous rub. the slave of the lamp stood |
before her, ready to do her bidding:
The Aladdin of science has nor |
thrown his lamp aside. he knows II is
full of magic. He is sure that IL he
rubs it Alright the genie will appear be-
fore him, but be has not vet learned /
the right stroke. And perhaps after all /
1t will be with him as II was with the
other Aladdin--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 ln.-Garrett p Serviss
in New York Journal.