Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1922-02-11

New Yorli.-The transmutatiOn of
elements. the dream Of both charla-
tans and scientists for nearly a thou
sand years, has actually been accom-
plished by the recent work Of Sir
Ernest Rutherford. and his results ore
, generally accepted by scientists and
: physicists, according to Dr. James
/ Kendall, associate professor Of chem
/ iStiy at Columbia, who said, on the
other hand. that there was not the
( slightest reason to believe that the
+ Germans had accomplished their re-
/ ported feat Of making synthetic gold.
Nitrogen. sodium. aluminium, chlcr-
! inc. oxygen and carbon have been
Transmitted, or broken mp by Euthcr-
! ford into hydrogen and hciium. &c-
cnrdins to Or. Kendall.
This was first accomplished. accord
/ ins To- the claims OF Rutherford. ~
huuihardiug nitrogen GaS with tn al
PIN RAYS "r raGlpm. These So-call"d
rays are Iciium atoms which are iIiG@
,-urt OF the exploding raGium. atom W'ih
mn energy iUcoup;Eably greater fIiin
! my Trcieetlle p-Gduccd arIilicialiy.
/ Tire yel"cify of this atom wuuld take
il rround tho world in slightly les
thau a secoud, ana the powcs &C sJse
. exploding atom. IN rrnuorthn to SIZE.
is SoIScilinc like \ million Times
greater than that % trili,rotoluoi.
r Result Of 4 Chemical Collision.
The radium WAS placed 80 as 20
drive the alpha PARTICLES into nitrogen
gas. when the alpha particle had a
head-on collision with nitrogen atom
Il tore it 10 pieces. 81 it is asserted.
The atom supposedly has a structure
somewhat resembling the solar syS-
tenn. Its center is nucleus Of posi-
tive electricity. resembling the sun az
the solar system. and this is surround
ed by elec;ronS. or charges 0f mega
tive electricity. presumably whirling
about the nucleus, rs the planets whirl
about the sun.
The alpha particle Is believed to
produce such 4 disruption IN the atom
as might occur, for instance, IL an
other star of the dimensions of the
sun tore through our system. hit the
sun directly aud drove il OF into
space. causing the planets 10 shoot off
in all directions.
This occurs on n scale in the neigh
borhood Of the bilIlOnth part of
blllionth of an inch. but it can be
partly measured. The alpha particles
thrown Oft by radium produce scin-
citations when they strike screen Of
zine sulphide within a certain distance.
When they were used 10 lombard nj
trogen Scintillations took place ut
greater distances from the radium
than the alpha particle could alone
produce.
BY his study of these scintillations
Dr. Rutherford was able 20 prove to
the satisfaction Of men Of science gen
orally that new products were devel-
oped by the shattering of the nitro
gen atoms and that these products
were hydrogen and helium atoms. His
experiments have all been I'm the way
Of diSorganizing the more complex
atoms into simpler ones. The trans
mutation OF atoms with simple struc-
lures into those with more complex
ones has not been achieved.
Or. Kendall on Rutherford.
Rutherford has reduced nitrogen,
aluminium, chlorine and sodium to n.y.
drogen and helium,r said DIR KeB-
DAN. "He has also produced heIiism
atoms by tearing oxygen ana carbon
to pieces, hut hydrogen has not re-
suited. / believe, from the disruption
of these atoms.
"ThiS is certainly the tranSmutation
of elements. but it is dome on an in
finitcly small scale, and is important
at present only to the scientific man.
II does not promise that elements can
be changed from one type 10 another,
except on the smallest laboratory
scale. II does not suggest that the
transmutation Of metals may he de
yeloped from IT,"
The possible far-reaching results Of
Ruthcrford's discovery were discussed
as follows by Professor O. w. Rich
ardson in his recent presidential adj
dress 10 the Section Of Mathematics
and Physics of the British association:
Rutherford has taken the direct !
method Of bombardinG the nuclei Of
the different atoms with tln equally
minute high-velocity hellum nuclei |
(alpha particles) given of by radio /
active substances. and examining the /
tracks Of any other particles which |
may be generated as a result of the
impact.
The amounts os energy which have
been thus far released by artificial |
disintegration OF the nuclei are them
selves small, but they are enormous In
comparison with the minute amount |
OF matter affected.
''If these effects can be sufficiently |
intensified there appears TO be two
possibilities. Either they will prove
uncomfortable, which Sgould presun-
ably spell the end Of ell things, or
they VIII not. If they can be both in
tenslfied and controlled, then we shall
have at our disposal an almost Him
table supply Of power which will en-
tIrely transcend anything hitherto
known" Il