Evening star., 1928-11-18

" 80 miles en- hour-Some do
"A or racing automobile clocked
4 \ at a record gait of one mile in
three-tenths of minute, OF
an airplane which can fly from New
York to San Francisco in one night
and a day are mans modern vehicles
of almost inconceivable speed.
The fastest revolving wheels known
70 science travel at a crippled snail'S
pace as compared with the normal We
locity of atoms. The term human
speed demons" is voided of all senSa-
tionalism when We ordinary n1ortals
fish pencils from our pockets and figure
out on paper a few of the superficial
facts about atoms. the greatest wonder
workers in the ken of chemistry, phys
les. engineering and all the other sci
ences. industries and art amalgamated
An atom of air when out for stroll
or whatever other amusement atoms
enicy-moves along at speed of one
mile second. a gait Of $500 miles an
hour. twice as fast as the SwifteSt bull
let travels. Science has perfected
miraculous method of measuring the
velocity of atoms. and even of photo
grabbing them as they amble about.
This phenomenon Is conSummated so
speedily that the unaided human eye
IS useless as an observer of the opera
blULl. 1Ou Will pIEGOy we'll uIlOSISLdIlQ
the truth of this statement when you
discover that a helium atom nucleus
when shot by science from a radium
atom travels at the prodigious speed of
10000 miles second, thousands of
times faster than the flight of the
swi'test proiectile ever fired.
An atom is the smallest unit possess
ing the characteristic properties of any
chemical element. In actual size it is
50 small that in comparison a pin
point is vast and spacious. Science has
to assemble 200.000,000 atoms side by
side in order to span the small distance
of l inch. If it were possible to plas-
ter l square inch of surface with atoms,
it would require 10000 million million
to turn the trick. 1t would take 8 tril-
lion million million atoms at rest to
occupy l cubic inch of space. If atoms
were as large as Florida oranges, a
thimbleful of air would furnish enough
to blanket the United States with this
citrus fruit to depth of 1000 feet
and would contain more atoms than
cubic mile of sand.
To the most of us, the ordinary atom
is the featherweight of 9he scientific
world. You can fully understand that
the most delicate scales ever built are
required to weigh atoms when you read
that the nickel with which you pur-
chase bag of popcorn contains 100000
million million million atoms. Science
has even perfected a practical way of
weighing these midgets of modernity
by shooting them from an electric gun
and then DETECTING them The heavier
the atom, the harder it is to defect.
INDIVIDUAL 4 atoms are SO minute
that it would seem impossible for
the human eye-or the most powerful
microscopic discern them. Strange
TO say, however, all that we see when
ever we use our eyes are atoms and
collections of atoms. Atoms are really
elemental lamps which generate natu-
raj light and produce color.
Solving the mysteries of black magic
has been but minor consummation as
compared with the means measures and
methods which chemists and physicists
have devised to study and even photo
graph the activities of atoms. Skilled
experts watch the fight Of atoms even
as you and I observe falling stars as
they shoot with incredible speed across
the skys stupendous azure screen Al
one intensive research, science photo
graphed the flights and track mark
of more than 100000 atoms in studying
their curious characteristics.
Atoms like automobiles collide fire.
quently in their journeyingS here, there |
and beyond through ether and space |
Existence apparently is nothing more
than a regular repetition of such COL
lisions to Amos Atom, his associates,
friends and relatives. An atom may
experience billions of collisions second
The wreckers surely must do pros
porous business in the realm of per-
petual atomic activity.
One particular atom known scientific
ally as "Thorium c" must be sickly,
delicate fellow for he is remarkably
short-lived according to normal atom
longevity. In one one hundred
billionth of a second he runs the gamut
of existence, from cradle to grave. The
heaviest atoms are radioactive, eXplod-
ing uncontrollably with life periods as
great as twenty-five billion years
Lighter atoms may continue unchanged
even longer. Science reports that at
this time there are 90 species of atoms
In the accepted periodic system although
two of these have not as yet been dis
covered and identified by man.
Can atoms be transmuted?" your
writer asked of Henry D. Hubbard of
the Bureau of Standards who has
gained international fame as result
of his contributions to the modern
compendium of knowledge about atoms
Atoms of many elements have al
ready been broken up" came the reply
Elections may be shot off from an
atom, or the nucleus itself shattered
AS yet we cannot build up these nuclei
at will When we master this art, W.
shall transmute elements, and the age
old dream of the alchemists will be full
filled. The stars are doing it count
less times every second.