Evening star., 1933-09-03

nature ways thought he WOulQ zee JuSt
how high up this effect Of the earth's
radio-activity reached. So Father Theo-
dore Wulf took an electroscope to the
| top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. That
is 800 meters 1884 feeD high. He was
surprised to find that his instrument
continued to discharge.
Then Swiss professor, DR.. A. Gockel.
determined that he would test this thing
to finish. He ascended with an cleo
| troScope In balloon to height Of !, 500
meters (nearly miles, and found that
the rate of discharge Of the instrument
increased as he went up.
Larger Balloons Used.
Others doubted. Drs. Hess and Kohl
horster Of Germany used larger balloons
nearly miles. They came down con-
vinced.
About 10 years ago DR.. r. A. Millikan
Of the California Institute Of Technol-
ogy took up the study. He had recently
been awarded the Nobel prize IN physics
| for his delicate and precise feat in meas
uring the charge on the electron, and
here was a yet more difficult task. He
devised more delicate electroScopes, and
took them with him on trips to different
parts of the world in search OF cosm1c
rays. These studies convinced him that
the rays did not originate in the atmos-
phere or in the solar system, but came
from outer space-indeed, were OF cos
mic origin He suggested that they be
| called "cosmic rays" and at q memoir
able meeting Of the National Academy
of Sciences outlined his famous explana-
ton of the rays as evidence that the
universe is still In the making, that the
| Creator is still on the Job"
According to this theory, coSmic rays
are high-freQuency photons. unchanged
particles like the particles Of visible
light, and represent certain TRANSMIT
tation of matter into radiation that oc-
ours when lighter atoms unite to make
heavier atom.
Thus, the lightest Of all the known
elements is hydrogen. Its weight is
close to one-fourth that Of the next
sumed that four hydrogen atoms unite
to produce one helium atom. The
weight Of the hydrogen atom Is 1.0073,
and four times this Is 4.0312. But the
weight Of the helium atom Is only
40O22.
Four hydrogens weigh. ..... .40312
One helium weighs. .40022
difference ................. .uZSo
What, then. has become Of the .029O
Of material that was originally present
In the four members Of the merger?
It has been converted into radiation,
says DR. Millikan's theory. The mat
ter has been tranmuted into energy
by the tremendous clash OF the atoms
fusing into q new and heavier unit,
and that energy is released as-cosmic
rays! According to this, cosmic rays
may be regarded as the reverberations
OF the creative process, or, more fgura-
lively. as the birth cries Of new atoms.
In Chicago a few weeks ago DR.. Mil
likan announced that the range of
voltages found for certain intenSities
of cosmic rays correspond to the COM
| puted energies that would be released
by the synthesis of lighter atoms to
| form heavier ones. Thus, ccsmic rays
carrying an energy of 27,000,000 volts
he Identifies as associated with the
synthesis of helium; those Of l00, 0,000,-
90 volts herald the creation Of oxy-
| gen; those Of 500 900, 900 volts signal
iron: those Of 1000 million volts
uranium. Presumably there are still
heavier elements to correspond to the
higher voltages that have been meas
ured for some Of the rays.
Opposite Theory Proposed.
Soon after DR.. Millikan announced
his theory, Sir James Jeans proposed
an exactly opposite theory which &C
counts for cosmic rays as an effect OF
atomic annihilation. All the more
obvious evidence. the laws Of thermo-
dynamics. the stupondous outpourings
of energy by the stars. the apparent
evolution OF the universe, points to a
running down rather than an upbu1ld-
ing as the present order Of nature.
And, reasoned Jeans, since the high
energies Of cosmic rays can be &C
counted for on the assumption that
matter is being consumed, annihilated.
melted down and evaporated wholly
into radiation, is not that the more
probable explanation?
Meanwhile. as the creationists and the
annihilationists were debating these fine
points. two professors IN Germany were
developing new evidence Drs. Bottle
and Kohlhorster rigged up a new ex
pertinent in which the cosmic rays be-
haved not as the neutral particles Of ra-
diation they were supposed to be, but as
charged particles of matter. This gave
new aspect to the situation, for the
creationists' theory Is based on the
promise that the rays are unchanged.
One way to test the electrical nature
OF rays is to subject them to the in
fluence Of a magnet. Thus beam Of
light passing near the pole Of a magnet
is not DETECTED because its particles,
being without charge, are neutral to
such influences. But beam Of elec-
irons is very markedly pulled to one
side.
Now cosmic rays are so energetic that
it requires an extremely powerful mag
v.nk HI4 fy1
their path. It occurred to the investi-
gators that the earth itself is magnet
with field sufficient to exert such an
influence; therefore, much of the re-
search in recent months has been di-
rected toward determining the distri-
button Of the rays over the earth and
their directions of travel.
It was this objective that led DR..
Compton to organize his far-1ung study
Of the subject, enlisting IL different ex-
petitions and pushing the search into
all the continents and many of the
Islands, lakes and high mountains
Compton came home from his $4,000
mile trip convinced that q large pro-
portion Of the cosmic rays are charged
particles. Recent studies by DR.. T. H.
johnson and Mr. Luis Alvarez made in
Mexico, Panama and other tropical
regions show the charged particles all
coming from the West, evidence that
they are positively charged. Not one
has shown negative charge. There
fore they are not electrons DR.. Comp
ton is inclined to believe that they are
either protons or POSITIONS.
DR.. Millikan holds to his theory that
the larger proportion Of the cosmic rays
are photons. The charged particles he
explained as "secondaries"-i. e., they
are not the rays themselves; they are
pieces knocked out of atoms by the tre-
mendous impact of the cosmic rays,
which thus give them velocities and
energies comparable to those Of the
rays themselves.
Experiments now under way will
push these inquiries farther and higher
into the atmosphere.
Pn9ifiveIx CharHe6 RarficlAR