Evening star., 1935-04-20
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field.
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS 4 HENRY.

The status Of electricity q the
fundamental world stuff" Is seriously
challenged, says Or. Paul Heyl. noted
physicist of the United States Bureau
Of Standards.
Recent developments-notably the
discovery Of the neutron, or SUBJ
atomic particle without any electrical
charge-have again raised the ques-
ton as to whether matter Is q prop
erty Of electricity or electricity q prop
erty Of matter. or whether there may
not be both electrical and non-elec-
trical matter.
For most Of the present century,
Or. Heyl told the Philosophical 3d.
ciety Of Washington, composed largely
Of Government scientists, the other
night. 1t has been generally accepted
that the atoms, Of which all matter
Is composed, were themselves made up
OF particles Of positive and negative
electricity held together in perfect
balance. Thus any object whatso-
ever. from a pinhead to 4 star, Is
fundamentally a conglomeration Of
the positive and negative particles,
protons and electrons, held together
In equilibrium. II there happens to
be an access Of one or the other
the object is positively or negatively
charged.
Thus, says DR.. Heyl, the current
view Is that matter Is merely An elec-
trical phenomenon which electricity
may exhibit, more or less, according
to circumstances" But II this view
Il correct, he pointed out, It Ia neces-
sAry that the number Of positive and
negative particles in the universe be
exactly equal. Even the slightest de-
Walton would throw the whole con-
cept into serious doubt, and during
the past few years such apparent
oeviations are being reported.
A+4
One such apparent contradiction, DR..
Heyl pointed out. Is In the behavior
OF the earth itself. One such, he said,
ID the negative charge Of the earth.
Our earth," he explained, "is not
q neutral body. It's entire surface Is
negatively charged to such an amount
that there exists near the surface q
potential gradient Of $50 volts per
meter. The conductivity Of the atmos-
pnere u small. but not zero. 30, be-
cause Of this conductiNty and the
potential gradient, there Is q con-
tinual conduction Of negative elec-
tricity away from the earth amount
Ing, tor the whole surface, to q cur.
rent Of about 1000 amperes.
"Hn1n11 All. Il
sumcisnt to bring about . loss Of 90
per cent Of the earth's charge In 10
minutes If there were no means Of
replenishing the loss. The nature Of
this replenishment 10 q mystery"
Attempts to solve this mystery, DR..
Heyl said, have resulted in two ex-
plantations, both Of which seem to call
for the dependence of electricity on
matter to some extent. One aSsump-
tion b that electrons, or particles Of
negative electricity, are being created
in the earth's interior. The other Il
that particles Of positive electricity
are being destroyed. This latter
called for annihilation Of less than
one proton per day, which win In
volve . loss Of halt Of per cent Of
the earth's mass In something like 4
hundred quintillion years.
All this shakes the foundations of
the law Of the conservation Of electric
charge, which has q fundamental q
place In modern physics - the law Of
conservation Of matter had 4 couple
Of decades ago.
4 Il
still another disturbing factor, Dr..
Heyl pointed out, u the discovery Of
the neutrcn, or sub-atomie particle
without any negative charge, positive
or negative. This woul4 be accounted
foe By the Assumption, which eenefally