Evening star., 1935-04-27
SCIENCE FREES
ATOMIC ENERGY
Neutrons Fired at Atoms
Release Huge Power.
Possibilities Vast.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

BY THOMAS R. HENRY.
Release of atomic energy in
amounts two hundred million times
the amount of energy applied was
reported to the American Physical
Society. meeting here yesterday. by
DR.. J. r. Dunning of Columbia Uni
versity.
Thus science stepped over the
frontier of new age when, it may
be. the immense forces that bind to-
gether the electrons and protons of
the atom can be tapped to replace
fuel and water power. 1t often has
been stated that there is enough
energy in spoonful of water to take
the largest ocean liner across the
Atlantic. if it were only possible to
tap it. In the past this has been
possible only in very slight degree
and at a cost of energy many thou
sands of times the amount obtained
and the utilization of atomic force
has been looked upon as a possible
development of many centuries hence
In order to release atomic energy
IT is necessary to break up the system
of the atom by striking the nucleus
with powerful hieh-speed particle.
The possibility of doing this was re-
Gently described by Prof Albert Elm
stein AS comparable with the possi-
bility of hunter killing a duck by
firing shots at random in pitch dark
ness. Millions of shots we're re-
quired before it was possible to hit
single nucleus
Neptrons Are Fired.
Prof. Dunning has partially solved
this problem although. of course, the
practical utilization of atomic energy
still is long way off. He has sue
ceeded in controlling the neutron
recently discovered subatomic parti-
Gle comparable in size to the proton
and the electron but without either
positive or negative charge, against
lithium atoms Neutrons, slowed to
travel with energies of a fortieth of
a volt, were fired straight into the
hearts of the atoms in the Columbia
experiments with such destructive
force that the atom yielded up en-
ergy corresponding to 100000 volts
This is a million times greater than
the largest amount of atomic energy
obtained by other methods, it was
reported.
The neutron is the most powerfully
penetrating particle in the atomic
world. but hitherto it was impossible
10 make it go in any particular direc-
tion. A neutron gun" could not be
aimed and consequently most of the
bullets were wasted. only one in thou
sands ever found its mark BY the
method developed at Columbia the
greater part of them may be fired at
the desired target, the heart of the
atom.
May Aid Medicine.
The discovery also holds forth far
reaching possibilities in the field of
medicine since the neutron has
much greater penetrating power than
either the gamma rays from radium
or the most powerful X-rays. These
attack only the outer layers of atoms.
The earliest intimation of the posi-
hility of controlling the direction of
the neutron came last Winter with a
report from Rome Of the work of Prof
Enrlco Fermi. who had succeeded in
creating artificially Element 9S. the
last and heaviest in the atomic table
Fermi tried to establish the fact that
by slowing down the speed of the neu-
tron-ordinarily it moves at almost
the speed of light-it might be
brought under control So he first al
lowed them to pass through a thick
sphere of paraffin before allowing
them to hit the ultimate target. It
required considerable energy for the
particles to get through the paraffin.
He found that with these slow neu-
irons he could make many more hits
at the atom targets 1t was upon this
clue that the Columbia University
physicists worked. Dr. Danning first
slowed down the speed of his particles
and then cooled them by allowing
them to pass through liquid air.
The ultimate success of the expert
ment depended upon a very curious
phenomenon, hitherto unknown. The
nucelus of the atom. it appears. ac-
tually becomes larger as the Slow
moving neutron approaches it. The
amount of this expansion varies
greatly with the kind of atom. The
carbon nucelus hardly sWells at all
The hydrogen nucleus increases in
size eight-fold. The lithium nucleus.
with which the successful experiments
were made, swellS 30-fold The target
automatically becomes larger as the
accuracy of the shot is increased. The
nucleus of boron. which was not used |
IN the experiments, increases nearly
500 times.
NeutrOnS Scarce.
This. however. does not mean that
the the door of atomic energy has been
thrown wide open. One drawback is
the exreme scarcity of neutrons. They |
occur very rarely in nature and they |
cannot be manufactured at will. One
OF the chief sources of them is radium
gas. the emination resulting from the
nrst diSintegration of radium.
The luminous smoke trails of me-
teors from rs to 100 miles above the
earth reveal 100-mile an-hour winds |
which seem to decrease at lower alti- |
tudes. DR.. Charles P. Olivier of the |
University of Pennsylvania. reported
to the American Geophysical Union
in symposium on the physics of |
the upper atmosphere yesterday after
noon. Below so miles the prevailing
direction Of these winds appears to |