Evening star., 1937-12-06
NEW DEUTER|UM
PROCESS IS FOUND
Extraction of Priceless Sub
stance and Likely Elixir of
Life Is Sped 20 Fold.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

method Of speeding up 20-fold
the extraction of one of the rarest
and most valuable substances in ma
ture, worth thousand times its weight
in gold, was announced at the Bureau
of Standards today.
= The substance is deuterium, or
heavy hydrogen. Hydrogen itself is
the lightest and most abundant sub
stance in creation, probably the orig
inal stuff Of the universe. Approx
mately / hydrogen atom in 5000 is
double the weight Of ordinary hydro
gen atoms. Since the isolation Of
minute quantity of this heavy hydro
gen at the Bureau of Standards about
10 years ago, it has revolutionized
wide fields of physics and chemistry,
made possible creation of new radio
active elements through Ms use as
an atomic cannon-ball, and even held
forth promise of increasing the length
of the average human life.
This precious substance is extracted
from water When an electric current
is sent through water, the oxygen and
hydrogen atoms in the molecule of the
liquid are ASSOCIATED. But the heavy
hydrogen atoms are most resistant to
this dissertation, so that eventually
one gets tiny residue of water which
is much heavier than ordinary water
This method of extraction was de-
Vised at the Bureau of Standards by
the late DR. E. w. Washburn.
There still remains the job of get
ting the deuterium atoms out of the
heavy water. This can be done simply
by continuing the electrolysis. Event
ually, the heavy water molecules will
break up. But it requires about two
days to complete the process and get
a usable sample of deuterium. DR..
Frederick D. Rossini, director OF the
thermo- chemistry division Of the Bu-
reau Of Standards, wanted to 60 at
the problem from the opposite direc-
tion-that is, to put some heavy water
together instead of tearing it apart.
Ordinary hydrogen and oxygen
combine to make water when they
are burned together. DR.. Rossini has
been making very exact measurements
OF the heat required to bring about
this union, and has arranged a spe-
cial device exhibited at the bureaus
thirtieth birthday party today. He
wanted to know whether deuterium and
oxygen would unite at the same heat
level. This required a sample of pure
deuterium in condition which could
not be obtained by electrolysis.
Working in collaboration with John
w. Knowlton, graduate student at
the University of Maryland, a curious
reaction was observed when a sample
OF heavy water was passed over a red
hot magnesium plate. The oxygen
was taken up by the magnesium,
forming magnesium oxide. The deu-
terlum passed off in pure state. In
this way, it was found, work which
hitherto had required two days could
be done in two hours. This promises
to be of outstanding Importance in
future experiments with deuterium
rea actions.
In the same experiment DR. Rossini
obtained probably for the first time,
liquid deuterium. Like any other
gas, it can be liquified if made cold
enough. This sample changed into
a colorless liquid in a metal bottle
surrounded by liquified hydrogen at
temperature of -235 centigrade.
For short time in the Bureau of
Standards laboratory was an abso-
lutely unique thing in nature in the
form of that little metal bottle of
liquid-maybe an actual elixir of life
or an elixir Of death, according to
diverse views psychologists have taken
of the role of deuterium in organisms.
DR.. Rossini borrowed his heavy
water from friend at Ohio State
University After breaking it up and
freezing the deuterium in it, he COM
bined it with oxygen and converted
it into heavy water again by an cleo
trio spark burning process and sent
it back to his friend without a single
one of the precious deuterium atoms
missing.