Evening star., 1937-05-02
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

o1 1HouhS n. nENn1
New experiments with the strange,
recently isolated force of super
gravity-a billion billion billion billion
times greater than gravity within a
field of force whose radius is little
less than three ten-trillionths Of a
centimeter-were described before the
American Physical Society meeting
here yesterday by Drs. L. r. Hafstead,
N. P. Heydenburg and NJ A. Tuve Of
the Carnegie Institution of Washing
ton.
The first actual contact with this
force was made last year by DR..
Tuve and his associates at the institu-
tions terrestrial magnetism labora-
tory. The existence of something Of
the sort long had been postulated.
1t was essential for any valid explana-
ton of the existence of matter because
without it presumably the nuclei OF
all the elements except hydrogen
would fly to bits because of electrical
repulsion. All creation would be re-
duced to a formless cloud of hydrogen
gas.
Similar to Gravity.
The experiments reported today
furnish definite physical evidence that
it actually is an attractive force,
similar to gravity in every way except
that it is immeasurably greater The
previous conclusions depended on
mathematical interpretations Of very
complex data.
The force becomes active only when
two protons pass almost within
grazing distance Of each other Both
are units OF positive electricity form.
ing the heavy hearts of atoms. Theo-
retlcally, if the laws Of electrical re-
pulsion held, these two units should
repel each other very vigorously.
Actually, DR.. Tuve and his associates
found in their high voltage work in
the Washington laboratory the ex-
pected repulsion gives way to tre-
mendous attraction.
Step by step they have reduced the
voltages with which their motion pro-
jectiles are fired at other protons to
the point where the attractive and
repulsive forces exactly balance SO
that the "bullet' travels in a straight
line Otherwise it would curve around
the target proton somewhat like q
comet around the SUM-
Not Material Particles.
Actually, DR.. Hafstead explained in
an interview, it no longer is possible
to speak of either projectile or target
as material particles, although they
constitute the substance of material
things. A proton may be considered
as the unpicturable field in which
these forces of attraction and repulsion
act. The unimaginably minute radius
Of about three tenth-trillionths Of q
centimeter in which the newly isolated
force acts may be considered as mark
ing the limits of 'proton space"
The Carnegie Institution physicists
do not know whether the force with
which they are dealing is "a kink
in gravity itself" when it enters
the protonic field Of force, or some
thing entirely without parallel in the
microscopic world. Before the exper-
iments reported today it was largely
mathematical abstraction, but it now
becomes simply demonstrable reality
1t is, beyond all comparison, the most
titanic force with which human expe-
rience ever has come in contact.
1t is possible, DR.. Hafstead stressed,
possible only to demonstrate its exist
ence. Man Is as far as ever from
being able to make any use Of it
Some Of it is released when one atomic
nucleus, propelled by enormous voltage
hits directly another atomic nucleus,
but such a direct hit is SO rare that
the amount of energy actually OBJ
tanned, compared with that put into
the bombardment, is minute.
Approach Ultimate Reality.
1t is clear, however, that the
Carnegie physicists have approached
experimentally, nearer to the ultimate
reality of things than ever has been
possible before except in mathematical
distractions impossible of physical
demonstration. An extensive research
program has been outlined for the
Washington laboratory for furthe,
study Of the force of nature compared
to which all other forces are incon-
sequentially minute.
Creation Of temperatures of 10000
600, 900 degrees, $50 times hotter than
the interior Of the sun, in the nuclei
Of atoms was described by DR.. H. A.
Bethe Of Cornell University. They re-
suit when a deuteron, the atom OF
heavy hydrogen, is fired at such q
nucleus with an energy of 5000, ,00c
volts Such temperature lasts only
hundredth of a billionth Of q
second, during which certain very
essential things happen.
Salt Could be Made Deadly.
Approximately million volts of the
energy, DR.. Bethe calculates, goes into
raising the temperature of the entire
nucleus to the extent of 10 billion
degrees. BY the creation of the TO-
billion degree temperatures, Prof
Bethe reported, a gram of ordinary
table salt could be transformed into
an artincially radioactive substance
that would be equivalent to q million
grams Of radium. A whole gram
would be the most powerful suhstapce