Evening star., 1939-05-02
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

And Study
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
Theoretically, one might suppose,
about the nearest approach to perpetual
motion would be tuning fork vibrat-
ing in vacuum or near vacuum.
There would be no outside friction
to stop it and the original energy which
set it in motion should continue in
definitely. 1t would not, Prof. c. Zener
of the College of the City Of New York
explained to the American Physical So
ciety here the other day, because Of
the internal friction of its own crystals.
The energy would be dissipated in Gre
alton of minute amounts of heat.
In air tuning fork will only vibrate
about i,OO0 times. Prof. Zener found
that when one composed OF brass spe-
cially made with the finest possible par
ticles CT equal size Is placed in vacuum
1t will yibrate approximately 100000
times. 1t must stop sometime, however,
when the heat created by the internal
friction is sufficient to account for all
the energy of the initial impulse which
started off the vibration.
BY means of delicate measurements
he has been able to determine the
amounts Of this heat and the rate at
which it is created. 1t varies greatly,
he said. depending on the particle sizes
in the metals and on the process used in
manufacture.
A new tool for prying into the mys-
teries Of the atom was described by Drs.
T. Russell wilkins and Gustav Kuerti
of the University of Rochester-a cam
era for recording the tracks OF atoms
as they are scattered by the university's
1000, ,000-electron volt atom smasher
BY means of this camera, DR.. Wilkins
said he hopes to gather reliable data on
the nature of the tremendous energy
with which an atom repels the millions
of atomic particles shot at it. The new
camera records the tracks of the atoms
as they approach the target at which
they are being hurled. In the case of
projectiles which smash directly into
an atom the camera will be able to iden-
tify the nature of the particles elected
from the nucleus of the smashed atom.
The device consists of two circular
plates, in the center OF which is the
target which is being bombarded. AS
atomic projectiles from the cyclotron
enter the ring around the target and
are bent away they travel through small
pin holes into one or more Of 66 slots
placed around the ring at intervals Of
five degrees. Each slot contains a pho
tographic plate with specially pre-
pared emulsion. AS the particles enter
the slots at glancing angle they leave
their footprints" behind. After count
ing the tracks on each plate Dr. Wilkins
plots these on a general distribution
curve and thus derives data for math-
ematical generalizations regarding the
energy by which they were repelled from
the target.
DR.. Wilkins explained that the study
of the scattering produced when elec-
trically charged atoms are shot through
thin foils OF metal was first made by
Lord Rutherford and his students in
England about 1913. The high energy
particles used were the helium atoms
shot out when radium disintegrated. A
narrow pencil of these was allowed to
fall on thin sheets of gold and the
relative numbers Of particles scattered
at various angles was counted
The scheme used by Rutherford was
to count visually the individual flashes
when the helium particles hit on a
small zinc sulphide screen mounted
in front of the microscope. The cyclo-
tron makes available such enormous
numbers of particles of much greater
energy that it is no longer possible for
an observer to count them usually and
some suitable Photographic means had
to be devised.
Furfural, an organic compound used
IN making deodorants, disinfectants,
paint removers and preservatives, and
xylose. rare, non-fermentable wood
sugar, may be produced commercially
IN large quantities In the near future
from the hulls Of cottonseed according to
a report just issued by the Engineering
Foundation.
At present, these hulls are used chiefly
as roughage food for cattle However,
laboratory methods have recently been
worked out at the Bureau of Standards
Tor the commercial recovery of xylose
and work is in progress at the Univer-
sity Of Tennessee on the furfural prob
lem
The cottonseed hull, the report states,
Is lignin cellulose structure which is
the basic material of woody tissues. 1t
contains. however. about IS per cent of
the hemicellulose from which both xylose