The Wilmington morning star., 1945-08-20

that the principles Of the atomic
gun in the bomb are not much diff
ferent from those of ordinary guns.
But the problems encountered in
causing the atomic chunks and all
their parts to join up instantly and
closely enough were described as
terrific.
There were other problems be-
sides this atom sharpshooting.
The rate Of explosion had to be
controlled. If it went too fast, or
too slow, there might be a dud;
an atomic sizzle, which would not
be very destructive, or even no
explosion at all.
The bomb has a peculiar enve-
lope or skin, made from a cheni-
cal element which need not be
very strong, since its job is to
reject neutrons back into the
atomic mass inside the bomb.
Other wise many of the guns neu-
iron 'detonators,'' being 100, 900
times smaller than the Uranium
or Plutonium atoms, might shoot
between them without hit and
pass out into the air, reducing the
number Of neutron hits to the point
OF nullifying the explosion. The
neutrons striking the skin bounce
back for another try.
The report revealed also that
inside the bomb there may be
chemical elements to absorb some
Of the neusrons at first, 50 as Ia
delay slightly the start Of the reac-
ton to avoid step-by-step explosion
and attain one final, full strength
burst.
A surprising finding was the ex-
traordinary brevity of the time in.
terval in which the neutrons and
atoms started and finished their
explosion. The scientists had a
staggering job 10 set a mechanism
to perform the instantaneous ass
emily required.
There were both fabrication and
publication problems more diff
cult than ever before tackled. The
scientists first solved them with
mathematics and experiments on
minute quantities. The team which
did this was one of the most bril-
liant assemblages ever brought to-
gether. Among advisers was DR..
James Chadwick, the English
physicist who discovered the nau.
iron in 1882.
They computed in advance the
power of the explosion wave in
air, earth and water. The work
OF engineers and technoloRists who
finally made the actual bombs is
secret.
At least two great forces give
the atomic bomb its power. The
cores Of the explosive atoms are
made OF protons and ne,,trons, the
latter electrically neutral. The pro.
tons are positively charged. When
core splits, the protons of each
half repel each other with tremen-
dous force. This is one of the Sc
crets Of the power. At the same
time some Of the mass, the actual
material of the core, is lost. This
mass turns into energy, as Elm.
stein predicted back in 1905. The
converted mass is the second Sc
cret.
All the facts in the War Depart
ment release are either already
known to the scientists of all ma
tons, or are things they would
figure out soon for themselves.
Only the tremendous difficulties of
fabrication and building a success
full atomic bomb are of the sort
which chronological people might
REQUIRE long time to solve. There
is always the danger that group
OF scientists outside the secret may
arrive at short cut solution,
which miqht make possible quick,
secret bomb fabrication.
But it may be a long time be-
fore anyone makes a tremendous.
ly large atomic bomb. For there
is an upper critical size too, a