Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-11-09
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Things I Never Knew
Till Now About Atoms:
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Till Now About Atoms:
This gives you an idea Of the
atoms size: If a drop Of water
were magnified to the size Of the
earth, the atoms in it would hardly
be the size Of oranges Most
Of the atom is composed Of empty
space. It is made Of an orbit Of
electrons revolving around the nu-
cleus much as planets revolvs
about the sun. An electron Il
merely a particle of electricity -.
The atoms nucleus contains all
its colossal energy. It took SCI
entists more than so years Of re-
search to unlock the nucleus 80 1t
could give up that power :.
Uranium has made the atomic
bomb the most devastating explo-
sive. Yet the bomb uses only one
tenth Of one per cent of uranium's
potential strength Another
reason why the United Nations
should stick together: They pos
sess three-quarters Of the worlds
uranium supply.
Few motorists realize that their
cars are driven by atomic power.
Gasoline is rich in hydrogen atoms,
and they provide most Of the pow
er that drives the car Atomic
power is one of the few great dis
coveries that was the goal of the
longest and most difficult series Of
researches in history. Most mo-
mentous discoveries were acct
dents: The invention Of fire, the
discovery Of America, the discov-
cry of oxygen and the X-ray were
all the result of accident.
In 1905, a young patent office
clerk in Switzerland developed
theory which involved the idea
that under certain conditions mat
ter could be changed into energy
and energy into matter. Accord
ing to that theory, a very small
amount Of matter could produce
tremendous quantities Of energy.
This has become the basic principle
for atomic power. Yet science ig-
nored this theory for Is years.
The young patent office clerks
name: Albert Einstein.
You've probably read that the
atomic power in a breath Of air
could operate a powerful plane for
a year continuously; that the a.p.
in handful of snow could heat a
large apartment house for year,
etc. However, Prof. Einstein be-
lieves at will probably take many
years" to channel uranium's en-
ergy into peaceful pursuits. Elm
stein also points out that other
substances might be found "and
probably will be found" to accel-
crate its commercial use.
On Dec. 10, 1941 Ga day before
we declared war against Ger
many, Princeton University sci
entists issued a report which was
buried in gazettes' inside pages.
Today the Significance of this re-
port cannot be over-estimated: 1t
revealed that the scientists made
much Roadway in planning means
to defend America against any
type of atomic attack. Similar re-
search is now continuing :. Some
day the result of this work might
make the atomic bomb obsolete
-. The peacetime role of atomic
energy will depend upon one con-
sideration-relative cost. Until a
method of producing the energy
has been revolutionized and
brought down to a low figure, it
is likely to provide a source of
energy in extremely concentrated
form only for highly specialized
industrial purposes One sci
enlist has observed: Splitting the
atom is like discovering the other
half of the world-the biggest
half"
Uranium is used for atomic
bombs because it has the largest