The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-09-27
Walter WincheIl OW BrOGdw0y
wnTNGs I NEVER KNEW TILL
 NOW ARONT ATOMS
N'aas MsFh RsS'heFea. cOPyFIsAI lVN, Dany MIwOg.

- HnIN0s I NEVER KNEW TILL
 NOW ABOUT ATOMS
 T'hls gives you an Idea of the atoms siEe; If Q drop of water were nlagninled to the size of the earth, &ae atoms In it would hardly be the she of oranges Most of the atom as composed of empty space. It is made Of an orbit of eleotrons re- volvlng around the nucleus much as planets revolve about the sun. An eleetron Is merely particle of elee- triclty ', The atoms nucleus con- clans all It's colossal energy. IL took scientists more than 30 years of re- search to unlock the nucleus SO 1t could give up that power |, tho most devastating explosive, Yet Che bomb uses only one-tenth of one pere cent of uranlum's potential strength Another reason why the United Nations should stick to- gether: They possess three-fourths Of the worlds uranium supply.
 Few motorists realize that their cars arc driven by atomic power. Gasoline is rich In hydrogen atoms, and they provide most of the power that drives the car ., Atomic pow or Is one of the few discoveries that was the goal of the longest and most difficult series of researches In history, Most momentous discoveries were accidents; The invention of fire, the discovery of America, the discovery of oxygen and the X-ray were all the result of accident.
 The energy in Just one gram Of uranium is strong enough to lift the Empire State building 20 miles an the air More than five years ago, Dr. R, M, Langer (physleS rec search associate at the California Institute of TechnologN wrote in Q mag that uranium could create Q civilization in which man would dwell underground for better living, where national boundaries would be obsolete because of swift travel, and 1 which meaning of the gold Stand- ord would be l0Gt because of de- rreRsed living cots.
 You've probably read that the atomic power in breath of air could operate c powerful plane for a year continuously: that the Q, D, an Q handful of snow could heat e large apartment house for year, etc. However, Prof, Einsteln believes "it will probably take many years" 70 channel uranlumS energy Into peaceful pursuits, Einstein also points that other substances might Do found "and probably will be found" to accelerate its commercial Ese,
 On Dec. 10, ie4l Ca day before we declared war against Germany, Princeton University scientists issued a report which was buried in ga- SBettes' Inside pages, Today the Nlgnificanee of this report cannot Do over.estimated It revealed that the scientists made much headway Nn planning means to defend Amer aca against any type of atomic at- kack, Similar research Is now oosa- kinuing ., Some day the result of this work might make the atomic bomb obsolete The peacetime Folo Of atomic energy will depend upon one eonsideration--relatiVe cost, Until Q method of producing the energy has been revolutionized and brought down to low figure, it as likely to provide Q source of en- nEgy in extremely concentrated form only for highly specialized industrial purposes .. One scientist has ob- served; Splitting the atom Is like discovering the other half of the wcfld-the biggest half"
 Uranium is used for atomic bombs because 1t has the largest atom of any of the known clements and would Do easier to split When the atom IS cracked, the fragments of It's nucleus are hurled off with an energy of l00,000,000 electron volts ., The machinery which pro- duced the atomic bomb has given the world It's greatest destructive force. Very little attention has been given to the fact that such machin- ary Is being used to save life, not only destroy 1t. The atom-splitting cyelotron is . potent medical tool and Is an invaluable aid in the fight 70 lick cancer We have pointed out that the nucleus is the source Of the atoms power, It staggers the Imagination to realize the nucleus is only one-millionth of billionth of the size of the atom
 The small groups of specialists who developed the atomic bomb are known as nuclear physicists What makes this new energy dis tinctive is that 1t doesn't come from the weak and diffuse field of energy ct the surface of the atom, but fromthe tautly packed. enormously concentrated storehouse within the atoms nucleus The reason no newspaper has been able to ade- quhtely explain the atomic bomb: Many of the facts are still military secrets The atomic explosive field is so new that two of its chemi-. cal clements (plutonium and nep- tunium) were unheard of before the war.
 m 1905, a young patent office clerk In Switzerland developed a theory which involved the idea that under certain conditions matter could be changed into energy and energy into matter. According to that theory. very small amount of matter could produce tremendous a1nntities of energy. This has be- come the basic principle for atomic power. Yet science ignored this theory for fifteen years. The young patent office clerks name: Albert Eingtein.
 Almost every great scientific 11===51i5TeHient naS caused philoso-