Evening star., 1945-08-23
(Fourth OF a Series.)
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,


Associated Press Science Editor.
NEW YORK, Aug. 23.-Man may
destroy himself with the atomic
bomb, but he cannot destroy the
earth.
The power to destroy life is plain.
But nothing yet reported about the
bomb points to a remote possibility
Of causing solid ground to blow up.
The reasons fall into two main
classes: The inflnitesimally small
amounts of atomic dynamite in each
atom, and the distribution of these
atoms. particularly the explosive
kind.
The impressive figure. 200 600, 900
electron volts released by each
uranium or plutonium atom that
splits, is somewhat misleading. One
electron volt represents the potential
when an electron has a charge that
is 16 sextillionths smaller than the
unit charge of electrical current On
a power line. The power unit Is a
current of one ampere flowing one
second.
The heat generated at the core
of splitting uranium atom is
computed at trillions of degrees
Fahrenheit. Whether this is real
heat Is matter of definition. 1t
Is really kinetic energy, that Is,
the energy of motion. Such motion
presumably can be converted into
heat, certainly in part. Each time
a particle with the trillions of
degrees energy hits another particle,
a lot of speed and heat is lost by
the first particle. The second
particle takes on the lost motion
and heat, like a hit billiard ball.
In this way dispersal of trillion-
degree heat is rapid.
Heat Waves Don't Travel.
When you remember that the
heat Is emitted from a core that is
only a hundred-thousandth the
diameter of an atom, the trillions
of degrees lose their terror. They
make very hot atomic bomb. But
the heat waves in the bomb do not
extend very far from the center of
explosion.
The distribution of the atomic
energy, both in different atoms, and
the spread of the atoms themselves
in the earth, are guarantees against
world explosion. In fact, the dis
tribution sounds a bleak note in the
prospects for very cheap atomic
power.
The earth is composed of 90 kinds
OF chemical elements, from hydro
gen, the lightest in weight, to
uranium, the heaviest. Each ele-
naent is made of atoms. Each atom
has a core. In this core is a bind
ing force which has been estimated
as about one million times stronger
than the force of gravitation.
That is the force the scientists
want to get out to produce cheap
atomic power. But not all the
atomic cores are equally endowed
The cores of the lightweight atoms
have little higher charge of this
energy than the middle range atoms.
But the heavy atoms, such as
uranium, have a very much greater
store of the force.
To date only the power of the
heavy, excess-e energy atoms, ura-
mum, plutonium, protectinium and
thorium have been tapped. All four
have SO much excess that they split
easily. A few electron volts may
cause split. And If left alone, they
break down by spontaneous loss of
energy, turning themselves into
atoms with less energies.
Discover Natural Phenomenon.
In tapping this energy of the heavy
weights, the scientists have done
nothing except to discover and use
a natural phenomenon which has
been going on for 5000, ,000, 900 years
without harming the earth or its
Inhabitants.
They have done only the job OF
bringing together enough of these
splitting atoms in one compact mass
to make bomb. 1t appears that
even as much as one compact pound
of this atomic dynamite, such as a
lump or handful, is perfectly safe
But ton of it brought together
would be the most dangerous thing
in the world.
Uranium, both the common kind
and 235, is sparsely distributed
There Is not enough for a chain
reaction, like chain of power, to
spread in the earth either to explode
or make a fire.
All the other heavy elements that
pack the excess force, likewise are
thinly distributed. They are also
scarce. They cannot be set OF in
the earth by any kind Of atomic
fuse because they are too widely
scattered.