Evening star., 1946-04-11
$50 New Substances
Reported Discovered
During Atom Research
By Thomas R. Henry
Stor SsoH Couespondent

| SFCF SFdN correspondent
ATLANTIC CITY, April l1.-Mort
than $50 basic substances of nature
| hitherto unknown on earth have
been created as by-products oi
atomic fission and the making oi
plutonium.
They are radioactive isotopes Of
IS elements. Among them are ele-
ments 43 and 81, which hitherto
have not been known for certain in
any form, although it was assumed
they existed because of vacant
places in the atomic table.
Another is Carbon ID, radio
active form of the chief constituent
of all living things, which, it i:
claimed, eventually may prove the
second most important contribution
of the whole atom bomb project.
The existence of these by products
hitherto has been a military secret
1t was revealed with the permission
of the War Department by DR.
Charles J. Coryell of the Monsanto
Chemical Co., who worked as a
chemist at the Oak Ridge atomic
plant.
Nucleus Split in Two.
In the fission process, it was ex-
planned, the uranium nucleus is split
in two, resulting in two elements
instead of one. The atomic weights
of these two must add up to the
total weight of the parent atom, but
the split can take place in great
variety of ways.
The first split was discovered in
Germany in 1888 through the dis
covery of the light metal barium
and the rare, heavy gas krypton in
the preparation. This particular
split is quite frequent but actually
the separation can occur at almost
any point in the atomic table. al
though most of them range around
the middle atomic weights.
The lightest element found, for
example, is new radioactive zinc
which has a half-life Of 60 years
This is the customary way of speak
ing OF radioactive elements ano
means that half the atoms of any
given mass will explode in a certain
time. The half-life of uranium
itself is about 1000 900 years anc
of the newly created plutonium
1000 years. One of the newly
found substances, DR.. Coryell re.
vealed. has a half-life of only 9
tenth Of second.
Never Found on Earth.
This explains why these sub.
stances have never been found or
earth, even if they may have existeo
here in the beginning in rather
small amounts. Half the radioactive
zinc, for example, would have disap.
peared in the first so years. Hall
of the remainder would have van
ished in the next go years. OBJ
viously in the 1000, 900 900 or 5000.
100000 years of the earths history
all but indistinguishable trace!
would have disappeared.
The two lost elements, 43 and 81
probab bly, were in this category ano
must have gone from the earth long
before the coming of man. The
! first is a light metal, somewhat SIM
liar to manganese. About
grams are produced for every 10C
grams of plutonium. Its properties
and possible uses remain entirely
unknown. Element 81 is one OF
the rare esrths. For the or 10
of these new known in the earth's
surface, little industrial use has
been found.
The greatest value of any of the
new substances is expected to be
in medicine, particularly in medical
experimentation. Since they are
radioactive. but have exactly the
same chemical reactions as the non
explosive forms of the same ele-
ments, they can be mixed with foods
and drugs and traced through the
body.
They also can be used for selective
radiation of particular tissues which
it is difficult to reach with X-rays
or radium. For use as tracer, car
bon IA is easily one of the greatest
contributions ever made to expert
mental biology.
Some of the fission products, DR.
Coryell said, occurred in such mi
mute quantities that in order to
weigh them it was necessary to use
an invisible" balance"-that is. a
quartz thread too fine to be seen.