Evening star., 1946-10-12
New Befafron 10 Give
Energy 5Os6 Greater
Than Uranium Atom
Bv Thomos R. Henry

COntfOlleQ cucIBlc6 dS BIcdt No
300 ,000. 900 volts soon will be avail
able to science
4, This is so per cent greater than
the greatest energy released In the
splitting of the uranium atom,
which is the basis Of the atomic
bomb.
Science will be advanced to a
new frontier beyond which unpre-
dictable wonders can be expected,
according to DR.. Edward U. Con-
don, director of the Bureau Of
Standards, who plans the installa-
ton, in the near future, of beta
tron, the new demonstrating ma
>chine, which probably will incor-
porate the new principle. The Bu-
reau of Standards apparatus, how
ever. will be capable only Of acceler-
ating atomic particles with an energy
of loo. .000, 900 volts and is intended
only for establishment of measure
ment techniques and safety prin-
ciples.
Now Being Constructed.
The 800, ,000, ,000-volt machines are
under construction at the Univer-
sity of California, Harvard and CO.
lumbia Universities and the Uni
versity of Rochester. The energies
will be at least 40 times the maxi
mum available in prewar days.
There are two major atom-smaSh-
ing machines-the cyclotron and
the betatron, the latter known only
since the end of the war. To both
of these, Dr.. Condor explains, can
ne applied a new principle dis
covered independently at about the
same time by DR.. E. N. McMillen
of the University of California and
DR.. v. veksler of Russia. The two
discoveries were announced at near
ly the same time and closely paral-
1eled each other. Thus it always
will be debatable which country
has the priority.
involved Explanation.
The principal itself is extremely
difIicuIt to understand by any one
without training in advanced phys
les. As described by DR.. Condor:
Mcmillan has shown that, in q
device of the general type Of CYCLIC
tron or betatron In which particles
move approximately in circles or
spirals and are acted upon by an
alternating electric field, the most
effective mode Of operation Is to
work with the ions which are nearly
in equilibrium orbits-that Is, those
which have such an energy that the
orbital frequency is the same as
that of the alternating electric field,
and whose phase is such that they
cross tie accelerating gap just as
the electric field is zero and chang
ing in the sense that the earlier
arrival Of the particle would result
in acceleration." l.
Whatever this means, it is about
the simplest way in which it can be
expressed-and it all means that
man will have 100000, 600 more volts
at his disposal to smash atoms and
to produce forms of. matter hitherto
unknown in the world.
Already Beyond Theory.
Producing radioactivity istopes OF
atoms in the great uranium piles at
Oak Ridge, Tenn, and Hanford,
wash, is largely a hit-or-miss prop
osition. To make new forms OF mat
ter to order, it stiil is necessary TO
use the cyclotron. With the new
device, this field viii be enormously
extended.
1t no longer is matter of theory,
DIR. Condor says. It already has been
tested successfully and found TO
work in one of the smaller CYCLIC
irons at the University Of California.
Construction Of larger machines,
he said. has advanced to the point
where the first 300, ,000, ,000-volt cleo
tron bombardment can be expected
by the first OF the year.