Evening star., 1947-08-03

tions for the future, the picture Il
quite different. Atom splitting has
placed in the hands of the scientist
more valuable instruments ever
than the microscope and telescope
For the first time they are able t<
observe directly cross sections oi
life itself rather than merely cross
sections of living matter.
Essentially, all the 90 elements
known before the war now exist in
radioactive forms. or isotopes.
They are made in the Govern
ments great uranium ovens. Ninety
isotopes of so elements now are
regularly available. Some had been
placed hitherto in cyclotrons, at
enormous cost. A good example OF
the difference:
A millicurie, about q thousandth
OF a gram, of radioactive carbon,
perhaps the most important of all
the isotopes for biological investiga-
tions, could be produced in the
cyclotron for about million dollars
The uranium oven at Oak Ridge
produces it for $50.
Amounts Produced Minute.
The amounts of any Of these new
substances produced is extremely
minute, but little goes very long
way.
The isotopes act precisely the
same in all chemical and physio-
logical processes as do the common
forms Of the elements. They differ
in having slightly different atomic
weights and in being radioactive
The nuclei of their atoms are un-
stable. like uranium. thorium or
radium. Every now and then one
explodes and throws off part of it's
mass with enormous energy. This
changes it back again into one of the
more stable common elements, just
as radium eventually changes into
lead.
The energy may be thrown off in
three or four forms. It may be a
gamma ray, about the same thing as
a very powerful X-ray. 1t may be a
beta ray, a single electron. It may
be that more massive and dangerous
body, an alpha ray, which Is about
the same as four helium nuclei, or
four protons, stuck together. Among
the horrors of the next war chemists
are talking of an alpha particle
gas"
Breakup Can BE Detected.
The breakup OF any individual
atom may occur at any time but 1t
can be determined with consider
able accuracy that half of any mass
of atoms of an element will explode
over a certain period, which may
range from a fraction of a second to
few million years. =.
Wherever this atomic explosion
process goes Oh 1t can be detected
with delicate instruments, and with
great precision. This is the great
tool which has been placed in the
hands of science.
Give a child a lump Of sugar.
What happens to it when 1t goes
down the child's throat? Some Of
it will be eliminated. Some of it will
become a permanent part of the
child's body. BY including some
radioactive carbon in that lump it Is
possible to follow 1t through all its
long complicated pathways to alb
sorption and elimination. .
The same can be done with all
sorts of other elements contained in
food. The physiologist can obtain
microscopic picture of life pro-
ceSses in progress-processes taking
place on so infinitesimably minute
a scale that it would be impossible
to observe them in any other way.
Might Aid Cancer Treatment.
The possibility of using these iso-
topes as actual medicines, per Sc,
naturally has attracted a great deal
of attention and experimentation.
Has cancer, for example, an affinity
for any particular element? If so, a
preparation of the radioactive form
of that particular element could be
given the patient, it would be drawn
into the malignant tissue, and would
act there like a radium needle with
out disturbing other parts Of the
body. Thus otherwise inaccessible
malignant tumors could be reached
with radiation therapy.
Results have been debatable and,
on the whole, rather disappointing.
It is estimated that about of the
$50 known radioactive isotopes may
eventually have some role in thera-
peutic medicine.
The first use to which they were
put in this way was the treatment
of various forms of the almost
invariably fatal leukemia, or cancer
~ thu h1ood which ir ,;voy, t,u