Evening star., 1949-12-26
mo. 2 of a SeriesJ
By Thomas R. Henry
Science Editor Of The Stor.

Science Eotfor OF Inc SIor.
A hydrogen bomb is most fire.
quently mentioned by prophets OF
doom.
They have on their side some
undisputed facts. The lightest
and simplest of the 90 elements
found in nature-the stuff out OF
which, presumably, all the others
have been built-is potentially the
most powerful atomic explosive
conceivable. 1t may well be that
compared with uranium it would
be like 1949 TINT compared to
medieval gunpowder.
Moreover, the conversion Of
part of the hydrogen nucleus into
energy is known to take place on
a titanic scale. It Is, in fact, the
only such process known to go
on in nature.
Since the discovery Of this
preceded the war by some years,
the details of the process have
been described in scientific jour-
mails all over the world. They are
as well known in Moscow as in
Washington.
This process is the reverse of
the flssion phenomenon which
makes the uranium bomb possible.
Energy is produced by building
up rather than by tearing down.
It proceeds generally as follows:
i Atomic weights are determined
IN mass units" One mass unit
is one-sixteenth the weight of an
atom of oxygen. This is an arbi-
trarily chosen unit which happens
to be convenient for arithmetical
calculations.
There are 1850, 800 ,000, ,000. .000.-
000, ,000. 900 of these mass units In
q gram-or a trifle more than
SO. e.400, ,000. .o00, ,ooo, 900 900. 900, 900 in
an ounce.
The nucleus Of one atom OF
hydrogen, a single proton, weighs
1.00758 mass units.
Atom of Deuterium Formed.
When a neutron is added to the
proton there is formed an atom OF
deuterium, or heavy hydrogen
This is what makes heavy water
weigh a little more than ordinary
water. The neutron weighs
1.00894 mass units.
When two deuterium nuclei are
added the result is the nucleus OF
a helium atom, the alpha particle
of radium emanations.
This alpha particle should weigh
precisely the same as two protons
and two neutrons, or 4.03284 mass
units. Actually it weighs only
4.00290 mass units.
In building up helium out Of
hydrogen, slightly more than .03
of mass unit has disappeared. It
has been converted into energy.
Starting with q gram of hydro
gen, there has been q total trans
formation into energy Of third
Of centigram.
# the entire gram were con-
verted there would be 726, ,820 ,s04.-
760, ZOO, 10000 ergs Of energy
created.
The sensational element Of this
figure is somewhat Offset by the
almost immeasurable Ittleness of
the erg. It requires $4,000, ,000, ,000,-
900 of them to amount to one more
familiar unit Of power. the kilo-
watt hour.
Even so, somewhat more than
100000 kilowatt hours have been
produced from this one gram In
the helium building process. An
ounce would run to about 56,000,-
600 kilowatt hours.
Now it is well known that this
helium building process is in prog
ress all the time. It is the basis
of all energy on earth, for it Is the
way the heat of the sun Is created
and maintained.
A Complex Process.
This is complex process, which
has been investigated quite thor
oughly in the past few years. The
transmutation of hydrogen into
helium by the building-up process
is by a series of chemical reactions
in which the abundant and highly
reactive element carbon acts as q
catalyst-a substance which acti-