Evening star., 1949-05-04
Radioactive Corbon Sets
'Honds OF Clock OF Life
Ake. al Hanan ard Aasrs.al Fa.ssi.
Arrived Of ~ I ssss ~ " c~~ds
ss TAs~mt 4. HF~sr
Ts>+ hana, g. ssost c, a:. Aar- s~>s ~


sr TAs~@, 4. Rs-sE
Tfss hands ~ saosf - ass narr a~~- 49,
A wcF sea~ assAy ~ tae amsars ~
radioactive carbon ST. Ire erxanm sesaa
has yuss e~~n f~r@rsea ts tns As--aaaa
Asscesstaon 'es Ire seraneersens e scss0es
herr
with tss as a aarkgT@aEne u ell ~ rses.-
seae 10 ee'syrasns thr ace 9. human ara
animal fossils. Ire sccd Of .ne,<na ssassa4nss
ara TIRE nke
When the exranczns tsAsogs es ths sAssasnt
whaeh IA Ire mA1oF building sarns cs nis.
CaYAcn IL was discovered n MaAanscus
sewage tee years ssn 81 wa& TeatsbNa thai
q major loo had been placed ~ TIE hanss
cs snthroENaloxasss aud arearcAogsssa TfaAs
natFsla. sas produced ~ the aessen Ns
eoSznse fays IN sAs upg~T atmosphere II
became tho+ossxtalt m1.ed Ssth the rareNaa
dioxSce af The air. from which n heNawss
Incorporated In ths eaases 81 plants ard
animals
Mali Life 81 Afss Year,
II had q half life Of s1se y~Ars--that IA.
in this period half Of any amount originally
present would disappear II THE amount IN
the skeleton Of q Twins man, fog example.
Was known and only hail that amount Was
present In skeleton from an ancient tcsah
IL would be fair evidence that the dead man
had ltsed sbou, roo wears aSo II only .
fourth The amount could e actrcsea
could be assumed that The man had been
buried about II 500 YEARS
With every body plAeed in the krayv there
~as inferred a biological watch which would
keep running Tor millrnnaims
The tool wAx Of little value however until
a standard rad eeen eStAellxhed--lhs aver
aee proportion Of radioactive eareon "a
ordinary carbon IN living things Tha 10
bound 10 be the same for q tree Q man
or a mosquito,
Test Need Over NerlA
The lahorious assay has been carried
out BY DR.. w. r. Libby and his collaboration,
Of the Institute for NueleAr Studies ai ths
University Of Chicago They have tested
Is samples OF aood from all over the world.
ranging from elm gathered on the university
campus 10 lumber specimens from Ttsrra del
Fiego All showed as was expected, ths
same proportion of Carbon IL The kame
was true for sra shells from Florida beaehss
Seal oil from the Antarctic procured by the
recent Byrd and Rnnne expeditions showed
a considerably lower percentase-~a difef-
ence for which II Is diffieuit 10 account u
may be that the amount Of radioactive car
bon in the air near the poles IL somewhat
less than in temperate regions although
theoretically the reverse should he true
Then DR. Libby and his associates
measured wood from two Egyptian tnmbs
1t was known that occupants Of those losaas
had died approximately 5000 years ago
This was confirmed by the radloaetivtty ef
the wocd-approximately half that Of the
living wood samples
The method nov will be applied 10 woods
known To be- 10000 and IS 600 srars old,
The former should have q sixteenth and the
latter q thirty second the activity Of living
specimens.
Convincing evidence Of water in the atnaos.
phere OF Mars has been obtained hy asunn.
omers OF the Lowell Observatory st Y7as.
staff. Arix
This Ia one of the major requisites for life
oi, the only other planet Of the solar syssem
where IL possibly could exist
One OF the best known features of Mar,
Is the existence OF white caps NJ the nnrth
and south poles, These change in stss
with the seasons. II Ia natural tn assume
that they are ice caps. such a. the AFetia
and Antarctic Ice caps nf the earth. But
water would be necessary 10 form that
much ice. and II has been practically Inn.
possible 10 detect the existence of this IN
the Marian atmosphere by other meana
An alternative hypothesis has been that
the polar caps consist Of frozen carbon al.
oxide. dry ice. Careful measurements of the
polar temperatures. Il vas reported 10 the
American Meteorological Society here hy
Seymour Hess OF the observatory star,
show that they are not sufieiently low
for this explanation. The polar caps must
be water Ice
Sunrise Haxs Studied.
This Is supported further by HtudieA ~
the sunrise haze on Mars. whica 10 at,its
similar 10 that on the earth. Tas tenn.
peratures are about right for the formation
of this particular type OF cloud from water
sspor This also iS true Of the eumuius
clouds detected in the Martian ATMOSPHERE
1t has been established that these cannot
be dust clouds. rs some aEtronomsra have
maintained. They move very slowly. Dust
clouds could be raised only by great winds
which would keep them In violent motion
Also. the report said, great aRaregMtlons
OF dust in the atmosphere take on %.
culiar shapes. different from that of the
clouds on Mara
The amount OF water yapor In the planets
atmosphere. however. may be extremely
minute. the report stressed
Mr.. Hess has gathered evidence thai Mars
may have much the same general pattern
OF weather as the earth. He has traced
the passage OF what appear TO he cold
fronts across the planet
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