Evening star., 1950-02-01
iContinued From First Page }

L OAI L IL oO dSC'
1t leaked somehow through the
Atomic Energy Commissions cur
tain of secrecy, enjoined by law
concerning all weapons develop
ment. There is high probability
that many of the rumorS have
been greatly exaggerated. Scien-
lists not in the commission's con-
fidence can only speculate with
out access to the facts upon which
the decision was based. .
The line to be followed in the
attempt to build this bomb has
been kept secret.
There are several possibilities,
the simplest and most logical of
which is lithium hydride bomb.
This would consist essentially of
an atomic bomb of about the type
now being stockpiled, incased in
a sheel filled with light, grayish-
blue solid which is chemical
combination of the elements lith-
ium and hydrogen. 1t was used
during the war to initiate balloons.
| Hydrogen is the simplest of the
elements. the so-called mother
stuff" of creation, out of which
everything else has evolved. The
nucleus of it's atom consists of a
single proton, an elementary par
ticle weighing about 20Oth of a
'trillionth Of a : trillionth of an
ounce. which carries a single posi-
tive charge of electricity.
Lithium Lightest Metal.
Lithium, lightest of the metals
and third highest of all the 81
elements, has nucleus composed
of three of these protons and
three neutrons, elementary parti-
cles of about the same size but
without any electric charge.
II a proton, or hydrogen
nucleus. can be lodged inside
lithium nucleus a form of the
fourth lightest of the elements,
berylium. is formed. This remains
in existence. however, only about
tenth of millionth of a second.
In that period it explodes and
breaks approximately in two.
Each fragment is an alpha par
tlcle, or nucleus of helium atom.
A helium atom is essentially a
combination of four hydrogen
atoms. 1t weighs, however, about
a trillionth of a trillionth of a
gram less than the combination
would be expected to weigh.
Converted into Energy.
This mass has been converted
into energy. This would be the
energy of the hydrogen bomb. if
the lithium hydride line Is the
one being followed.
But in order for the proton to
be taken into the lithium nucleus
there must be direct hit. When
the proton comes near the hthium
nucleus it is pushed aside by enor-
nous forces, the so-called coulonb
forces of electric repulsion. 1t
must have energy enough to
overcome these forces until it gets
within something less than tril-
lionth of trillionth of an inch
of its target. Then new force
millions of times greater, which
operate only within such dis
tances, takes over and pulls the
proton into the nucleus.
Protons move with energies suf-
f1cient to break through the
coulonb forces only at tempera-
lures of several million degrees.
A sufficiently high temperature is
generated only at the instant of
the explosion of uranium bomb.
Otherwise it could be found only
in the itnerior of the sun. A frac-
tion of millionth of a second at
such a temperature is sufficient.
The possibility of such a reac-
ton has been known to nuclear
physicists for 20 years and is at
least as well known in any poten-
t1al enemy country as in the
United States.
May Have Another Trick.
1t may be, however, that
physicists associated with. the
Atomic Energy Commission have
some other trick in mind.
| Whatever is happening, it can
be stated on good authority, CEN
ters about the commissions radi-
alton laboratory at the University
of California, where machine.
the bevatron, now is being con-
structed which is expected to pro-
pei protons at very close to the
speed of light, the absolute limit
of speed in the universe. 1t is
known that there have been high
ly secret conferences in Wash
ington with some of the leading
nuclear physicists of this labora-
tory. Here have been conducted
many of the experiments on the
nuclei of the light elements which
9Were described in the annual res.