Evening star., 1953-01-26
Suns Energy Stored
In NIT Test Tube
Photosynthesis Duplicated
In Part for First Time
By Thomus R. Henry


By Thomas R. Henry
Direct test-tube conversion Of sun
light into Storable energy, thus dupli-
eating in part the system of photo
synthesis by which nature provides the
energy for all life on earth, has just
been reported to the American Associa-
ton for the Advancement Of Science
here by two Massachusetts, Institute Of
Technology chemists. Drs. Lawrence j.
Heidi and Alan F. Mcmillan.
Potential implications are ineStimable.
The Massachusetts, Tech scientists ap-
pear to have made very small start in
direction which, it has been predicted,
may eventually lead to a source Of
energy which will make atomic energy
a trifle.
They have been able, they report, to
break up water into its constituent
elements Of hydrogen and oxygen by
direct action of sunlight. They have
broken the bonds of chemical energy
which hold the two gases together in
a liquid. This must be one of the first
steps in the photosynthetic process.
Green plants, absorbing certain wave
lengths of sunlight through their green
pigment cells composed of chlorophyll-
the same stuff lately widely advertised
as constituent of toothpaste-are able
to take the hydrogen out of the water
absorbed by their roots and the carbon
dioxide gas from the atmosphere, re-
lease the oxygen back into the air, and
combine the hydrogen and carbon into
sugars, StarcheS and the like which pro-
vide the substance Of the plant and the
energy for life.
Canned Sunshine.
All the energy of all the coal and oil
on earth is sun energy-canned sun
shine - produced by photosynthesis
through the milleniums. Very little of
the sunlight falling on the plant is
thus converted
PhotoSyntheSiS has been natures
secret. What happens is fairly well
understood, but science never has been
able to duplicate the process. Drs.
Heidi and Mcmillan approach it through
quite different system from that used
by the plant, and appear to have ac-
compliShed the first step with actual
measurable production Of energy.
They work, according to the report.
with two solutions in water of the rare
element cerium. metal which looks
like iron, but is soft as lead. Perhaps
It's best-known use in the past has been
10 lmpregnate mantleS used in gas
lights, giving them brilliant glow. It
was used in old-fashioned remedies for
sea sickness and was mixed with iron
to produce product which gave off a
brilliant shower of sparks when struck
or scratched.
DrS. Heidt and Mcmillan use the
cerium as a. catalyst, something which
preclpitates chemical reaction with
out taking direct part in it or being
consumed in the process. In some way
not understood, the cerium mixed in
the water makes it possible for sum
light to act directly to split up water.
Hydogen Not Recovered.
Other catalysts, especially cobalt,
have been used in the past to release
oxygen from water by direct action of
light. Something happened to the
hydrogen in the process. It was not
recoverable as hydrogen gas.
~ Broken molecules of cllorophyll also
nave been used as catalyst to break
up water. The results have been in
consequential.
Two slightly different physical forms
OF cerium are used in the Massachusetts
Tech experiments. One apparently acts
as catalyst for the release Of hydro
gen, and the other for the release of
oxygen. The oxygen obtained is of little
practical significance.
The important STEP according to ex-
perts in the field here, is the release
OF free hydrogen which can be stored
and quite easily converted into methane,
or Illuminating gas, to be used as fuel
Free Energy.
The important question, 1t is ex-
planned, is the amount of solar energy
which can be used in this process. If
as much as one per cent can be utilized,
it would constitute one of the major
steps in mans direct tapping of the
energy Of the sun. Millions Of years of
natural processes might be telescoped
into a simple industrial process. It
would be essentially "free energy.
Water costs nothing, and sunlight costs
nothing.
The potential supply of hydrogen
would be limitless. This is the lightest
OF the elements, perhaps the parent
element from which all the others
have formed. Except as it is bound
up in water and plant and animal life,
1t is q rare element Most Of that
which was in the original atmosphere
long since has escaped into space.
Illuminating gas would be merely a
start in the fuel-producing process.
Presumably other catalysts would be
found. more hydrogen produced, and
other hydrocarbons built UP.
Present Fuels Disappearing.
There have been frequent predictions
Of the eventual exhaustion Of all the
worlds coal. oil and gas supplies-per-
hapS some day leaving man dependent
entirely on atomic energy for heat and
motive power. Illuminating gas already
Is becoming scarce product which
must be piped across the continent.
Various efforts have been made to
utilize solar energy In other ways. It
could be collected by great mirrors
in such an area as the Sahara desert,
and the heat used to make steam. Ex-
periments in this line have been very
promising.
The most obvious means would be the
utilization Of sunlight through the
photoSynthetic process itself to produce
plant growth which could be used di-
Anh1 Ha,,