Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-09-15
Rain DiscIoses Secrets
Of High Atmosphere
Tritium Atoms Give Clues
To Mysteries Of Altitude
By THONGS r. Henry

ny tuSut0S NJ btGuIy
NEW YORK, Sept. 15.-Raindrops
bring messages from the earth's high
atmosphere.
They are tagged with exploding atoms
of tritium, the triple-weight hydrogen
atom, which presumably is major in
gredient Of the hydrogen bomb. 1t is
formed-at rate of one atom second
for every square inch of the earths sur
face-,by cosmic ray bombardment at
great heights. It is picked up by NOV
ing clouds and carried to the earth In
raindrops.
Thus. DR.. w. r. Libby of the Univer-
sity of Chicago explained to the Amer
lean Chemical Society here yesterday,
analysis of tritium in water yields valu-
able clues to what is happening aloft.
For example:
Moisture evaporating from oceans and
rivers spends about three weeks in the
air before falling as rain.
Rain mixes with ocean water to an
average depth of only about $50 feet.
The number of cosnic rays striking
this planet has been fairly constant for
the past 10 years.
Water from most deep wells is more
than so years old.
Combines With Oxygen.
AS the tritium is formed in the at
mosphere it combines chemically with
oxygen to make water, DR.. Libby ex-
planned. Due to its radioactivity sam
pie of tritium decays at such rate that
half of it disappears in little over IL
years. The tritium- containing water,
however, does not stay in the air long
enough for any appreciable decay to
take place. SO the total production Of
the radioactive isotope in the atmos-
phere can be determined by measuring
the content in rain. seas and rivers.
Surface water of the sea, the Uni
versity of Chicago experiments have
shown, contains about a fourth the
tritium in the average rain over the
ocean. From this 1t can be deduced,
DR.. Libby said, that water in the
ocean mixes very poorly During tri-
tium's 12-year life, the average mixing
depth appears to be about so yards.
"A second general result" he re-
ported, 'is that rain over the CONT
nents is richer in tritium than rain
over the oceans. This undoubtedly is
because water raining over continent
has spent a longer time in contact
with the atmosphere and had
greater opportunity to, become con-
taminated with tritium since it evapo--
rated from the ocean.
Study of the tritium content of
waters from deep but weli-mixed
lakes, such as Lake Michigan, shows
that an appreciable decay takes place
during the time the water is stored
in the lake.
How 1t Escapes.
"Since tritium turns into helium 3,
a stable isotope of ordinary helium,
and since the amount of helium 3
in the atmosphere corresponds to
only 40 million years at the present
rate of generation, one must conclude
that helium 3 escapes from the atmos-
phere in this period"
Study of vintage wines aged for 10
years or more indicates that there
has been no change in cosmic ray
activity in a decade. Tritium in the
rains falling on vineyards of Italy
and New York State is picked up in
water by the ripening grapes and,
after these grapes are made into
wine, proceeds to decay at the regular
rate. Thus it can be determined
whether water TO- years ago contained
more tritium than present rainwater.
The studies show no appreciable diff
erence. =
Isolation and publication of a can
Vjr1lSp-an nitro crocccr,ic or0a,,
SIN spherical in shape-which causes a
fatal disease in chickens comparable to
human leukemia-was announced be-
fore the Chemical Society by Dr. Joseph
w. Beard of Duke University.
There is no type Of human cancer
which Is caused directly, so far as
known, by virus or any other invading
organism but there is possibility that
tviruses may start the cancerous process.
The significance of DR.. Boards work
is that it makes it possible for the first
time to observe the effects of these
organisms on the cells they invade.
Lives Only in Cells.
A virus, unlike the much larger bac-
terra and protocol, cannot live an indie
pendent life. 1t can live and multiply
only inside living cell. The effects on
cells result in some of the most devas-
tatlng of human and animal diseases.
This particular virus, Dr. Beard said,
first alters the character of a chemical
known as adenosine triphosphate, which
is one of the most important sources
OF energy for muscle contraction and
other physiological processes within
the cell. In this case it causes white
blood cells to run wild.
Almost any virus is certain to affect
cell chemistry, although possibly in
quite different ways. Different viruses
may affect human cells in much the
same way as this one affects chicken
cells Once they have started their
ungovernable multiplication, however.
apparently the presence of the virus is
not necessary for the continuation of
the cancer.