Evening star., 1955-02-14
Oak Ridge Producing
Two Ghost Metals
Elements Were Thought
To Have Died Long Ago
BY Thomos R. Henry

Two "ghost metals" radioactive ele-
ments which were part of the original
composition of the earth but which had
completely diSintegrated long before the
time of man, now are being produced in
stable uantitieS-amountS as big as
grains of sandal the Oak Ridge lab
oratories of the Atomic Energy COM
mission.
At least one of them, If it can be
obtained In larger quantities. has unique
properties which may make 1t Of con-
siderable practical Importance In atomic
energy development. These two metals
are promethium and technicium.
1t, long had been recognized that they
must have existed at some time. Some
thing of the sort was necessary to fill
in gaps Of the atomic table. But with
the most refined methods Of chemical
analysis, no trace of them could be
found anywhere. They were, 1t was
concluded, dead" forever so far as the
earth and probably the universe were
concerned.
Both were located, however. among
the fragments of early uranium atom
flsSion experiments. They existed, how
ever. only as single atoms which could
not be isolated from the rest of the
debris and which were highly radioac-
tive. so that they disappeared In
short time.
: Exist as IsOtopes.
But, like most Of the other elements.
they apparently exist in several forms
or "isotopes" All these are radioactive,
but some have considerably longer lives
than others. 1t now has been found
possible to obtain both in amounts Of as
much as gram. about 30th Of an
ounce, from radioactive wastes. Minute
as these amounts are, they yet make it
possible for the first time to know what
these "rarest substances in creation
look like and some Of their properties.
which may prove valuable.
Technicium appears to be far the
more important. The Oak Ridge ex-
perimenters have found it is silver
grey metal with very high melting
point. It's density is about that of silver,
and it is slightly magnetic. When COM
bined with oxygen, 1t also occurs as
black solid, resembling manganese
dioxide.
The possible practical value Of the
new metal is that it shows considerable
capacity to soak up slow neutrons. cap
ture of which is important in atomic
reactor programs. Technicium has an
important place in the history of the
atomic age in that 1t was the first Of
the entirely synthetic elements pro-
duced from atom splitting. It is called
'technicium" because it is entirely
product of technology.
Promethium Mystery.
Promethium belongs to the group of
rare earth elements and as yet Moth
ing has been determined about its
properties.
OF perhaps greater significance has
been the separation at Oak Ridge Of
pound lots of the rare earths related
to promethium- dolinium, dysprosi-
UNI and Europeum. All these are me-
tallic elements, non-radioactive in their
ordinary forms, which have been known
to exist for long time. But they have
been obtainable only in extremely mi
mute quantities and have been re-
stricted to very special scientific uses.
g. Two pound lots Of 80 per cent pure
dysprosium have been obtained. It is
the most highly magnetic of all, the
metals.
More than pound of the far rarer
Europeum, probably the rarest of all
the existing elements, has been OBJ
tanned. 1t hitherto had been known
only as specks of pinkish powder.
The rare earthS. the Atomic Energy
Commission report points out, have
many practical uses. Among these are
for cigarette lighter flnts, in graphite
rods for searchlights. in motion pic
ture projectors, in waterproof1ng tex
tiles, in high-grade camera lenses and
in polishing optical glass.