BREAKING THE ATOM.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18232, 17 November 1924, Page 11

BREAKING THE ATOM.

EXPERIMENTS AT SHEFFIELD. I*EOK OU* OWH COBMSI'pHDZ'ST.). ■ LONDON, October 7. More or less serious attention is being directed upon the experiments being carried out by Professor 'x. F. Wall, of iSheffield University, who hopes tp be abb to split tip the' atom. Dr. Wall is.not attempting to break up the atom by bombardment with alpha, particles, as in Sir Ernest Rutherford's experiments, "out ho is. attempting.to .tear the atom to pieces .by,ait intense, magnetic &cld->, ■ .. i., ;...■';.. ~.

, The. experimonter has-.heen receiving a deluge of .letters from .people-who are aoprehehsiivo -oh -the consequences; some of these letters are-hy way Of a joke but' some of ■'■ the-writers aro evidently in 'deadly earnest.' uno correspondent says: "Dear Sir,—Please don tblow up the. atbm; . I am terrified.. Please . please, leave things alone.—. One ..Wha-is Erightened.''-: A lather: •writes oilrbehalf of ihi'schildren.thus.:- 1 - :"I regret, to ; gee. you arc determined to; carry out your experiment. Perhaps if •you wefo : a'married'mait with children, and not : so callous-ypu hvould not ho'so keen on the possible destruction of the human race. * Oh! You must bo hard to liave no pity for thoso with-.bved ones. May God curse you if you carry out your 'experiment.—A Married. Man." Dr. Wall himself contributes an article on his work to the "Sunday Express:" He' explains that in all hut the simplest atom (hydrogen) the electrons revolve round the nucleus in successive rings, the whole system being somewhat similar io.the. solar,- system, t,ho ■ :Bun cofr.espondong.->to the. nucleus and the planets - corresponding to 'the several electrons. ■■■-.- r .'■'.- Constitution of the Atom. The chemical properties of the atoms of .any elements;are more or less corn-, pletely. determined by . the outer ring

pf electrons. "The nucleus of the atom determines the, nature of tho clement to which the atom belongs. In radioactive' substances the nucleus, is shooting off particles at a high speed, and in this way tho actual nature of the material becomes changed,, that is to say, radio-activity results in the transmutation, of. matter.

If. in a complex atom some of the electrons nucleus can bo dragged out of their pah a very largo amount of. energy, would become: released, and if, the nucleus can itself be attacked and destroyed the "disruption"of -tho atom may become' completely effected. "Tho high-speed' electrons in tho atom are equivalent to electric currents, and. produco intense magnetic fields in the atom, these fields; being of-immense-ly greater .strength than.any it has be-"n possible to produco hithortoby artificial means. If, however, it were possible to produce artificially a magnetic field of strength'.'c.c-mparable to those duo to the electronic- Currents," and if this artificial field, were ' impressed" on. tho atoms of matter, it .would disturb tho electronic orbits *and under. suitable conditions- would break down | the structure of the. atom, and so resooio or all of, its''energy. .

100,000 Horso Power. ■ '.'The problem is.being-attacked from this point of view, and the essential feature of tho method employed is the production of excessively intense magnetic -fields :by' artificial"' mean's. These iields are generated by 'apparatus specially dovised for the purpose. Briefly stated,, the iw_ethqd consists in charging ;very. largo capacity .static • condensers- to a high" voltage, and then j discharging them through a small coil | cf wire which embraces the material 1 which is being subjected to the test. Inthis way electric currents of enormous strength, aro. produced, and, for a small fraction of a second, the apparatus is capable, of supplying to the coil surrounding. the specimen, tho equivalent of; about 100,000.. horse-power. • This produces magnetic fields of-an intens-' fty which.hitherto has'been'unapproaohcd by any other investigator, in so far as the.writer is aware. ~ *'■- <

"In order'to rcndcir the investigation as manageable as possible, tho material which is c beu;n; submitted to the test in-, the first place is a, piece of steel. By reason of "it's -norm'al "magnetic pro.perties. steel-has-'been chosen as prc-v-idins a- very useful iridicsbion for ascertaining any preliminary changes in

tho structure* of tho atom. TSaV into say, auy preliminary change ia tA» strucuiro wiii produce «n enecfc oat iho norui.il properties, aa. 4 ttns ettcct will lorra a valuable gaHl» as to what is gviiDg, on.

- A Roniariablo Fhonontaaoa. "The intense magna'!; Sitd as artificially proauu'jd is oeius impressed oft tho material at regular intervals fay means of an automatic switch, and lius repeated application will be Jkept iffi operation ' lor days, weeks, or even months, if necessary, tbo physical conditions of the material being exaxsimd at intervals.

"So far as the work has at prcs«a* progressed, a very rt-markabio phenomenon has been observed. At sow* stap.es of the operations the discharge current through-tho em&fi wu" white** embraces the material, increases to an. enormously greater value than eoaM reasonably bo expected from the calculated, values. xhtj precise sicniSeaswe of this effect ii> not yet vicar, but, s% denotes that a' condition or of tbo circmt is being "reached, aim this in turn means that tie strength of the magnetic field so prodoeed* is increasing- beyond all, .expectations, may possibly," by a further v increasocw tho power, go on increasing -viilmg* limit until a- results.™