THE MIGHTY ATOM

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 101, 1 May 1930, Page 4

THE MIGHTY ATOM

PROBING ITS SECRETS

CHALLENGE TO SCIENCE

EVE OF GREAT ERA

(By Vincent Wilcox.) (Copyright.) Men of to-day bkvo accepted the challenge of the earth and the skies— a challenge of construction, and cngin-' eering. By discovering the make-up of the universe even to its most minute part they will be able to rebuild in new forms and styles. • . The last obstacle to such a. dream is tho tiny atom. Once this particle can be broken up, studied, recombined with other particles, it will be possible to make gold' from baser materials, change the structure of other metals, and do tho most astounding things concerning which the ancient alchemist suffered, dreamed, and wrote. And while on the narrow roid^ to such a now creation of a universe, interesting by-paths lead away tliat are themselves worth exploring. For example, in examining the atom and its innermost centre, huge, high-powered electrical equipment has .been made. In the increasing voltage a need has been found for glass tubes able "to withstand the high-speeds. As, this glass tube is produced there becomes possible a super X-ray. An X-ray will thus one day be produced—is oven now being planned— that will be extremely penetrating. With it, X-ray pictures could be"-taken through a whole building. For examplo, a structure possibly thought to be unsafe, could be examined by such a super X-ray and its innermost flaws revealed even in the castings of solid steel. The effects of such radiation in the biological; world can hardly be predicted. ' ■ VAST TREASURE BOX. The desire of science to , learn the r >cret of the atom has driven men on for centuries. Now with the aid of powerful electrical voltages, so powerful that they reach unbelievable pressures, the atom .is unwillingly giving up its innermost secrets. This tiny thing is a vast treasure box. Tho key to creation lies within it. Even though it is so small, the way to break through it is very difficult. - There is really nothing-smaller than tho atom. It is too small to see, yet it is known to exist. Scientific investigations reveal that matter in all its forms is made up of different kinds of atoms, more than ninety kinds, in all. These are grouped into molecules which," combined in countless numbers, constitute the objects that we see. around us. The atoms themselves, all of about the same size, measured in terms'of inches are a hundred-millionth of an inch in diameter. It is known* that the atom itself has a centre. Each atom 'ias a* centre of positively charged nucleus which is surrounded by an atmosphere of electrons whose number and shape determine the kind of an atom it is, of the ninety assorted varieties. , Now the entire mass of the-atom is located at this central nucleus, which is very much smaller than the atom itself, having a diameter of one ten-thousandth of one-hundred-millionth of an inch. Which means that the heavy part of an atom occupies only about one-hundred-millionth of the total;, s Yplume o£ the whole atom;. If put in figures, using cubic centimetres, there would be a decimal point and then there would have to be-thirty-six zeros before the digit. . * REALLY DIMINUTIVE. It is hard for the human mind to grasp this. Even scientists have amused themselves by expressing it in terms of comparison and analogies. For example, they say that if a drop of water wero magnified to the size of the earth, the constituent atoms would bo tho size, of footballs. . Or again, if the i constituent atoms in a tumbler of water were thoroughly mixed with all the water in the1 world and tho tumbler again filled it would contain two thousand of the original atoms. Another says, in speaking of the ultra-minutenoss of, the nucleus, if the nucleus of a hydrogen atom were brought up to the size of a pea the single electron in the atom would be represented by a sphere thirty feet in diameter, and the circumference of tho, atom itself by a circle having a diameter of six hundred^miles. •••-. • , » With all the high-powered miscros'copos, it is thus easy to understand why no atom, or its centre, has ever been seen. ( Thus indirect methods must bo employed. The ■ brilliant successes achieved in tho study of J;he atom are due to the fact that instruments have been devised and methods evolved by means of which atoms can be disrupted into their constituent particles. The results of the breakdown of the structure can be seen. Thus positive conclusions are reached over the. nature, behaviour, and composition of a, thing which is far too small ever to be seen. When Sir Ernest Eutherford began bombarding the atom with the projectiles fired off from radium, hitting the tiny target with tremendous velocities, a way was first suggested o2 breaking open" this 'Obstinate particle of matter. This was but the beginning and* success" in the search of the basic laws of the earth and its composition. TREMENDOUS VOLTAGES. While the bombardment by radium ■has given, some knowledge, still there is much to be learned, and science has continued to experiment as to how the door to the mysteries can be opened wider. Thus they have sought for a way of hitting the atom harder" and harder, and have marshalled their knowledge to sueeeed. The hope now lies 'in the development of high electrical voltages and the handling of them safely under laboratory conditions. Two Washington scientists of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism have made additional progress in the prying open of the door to the centre of. the hard-shelled atom. The highest electrical voltages ever obtained Have recently been produced by Dr. 3. Breit and Dr. M. A. Tuve. With relatively inexpensive apparatus, compact enough to be easily contained in a small-slfzed room, they have developed an electrical pressure of more than 5,200,000 volts. Still gnater voltages can be obtained by their methods. Previously the highest' voltage equipments have been at the Pittsfield. U.S.A., works of the . General Electric Company, built at enormous expense. There 3,600,000 has been obtained. The California Institute of Technology at Pasadena has equipment for a,capacity of 1,500,000 volts, and Stanford University has a 1,000,000-volt test set. There are two or three in Europe of similar capacity. It is for the purpose of examining the inside of the atom that science is building such high voltage outfits. The very construction of such apparatus ia an engineering feat. If tho electrically-charged particles of which an electric current is composed are released between two metal electrodes to which a i high voltage is applied, the particles will move toward the electrodes with tremendous speeds due to the. electrical attraction. If the particles 'are 'to "attain1 full' speed and maximum energy, they must be

prevented from colliding with, atoms it the air in ' their travel towards th« electrodos. These electrodes, therefore, must be enclosed in a tube which it* exhausted to a very high vacuum. "Whets. electrons are released at one electrode of a vacuum, tube to which a high voLage is applied, they bombard the olhor electrode with speeds approaching" the velocity of light, which is 186,000' miles per second. \. . .- ~ GUTTING AT THE CORE. It is fairly easy with this method to knock electrons out of their normal positions in the atoms of a given element used as a target. Comparatively. low voltages suffice-to give.a stream of, electrons .or positively-charged atoms, used as projectiles, sufficient energy toaccomplish this. But in order to ptne*" trate the,central massive structure of the atom, the nucleus, and disrupt it, the speed of these projectiles and consequently their hitting power must b» increased, enormously. This can be ac- r eomplished only by increasing the elee-, trical pressure applied to the tube until it is.of the order.of several million.1 volts. - '■ :. . ■".■■ However, now that a practicabla method of securing euch^high voltages has been developed .another serious difficulty is encountered,. the difficulty o£ obtaining-vacuum tubes; which willwithstand the terrific strain which isproduced. At these tremendous voltages the" glass is subjected to very great- e»cctrical stresses. Stray electrons bombard it, and unwanted electrical charges ac--cumulate in unexpected places, With tb«result that the glass breaks dowii anda puncture results. A still greater difficulty lies in the fact that it is almost impossible to produce a vacuum tube which does not x discharge violently t,t, 500,000 volts or even less, thereby preventing the voltage across the,electrodes., from being increased above this discharge point. Thus one advance calls for a host ot additional equipment in order "to pro* ceed but a.*1 small step further. It is, in the hunt.for special tubes, to withstand the electric discharges that is noirinteresting these warriors of science.Dr. Tuve may be able to make<one or someone else may succeed.:.. Dt. Coolidgo has one known as the "cathoderay tube," which operates satisfactorily at 900,000 volts, and pay go higher, and there is one in California produced by Dr. Lauritzen which has operated at one million volts, but as yet the prac-J tical, safe tube has not been'made. That the moch-sought-for object Trillcome is believed. It is merely a, matter of time until the great secret shall be made known. The impelling motive, is there. ■ ;. The enthusiasm of the scientists who are engaged on this fascinating problem is fired by the possibility of learning new and fundamental facts about the nature of matter. They see not only the exquisite beauty of the internal structure of atoms, revealed -M.-it is oaan incredibly'minute scale, but they areimpressed also with" the, splendour of. the universe, out to the farthest stars. Modern astronomers have -, not only,l measured the appalling distances to th« stars, and to-the island universes 1>«-----yond our galaxy, but they have shown. that the material atoms;of our earth are found in all the great celestial bodies throughout the uhtbihkably vast regions^of space. Wherever their tele» scopes have pointed they have read the familiar story: "You have literally in. your hands the secrets of the universe." Men's minds have: been fired with sucl* thoughts. They have accepted the challenge of the earth, and of the skies, a ad each Say is revealing to them new. beauty and new tauth.