“ASTRONOMY” OF THE ATOM.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 August 1923, Page 4

“ASTRONOMY” OF THE ATOM.

DON DON, June MO. "Atomic Structure and Spectral Lines” is an excellent translation by .Mr Henry J,. lirose, of a well-known German work by Herr Arnold Summer fold. Professor of Theoretical Physics at -Munich. 'I lie aim of the author is to give a comprehensive account, not however, too difficult, which will allow th" non-academic reader to enter into Hie new physics of the atom and to gra.-p the meaning of spectral lines. This aim is on the v hole. admirable attained, though readers who are not familhir with matin mat ics mast ho | tvpatvd I• 11- Idi reading, a- the subject

is h\ no means an easy one. What I’ruic-.sor Soinmerleld does, ii

elicit, i-; to deal with the astronomy of the atom, a system in which those in i redihly minute bellies known as electrons act as the planets, ami the sun is represented !, v the "nuclear charge.”

'I he ittcsiion ,:ri-c~ : How can ilje electrons of the atom inn in in in themselves in opposition to the attractive action ~f the unclear charge? Tito answer i~ furnished hy the conditions of the solar system. The enrih fails to lull into the situ for the reason that it develops centrifugal forces owing lo its owit orhit. and lln-se forces are in equilibrium with Hit 1 son’s till ruction. The at m is a plain tare si stem in which the planets are electrons. They circulate about the centra! body, tin- nm-letis. Hut this aprrirotitlv simple theory

docs ill.t ciln-y ih.t' student vot'v far. There arc dillictilti<• s in f-vcrv direction. Tin.' ether is mie of tlii'in. Tii • modern l’;tsliiim is tn say iliat it does not exist. Ifni I’rol'. S immciTeld admits lluil there insist le something in iin 11.-n ii t lorce this sigh llte redid ively iimneiise voids, which seinii'ate electron tmin electron I and from nucleus in the atom. just ns j astronomical space separates the suit i Item the earth and other planets. The i trouble is tint! at one moment the ither seems to lie there, and at the tux! it is inn there. So, too. L’lanck's famous (juanltmil i hoary, iihieli holds lhal there are do- I finite aloius of energy, i' fatal to th* ; wave theory, which is necessary to explain wireless action and the processes of light. This is a most valuable and interesfi 111/ work, even though it gives no intnndiaie I tope of oxl fact inn energy from the atom, which is the dream of the modern pyhsicisi.