NEW CHEMICAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 September 1940, Page 6

NEW CHEMICAL

A STARTLING DISCOVERY. IMMENSE POSSIBILITIES. The isolation of a new substance called U 235, the chemical twin of uranium, and a potential source of vast power, is announced by the “Physical Review,” states the “Daily Telegraph’s” New York correspondent. The discovery, it is claimed, may prove to be one of the greatest in modern science. Predictions have already been made about the practical uses to which the new substance might be put, if it could be isolated in pure form in comparatively large quantities. One pound, it is asserted, would be equal in power output to 5,000,0001 b. of coal or 3,000,0001 b. of petrol and five or ten lb. would drive a liner or battleship without refuelling for a long period. While the uranium ore in which the substance is present is found in England, Canada, the Belgian Congo, Colorado and Germany, none of the substance had been isolated in its pure form until about two months ago. Even now, only infinitesimal quantities have been obtained. Nevertheless, progress is reported and it is suggested that within a few months a method of securing large quantities may be devised. Already the implications of the effect which this discovery rstght have on the outcome of the war are being discussed and it is asserted that German physicists, chemists and engineers have been ordered to drop all other research and devote themselves to this aspect alone. Germany, it is suggested, may regret having sent into exile Dr. Lise Meitner, who, with Professor Otto Hahn, made the first observations which led to the discovery. Soon afm'er her arrival in Stockholm Dr. Meitner revealed the results of her work with Professor Hahn to Professor Nils Bohr, of Copenhagen University. Professor Bohr, the Nobel Prizeman in Physics in 1922, immediately communicated them to an American colleague. One of the most starttling discoveries about U 235 is that its energy can be liberated by pouring over it cold water which promptly turns to steam. Thus U is believed, the substance could be used by steamships without difficulty. A London authority states that the American claims concerning U 235 might well be true. The quantity available, however, is not likely to be one pound, but perhaps a millionth of that amount. In his view, therefore, the discovery is unlikely to provide a secret weapon for either side in the war.