Show k J r iE i S HE E. E SALT T L LAKE LAK K METAl HANGED C BY CHEMICAl PROCESS Does Doesn't D nt Follow That Gold Can Be Made Says Lecturer CHICAGO March 11 H. Transmutation tia ti tion on of ot metals sought throughout tho the a ages has finally been accomplished I It t was announced in a paper Tead read t today oday at a meeting of ot the Middle Western sections of ot the American C Chemical society at t Northwestern uni unI- uni- uni v Tungsten which is used in the filament fila fila- m ment ent of ot electric light bulbs has been d definitely and permanently changed i Into nto another element helium through t treatment In temperatures of below belov 5 and degrees it was declared declared de do- de- de d ared In a report on experiments ca c conducted by Dr Ger Gerald ld L. L Wandi a and nd C. C E. E Irion Irlon working at the University University Uni Uni- v of ot Chicago It means that the alchemists who t tried ried to turn the aSCI aser metals into g gold old were right on one point that point that the that one nature n of ot metals could coul be changed s said aid Dr Paul N. N Leech of ot the Chicago s section se of ot the chemical society In it c commenting the the upon paper But Butof o of f course It has nothing to do with will I t the he assertions of ot scalawags that tb the tte b baser aser metals can be transmuted int Into s synthetic gold TH THEORY EORY BLASTED It does however actually bias blast t the he theory that the atoms of elements s supposed to be absolutely indestructible t tible ible cannot be broken up by ment men It I t opens opens a vast new field to science and may result in many reaching far and important scientific developments development We cannot yet foresee what these developments de developments developments de- de may be of ol course Up until 1895 It was believed n m no p decomposition of elements was pos sible sibie At that time however it wa was discovered that radium which is on one of the about ninety known elements naturally decomposes and change changes i nto Into lead Nature however perform performs t that hat change and until Dr Wendt am ani and Mr Irion completed experiment S man had never been able to produce a aa a similar result The heat developed to break down t the he tungsten atoms and change them then I into nto helium is the greatest ever eve ever known known hotter hotter than the sun or than the hottest star known to i mers The heat of ot molten steel 1 is about 2000 degrees the temperature of the sun is about degrees am and of ot some of ot the hottest stars is about abou degrees But Dut these scientists have by bj means of artificial lightning such as Dr Charles Charles' P. P Steinmetz recently produced developed the hottest known know spot In the universe Astronomers have long known that while In general the materials material which compose the sun and stars star are the same as those known on earth the list of ot substances and chemical elements becomes shorter and shorter when the hotter stars are examined On the brilliant white or stars which are masses of gas at about abou degrees only the simplest ele elements le- le ments are present They seem to consist consist consist con con- entirely of the gases hydrogen an and helium The heavier metals such a as iron are not present To determine whether this was du due to decomposition by the great heat hea Wendt and Irion reproduced Conditions condition such as are tin n the stars and succeeded succeed succeed- ed in reaching a temperature twice a as high as that of the star an and found that ordinary metals are decomposed decomposed decomposed I posed into the simple gases particularly particular particular- ly Iy helium The method used was the same as as' as that used In producing artificial I lightning recently announced by Dr Steinmetz of ot Schenectady and was I originated by Dr T. T A. A Anderson of the I I Mt Wilson Solar observatory at Pasadena Pasa Pasa- dena CalIt Cal Cat II It consists in charging a large electrical condenser to volts and i i discharging this large quantity of ot electricity at high speed through an ani I fine Cine metallic wire The wire explodes with a deafening report as If struck by lightning which lightning which in a minor i way It is The flash is about times i j as bright as direct sunlight but It lasts i less than a hundred thousandth of ot a aI i second The I i pressure developed is j about 1000 pounds per square inch and the temperature is momentarily over II I degrees Fahrenheit Under such conditions the atoms which compose the wire decompose into simpler ones I and the result is the tho fi chane-fi of nf j I lic tungsten into gase gaseous helium eli One of ot the first laws of chemistry has been that the so called elements are permanent and unchangeable The failure of or the alchemists after centuries cen cen- tunes of ot effort to change such common com corn mon metals as copper and iron cornI into I gold convinced chemists that the I i metals could not be decomposed I i Great advances as the result of ot the the I work of Wendt and Irion In discoveries discover discover- I ies of the nature of the matter that composes the universe are confidently predicted Dr Wendt was born in Daveport Iowa in 1891 He lie was educated at I Harvard and in Paris and was for tor a time engaged by the United States bu bureau bureau bu- bu I reau of ot mines to work on radium production pro pro- In Colorado I He Je was a captain cap cap- capI I tam tain in the chemical warfare service S Sand and since then has been associate pro pro- 1 j lessor fessor of ot chemistry at the University I I r f q his n I |