Show 7 things I 1 never naver knew till now about atoms this gives you an idea of the atoms size if a drop of water were magnified to the size of the earth the atoms in it would hardly be ba the eize of oranges most of the atom Is composed of empty space it is made of an orbit of electrons revolving around the nucleus much as planets revolve about the sun an electron is a merely a particle of electricity the atoms nucleus contains all its colossal energy it took scientists more than 60 50 years of research to unlock the nucleus so it could give up that power uranium has hag made the atomic bomb the most moat devastating explosive yet the bomb uses only one tenth of one per par cent of potential strength another reason why the tha united nations should stick together they possess three quarters of the worlds uranium supply fey few motorists realize that their cars are driven by atomic power gasoline is rich in hydrogen atoms and they provide provida most of the power that drives the car atomic power la Is one of the tha low few great discoveries co CD that was the tha goal of the longest and most difficult series of researches in history most momentous discoveries were ace accidents the invention of fire the discovery of america the discovery of oxygen and the xray X ray wore were all the result ol 01 accident in 1905 a young patent office clerk in switzerland developed a theory which involved the idea that under certain conditions matter could be changed into energy and energy into matter according to that theory a very small amount of matter could produce tremendous quantities of energy this has become the basic principle for atomic power yet science ignored this theory for 16 15 years the young patent office clerks name albert einstein youve probably read that the atomic power in a breath of air could operate a powerful plane fox for a year continuously that the ap in a handful of cf snow could heat a large apartment house housa for a year ete tc however prof einstein believes it will probably pro bally take many vears to channel energy into peaceful pursuits einstein also points out that other substances might be found and probably will bs be found to accelerate its commercial use on dec 10 1941 a day before we declared war against germany princeton Prine eton university scientists is sued issued a report which was buried in gazettes inside pages today the significance of this re port cannot be overestimated over estimated it revealed that the tha scientists made much headway in planning means to defend america against any type of atomic attack similar research is now continuing r some day the result of this work might make the atomic bomb obsolete i the peacetime role of atomic energy will depend upon ono one consideration relative cost until a method of producing the energy has been revolutionized and brought down to a low figure it Is likely to provide a source of energy in extremely concentrated form only for highly specialized industrial purposes ono one scientist has observed splitting the atom is I 1 like ike discovering the other half of the world the biggest half uranium la IS usel used for atomic bombs because it has the largest atom of any of the known elements and would be easier to split when the atom Is cracked the fragments of its nucleus are hurled off with an energy of electron volts the machinery which produced the atomic bomb has haa given the world its greatest destructive force very little attention has been given to the tact fact that such machinery is being used to save life not only destroy it the atom splitting cyclotron is a potent medical tool and is an invaluable aid in the light fight to lick cancer we have pointed out that the nucleus is the source of the atoms power it staggers the imagination to realize the nucleus is only one mil donth of a billionth of the size of the atoil the energy in just one gram of uranium ilum is strong enough to lift the empire state building 20 miles in the air more than five years ago dr R M longer langer physics research associate at the california institute of technology wrote in a mag that uranium could create a civilization in which man would dwell underground for better living where national boun daries would be obsolete because of swift travel and in which meaning of the gold stin standard dard would be lost because of 1 decreased le creased living costs |