Some Possibilities of Atomic Power
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CiL OWING announcements of the success of the atomic bomb have led many people to take the view that this new source of energy will solve many .of our problems by the supply of unlimited quantities of cheap "fuel." Eventually, this may be the case, but, according to shine scientists, we have, as yet, only touched the fringe of possible developments.
A method of releasing the pent-up power in certain materials has been discovered, but even now the power developed is only a small portion of that theoretically available. It is also quite another .matter to exercise control of this huge force and direct it into suitable channels—in fact, we are assured that this presents the need for an entirely different class of investigation. It must not be expected. therefore, that progress in this direction will be rapid.
Some experts say that it will take at least a decade to achieve much ; others that cnly the younger people of our generation may be able to observe really material results. It is, however, fascinating to visualize the enormous potentialities of this ultra-modern development.
A Non-technical Explanation At the time of writing, few details—and those very meagre—have been given concerning the construction and contents of .the bomb launched• against Japan. It seems, however, that the quantity of uranium utilized in it was remarkably small, possibly an ounce or less, the remainder of the space being occupied by the devices for causing the atoms of this material to disintegrate at high speed, instead of taking their own time to perform this change—time which might be measured in thousands or even millions of years: as happens in the case of radium. No doubt this speeding up is caused by some form of electrical bombardment, which means that asupply of electrical power has to be made available, also probably complicated apparatus, including that for timing the operation.
The power developed is entirely different from that with which our engineers are ordinarily conversant. Apart from electricity produced from natural power, such as the wind or a head of water, our energy is derived from utilizing certain• combustibles, and by igniting these so that they burn slowly or rapidly, according to the purpose for which they are required ; but burning is, at its fastest, a slow process and is' merely a matter of oxidation affecting purely the material concerned and the air in contact with it.
Even in an oil or petrol engine it is not really correct to refer to the rapid burning of the fuel in a cylinder as an explosion, although it does approach the latter when the initial spreading of the ignition is supplanted by dethnation of the remainder of the fuel present.
The Atom Does Not "Burn" In an explosive the process of combustion is greatly expedited, usually by embodying with the combustible material other constituents Vvilich can supply, armost instantaneously, a large volume of oxygen, so that there is no need for this to be drawn from the surrounding air. In the liberation of atomic energy, there is no combustion in the true sense of the word. Some of what we may term the particles of electricity, forming the "planetary system" of each atom and normally bound to it by enormous force, are discharged and appear to exercise a great influence upon any matter against which they impinge., The blinding light and heat developed are due, not to burning,but to the rupturing of the original atoms and, possibly, others.. A Useful simile can be found in the rapid drawing Of a piece of iron or steel, although, of course, this is effected by external power, but the stretching of the material will develop considerable heat. If this " stretching " were to be performed internally and at great speed, the heat would be intense. Such power is contained within the uranium (and, probably, in many other materials, although this happens to be for the moment the most convenient to employ), that it is said that a few grains would, suitably utilized, be sufficient to drive a motor vehicle for thousands of miles, whilst a handful or less would provide energy sufficient to take the biggest liner to America and back.
To comprehend' such forces, we may have to reorientate all our ideas.