RADIANT ENERGY 395 



of energy equal to 4 X 0.0078, or 0.0312. That hydrogen is 

 not a whole integer, as the law of exact multiples among atoms 

 would require, is to be explained by the fact that hydrogen is the 

 only atom in which the nucleus does not consist of a close packing 

 of electrons. With close packing, there is a reduction in effective 

 mass; therefore, energy must be released whenever free electrons 

 (negative and positive electrons or hydrogen nuclei) unite to 

 form atoms. The free proton has a mass of 1.0078, but the 

 combined proton in the molecular state has a mass of 1. This 

 loss of 0.0078 unit of energy has been presumed to contribute 

 to cosmic radiation. Such a speculation is supported by the 

 philosophic argument that if the heavier elements are disinte- 

 grating into lighter ones, as are, for example, rubidium, thorium, 

 and others into lead, then there probably exists, somewhere, a 

 building-up process taking place to compensate for the breaking- 

 down process; as Millikan says, cosmic rays constitute the 

 announcement from the heavens of the birth of elements. The 

 speculation is an interesting one and has something in its favor, 

 but there is insufficient evidence to support it, and certain experi- 

 mental facts are against it. T. H. Johnson has shown that 

 much cosmic radiation consists of positively charged particles; 

 this tends to disprove the atom-building hypothesis. There is 

 also the unlikelihood of a chance collision of atomic (hydrogen, 

 helium, or other) nuclei taking place in a gaseous medium as 

 rare as is interstellar space. If the union of the 26 atomic nuclei 

 necessary to form an atom of iron should take place but once, 

 the union of 4 hydrogen nuclei to form one atom of helium would 

 be enormous, and there is no evidence of such quantities of 

 helium. Whatever their source, cosmic rays are real and are now 

 regarded as positively electrified particles (because they are 

 affected by the earth's magnetic field), shot toward the earth 

 from remote distances at nearly the speed of light. That they 

 are waves is another possible view. 



We have so far referred to radiant energy as a manifestation 

 of waves, just as if there were no doubt about it. The fact that 

 many kinds of energy {e.g., forms of light) consist of waves is 

 presumably proved by their capacity to be bent and scattered 

 as in the phenomena of diffraction and interference. The fact 

 that we measure the wave length of light is tacit admission of 

 its wave character. But Newton thought differently about it. 



