262 Miracles Ahead! 



amenable electrons from the atom. Of course, the more ame- 

 nable the electron is about leaving the atom, the less energetic 

 it is about going back again. Developments in cosmic rays and 

 atom smashing were checked by the war, but scientists are 

 learning to dissociate the less-amenable portions of the atom. 

 When they finish this work we will have a source of energy 

 that is without parallel today. For instance, the atoms in one 

 pound of uranium, a very heavy metal, contain as much 

 power as millions of pounds of coal. 



The Amazing Cyclotron 



The cyclotron, known as the "atom smasher," gives scien- 

 tists an important tool for releasing the enormous power of 

 the uranium atoms. A sufficiently powerful cyclotron bom- 

 bardment, in which neutrons bombard the uranium atoms, 

 would release 175,000,000 volts of energy. Scientists don't set 

 any date when atomic energy will be ours to use for indus- 

 trial purposes. It could be here in a year or two, or many 

 years. When it does come all of our needs can be taken care 

 of with a fraction of the labor now required. 



In past ages the alchemists spent their lives trying to turn 

 base metals into gold. Rutherford, in recent years, proved that 

 this transmutation of matter was not beyond our power. He 

 changed nitrogen to hydrogen by tearing electrons away from 

 the atom of nitrogen by bombardment, and did the same thing 

 with several other elements. Today our power to transform 

 the elements has been greatly enhanced by the cyclotron. It 

 can rearrange the atom's structure and change it into some- 

 thing else. A stream of electrons is used to knock loose the 

 nuclei, or "deuterons," from atoms of hydrogen. Then these 

 deuterons strike with terrific speed at the object that is to be 

 bombarded. This bombardment changes the arrangement of 

 its atoms. 



