268 INTRA-ATOMIC ENERGY. 



Let U8 ti\y to state with some exactitude the amount of force con- 

 densed in a small quantity of any matter whatever. The various 

 methods employed for measuring the velocity of the radio-active par- 

 ticles have always oiven about the same results. This velocity is 

 nearly tliat of light for certain radio-active emissions and aliout one- 

 third of that for the particles in a Crookes tube. Let us take the 

 lowest of these velocities — a))out 1<»0,000 kilometers per second — and 

 try, })y taking- this for a l^ase, to calculate the energy that would be 

 required to completely dissociate one gram of any matter whatever. 



The work performed by a ])ody in motion being equal to half the 

 product of its mass with the square of its velocity, an elementary cal- 

 culation gives at once the power which would be manifested by the 

 particles of this gram of matter in case they were endowed with 

 the supposed velocity. It would be equal to about 6,80(),(H)0 horse- 

 power. This amount of energy would suffice to move, on a levef road, 

 a freight train having a length of a little more than four and one-fourth 

 times the circumference of the globe. 



To move such a train l)y means of coal would require 2,830,000 

 kilograms, which, at 24 francs a ton, would cost about 68,000 francs. 



These figures, so vast as at tii-st to seem impro])ab]e, depend upon 

 the enormous velocity by which the particles are impelled, a velocit}' 

 which we can not approach l)y any known mechanical means. In the 

 factor vt\"' the mass of 1 gram is certainly very small; but as its 

 velocity is immense, the effects produced must likewise be iumiense. 



Now, all the velocities which we can produce are almost as nothing 

 compai"(^d with those of the particles of dissociated matter. We can 

 scarcel}" exceed 1 kilometer per second by the means at our disposal, 

 while the velocity of the radio-active particles is 100,000 times greater. 

 Hence the tremendous effects produced. 



Kutherford has said that the energ}' manifested in radio-active phe- 

 nomena is "perhaps a million times greater than that produced l)y 

 the various known reactions of molecular forces." 



He also remarks — and he is, as far as 1 know, the first ph3"sicist wdio 

 has decided to make such a statement — that "since the radio-active 

 elements do not differ from the other chemical elements b}^ any of 

 their chemical characters, there is no reason to think that the enormous 

 reserve of energy the}" possess is peculiar to them alone. It seems 

 pro])a])le, then, that atomic energy is general and of equal force in all 

 1 todies.'' " This is the thesis that I have constantly defended and upon 

 which I have for a long time based my contention concerning the 

 existence of a new form of energy surpassing in force all we have 

 hitherto known. 



Shall we some day succeed in easil}^ liberating this colossal force 

 that lies within the atoms? No one can tell. Neither could one have 



« Philosophical Magazine, May, 1903, p. 590. 



