Page 105 - The Miracle in the Atom

Power Of The Atom

e now know how atoms, the building blocks of the whole
universe and everything therein, animate-inanimate, form
matter in an extraordinary way. As we have examined, the-
W se extremely minute particles have a perfect organisation
within themselves. Yet, the miraculous aspect of the atom does not end the-
re; the atom also houses tremendous energy.
While the power hidden in the atom serves humanity on one hand, it
poses an extremely great danger for humanity on the other hand. So much
so that by the misuse of this power, tens of thousands of people lost their li-
ves in a very short time– a few seconds – at Hiroshima and Nagasaki du-
ring World War II. In recent years, an accident that took place in the Cher-
nobyl nuclear power plant in Russia caused the death or injury of a great
number of people.
Before giving detailed information on the disasters the power of the

atom caused in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Chernobyl, let us take a short lo-
ok at the nature of this power in the atom and how it is released.

Power Hidden in the Nucleus

In the chapter titled "The Formation Adventure of the Atom", we had
said the force keeping the protons and neutrons together in the atomic nuc-
leus is "the strong nuclear force". The enormous power of nuclear energy is
revealed by the liberation of a tiny part of this force in the nucleus. The
magnitude of this energy varies depending on the type of the element, be-
cause the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of each element is
different. As the nucleus grows, the number of neutrons and protons and
the magnitude of the force bonding them to each other increase. It is extre-
mely difficult to release this force that is responsible for keeping protons
and neutrons together in a large nucleus. As the particles grow more dis-
tant from each other, they, just like a taut bow, try to come together with
greater force.
Before going into the details of this force, let us think it over. How can

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