Page 77 - Astounding Pulp V2

76 TRANSMUTATION, 193Q
ASTOl"XDIXC SC1E. "CE-FICTIO ~
we can do right well with far Je_s ma- dinary nit rog-en t:,•1!--:lnd lo he t--. 11 the
Jlf"<1cl11<: c· t lie· t ra11--,111111ati1111. tlH: all rac-tivc The (;apturc: c,f :slow neutron . on the
and 1·(·p11J...,in· fotT<·-. ,,f tlw 1111t<-1· c·kc- terial with either of the ~undament;1 safe side :i h:l1h.li11I oi f•thc-i· ,ni,1..·t l1.u1<"-
othC'r hand. i~ a llluch better bu inc.». ous element.::; that lllight h<_, the 1.idio-
·
tn ,11-. and 11t1d<·1h ,,f tl1<· targd atom c•\'Cll though \\'C can't aim them at all: gadgets of the nuclear chemist ; an ele - acti\'C one-to nur r<'a~ti0n 111ixl\11T . .tnd
11 •~ti,<·.., 111irn.,,· dc:fl<TI i,,11.... a <:t:1·tai11ty, tros cope 01 . a Geiger counter. very
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theoret ically . at least. a ll we have to do The electroscope is sm~p Y a · then epal':ite om tlw 11it1·ogt'n ..l~ain.
1
evc·n if we; cou ld aim a IH·am ,,f tlw par-
to 11:..c- up all of them is to increase our ]. h d fiber- usually metallized Usually we P ill tht' cknwnt th-nu!: 1
ti<.:lc:.., 1,n,pc·l'ly-a11d 1111ly direct hits 1g t charge . ·t '\s
absorbing ta rgC'l so that. no matter how . lied from I ts s11ppo1 • . · o ne or two cltarant'ri:-tic n·actinn, ',,r
count ! Si,wc tile an:ragc· dis tance bc- they wa nde r about. nearh· all \\'ill get qua1 tz-repe . ti ie fi!...-r it ionizes separation '-in thi~ ca::-c m3kin•• ca ciurn
f !Is nea1
. .
ut:
d
twc·c·n th(; taq.~ •t nuclei ,, ill he of the a chance to drop into a 1;uclc11 of the ra 1at1on a . air and permits the nitride. decompo ing it to am1~1011ia. et
onfc·,· (,f 1 O H cc:ntimc tc-r:... and the nu- desired substance before wandering out the surrounding . , and the activity of cetera-but. in any C\'ent . t',h.·h and <.'' e-,·
· _
charo-e to leak awa) ' .
c lc:a1· diamc tc·,- of the c,nlc·r of Io-,~ cm .. al •zed ,s measured sun time w e do something- to the nitr1..,, <:;,
of the room- what matter if the chuuk t::>
the re's a lot of roo111 fc,r m is~cs-the the sample an y hich the electroscope and the otltei· llh$t:t11ct'~ we exa111int..'
of matC'rial \\'C' r c tran ·muling has to be ply as the rate at w b
pr, hlc:m is <.:ssent ially that of t ryi11g to sc\·eral feet t hick ? A ll we need i a . A Gei<Yer counter may e them for rad!oac1 i,·i1y. lf a ra<li1Jact i, e
1
malcc: di rec t h its on .22 rifle lm llc:ts 100 little sou rce of neutrons in the center. d1scha:ges. . of\ hapes and designs ; isotope of nttr~ge11 _wa:- initially pre~-
yard s a pa n w ith a .22 1·iAe in a hig h made 111 a variety . a high direct-cur- ent 1t v,ould lll1::-;: w 11l1 ... ,,d l~l
And that's the catch ! H o\\' do wr essentially, hO\~eve,a, •ntained between a , . · •• ·"- la \'t' ('X -
w in cl- t lio ug h to mak(; an accura te ma ke neutrons? o fa r the only k1iown tI ·a1 ,s m , . actly like. the added nitt·'"'o-..-.. , \
'-".:::.'-n. ::-o tnat
·
I ted rom
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a 11a logy we: o ug h t to s uspe nd .the ta r- rent poten f . a metallic cylindn- if every time we te ·t inr it t\ . •
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. . _ •
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\\'ays a rc to make ·em from reactions wire msu a d'ng it. This poten- actn·n y 1s st1 assoc1a1ed wit!, 1e rac11,.-i-
11
·
get bu Ile ts o n two-foot pic:c ·s of st ring ( 1 ) o r ( 3 ) on our list- and both of ca s e s I eel against a vacuum . h . o ur 1ntrn-
1 h 11
urroun i
,
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ba anc
. 1 •
a nd le t the m s ,va y in the bn :cze, too ! these in,·oh·c that ma rksmanship bu.i- ha ts so h assao-e of an ionized par- gen f ract1on. t en tt , 1111 ,_t b e {:01n1ng
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/\ lpha pa r t icles an: e,·cn wo rse. Le- ness again! from a nitrogen 1so1ope.
cau se they w ill come c,ut of ,·adi um . o r t~he !ha_~! ;h~ cylh1der ionizes the gas To be per fec:th· cxac:1 "'f , 0 ur-e tl .
. , ,
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c
t1cle ms1 ·i the vacuum tube, and method \\'Ottld in ,·oh ·e ::tddino- ::, · lls
wha tevc1· is being used as a sou rce. in sufficient!~ to ti ~ntial is amplified and f I . t:> eac 1
1 a.n l
·
cnmplc:tc ly 1a nclo m d i1ecl io ns-sa111e as CoN'sm rm r ·c the low yields available the resulting pot every one o t 1e n1 net\·-t w o 1 <.
·
from these ,·a riou sources. one very to a particttla1· mixture · and ,::./ e ine~lts
o ur othe r a na logy, o nly the fello w with recorded. this is a very sensi- each and e" ery one of the pa 1 ·~ t 1ng-
the t·iflc h as gon e and g ot quite drunk. prope rly inquire. just how does one Needless to say, · JI every· sin- 111
.
t-theorettca Y
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·vv_c can't, o f co u1·se, just increase the identify the transmuted elements, and t1ve mstrumen . t d from a particular -a pretty difficult busines!'; w l O l\ t ao-a.111
ien ,.
,
~li,c kncss o f w hate ve r \\'e·rc bombai·d- what use are they ? Let us take these member a large numbe,· o f these ( : 0 ll r e -
in order- first the identification. lo gle particle ei~~:s \e counted, _but actu- have a very short hali life. T k tnp~ -
l
111g . _o make s u re o f g elling a ll the a lpha
chemical analyst ever dreamed of being sample co1_1ld ~ s are too difficult to mium, f~r exa_mple. \ \" e n 1 ade /a& (:ad -
J)art,cles caugh t by a nucleus soone1· 01· 1
able to get a test for a mere 6,000,000 ally cosmic ay is content to work radioact1ve silver atoms. \\"ith -OQo
lat?1, because the particles have to be " H
·
.
atoms-the smallest amount of material sci een out and one ow- life of twenty-three seconds. It a h ;:i_lf
"background.
,
going da1·n fast to d o a ny· good , and t 1
I
d ·
.
t \.\' e 1
afte t· . they've d on e any slowing down one can manipulate under a microscope against a conS ant f nd practicable to three secon ::., t 1en . the re . . 1t-> -
. h
d"
.
t hey Just o- tl · • in present-day micro methods is of. ~1c ever, 1t as been ou 3 000 000 atoms : 111 fo1·t\'-six. cl.t(' l.
the amount of ra 10-
U \ 1t
oa 1e r 111 a ny co nve111ent elec-
t ro ns a nd 1 . o rder of billions of times this quantity measure accurately t when only o'lle 1, soo' 000 and in ten mit;tll~s- Sec a nd
_ )eco1J1e common, o rd111a1·y · J presen ' ' ' 1 110 t
ato m s o f hyd. d . - so we have to make a lot .more than active matena . every twenty sec- One t So, one ta ,es all the . e v (:' 1_
1 . 1 · t og en. e uterium, o r he- . S ll ~ p 1
. •un , a nd then what good are they? . we did in our lecttll'e _experiment to get nuclei is explodmlg I then we'd only elements he c~n ~nd does ''"hat h <=q e (l
d'
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.
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a chemical test. On the other hand. on s o 1 . so . roug 1 y, 000 or so ra 10- Now we l,no,, that the • ...J. e c-a
,
10
11
·
I C
1 0 -<, 10
have to have somebl to find them with- elementint1e uneandJoliot. 0 -<-' t i , .e •
active atoms to be a e . 1
ea('ti1,,
IF You WANT THE LADIES TO LIKE YOU out troub!'e. ,,re can tell that was nitrogen. But how d o ,,. e 1 ,11 11
. . . b
b
-HO.ME A<iAIH -You,Too . far. now ., became car on atte1 1t 1~"" Up ? 0\\· it
SWEETS-AHi> D~Alt-lT w11.'s Fme, so , t ·al is present not so easy; to a : 0~1~1cler ab1e 1 hat . s
HOW KISS-"•LE HtteoFvou d . t' e ma en ·
YOU t.001<.! TO Slf"-Vf Ac..\lN d some ra ~oac iv . •t ? \,Ve can tell we get th1s sort ot tnfon c\ti ext ~nt
\ 11,i:oMco1,1111<: But what eleme~t is i_ ·1 t us take the 11 011
HOME- naloa)' w ith other reaction s ·frc-
h t t 00
/ '1 • t a , , very simply, e a ::> - . <\1 l tl
11 11
f t that the mass-ene1·gy ec1
· I Joliot reaction
. 1c-
.
b
1e
. . .
ttat
i case of the . Cune anc H ere ac es only 1f it 1s ca1· on- re n 10 11 hal
and follow the process th:ough. f .
. tive isotope o m- anc ineasure the energy, cl1-t _1ernbe ,- \ -
.
can
.
c 1 o·e
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we suspect a ra dioac h h 15
• et ,... ,
·a of the e1rntted particles ciu•
. f rmed and even t oug e1 , . . ite . ' tt_
b
0
trogen emg . ' ll the smali As a last resort we 11110-ht . 1 (:a_cl -
Lambert Pharmacat Co., Del)l. 132, St. Louis, Mo. Pleas.e send me free and postpaid y our _larl[c_sam• 1 1~v
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FREE pie tube of O Listerine Shaving Cream; □ Listerine Brushleu Cream, (Check whichever 1 deaired.) we can't possibly . bane e e can de- out and make enoug 1 of the ~ to - ·
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SHAVES Namc. ______________ -nddrea,._ ____ -::----~--=----- amount of it that is _pref): n:d; some or- element to ge som e c 1e1111ca1 PQi·t · S~t
. J~'-ll
tect it, and so we 51111 P
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City ______________
test f . a 1-
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