Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 17 March 1950 — Page 3

THREE THE POST-DEMOCRAT, MONCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, MARCH 17,1980

New Machines And Gadgets Novel Things for Modern Living Air-cooler unit for the automobile is a self-contained unit to attach to the rear bumper which delivers cooled air by flexible ducts leading through window tops. The refrigerating unit is operated normally by a rub-ber-tired traction wheel running on the pavement, but a gasoline engine starts automatically when the car is at a standstill. * * * Rocking stretcher, for life saving in drowning accidents, is a collapsible cot, with center support, that can be teetered to give the so-called rocking treatment. .With fixtures to prevent seesawing, it can be used as an emergency operating table or, with legs folded, as an ordinary stretcher. • • * Zipper cuff, attachable to a work shoe to make it “higher” for activities ranging from hunting to plowing, is made of leather and is laced in front. The zipper parts on the lower edge of the cuff and the top of the shoe unite to make an all-weather connection. * * * Truck signal, shown in the picture, has 500-foot visibility day or night in normal weather conditions. It is a vacuum-operated

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plastic arm, 14 inches long, which consists of two tapered panels of transparent amber material set into either side of a sword-like section of opaque white.

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Animal cut-outs, made of a pink, flat, tough plastic, can be used for tracing the animal figures or as ornaments in a child’s room. They are beveled for easy tracing, can be pinned to a wall, or stood upright on furniture, ; held with plastic bases which ! come with them.

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Fire alarm, without wiring or , batteries, will automatically ring its bell if the temperature in the | room whjere it is hung reaches J 130 degrees Fahrenheit. It is ! controlled by a coiled thermo- ! stat. The spring that operates the alarm is wound by turning

the bell. * * *

Color transparencies for photographic displays are made by a new reproduction process which transfers colored images to both sides of a rigid sheet of 1 plastic. When lighted from behind, the new transparencies proj vide full-bodied color depth and 1 three-dimensional appearance.

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Transparent case, for a salesman’s samples, displays the contents without being opened. It is made of a clear, tough plastic j that will withstand travel and I weather, and may be cleaned with soap and water. The case is available in various sizes. • * * * ! If you leant more information on the new things described here, send a three-cent stamp to Science Service, 1719 N St., N. W., Washington 6, D. C., and ask for Gadget Bulletin 507.

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Words in Science— Latitude—Longitude By Science Service I If you want to locate the position of a city or a ship, you can do so most exactly by stating its latitude and longitude. ! Latitude is the distance of a particular place measured in degrees north or south of the equator. Longitude is the angular distance east or west on the earth’s surface, measured by the angle contained between the meridian of the particular place and a prince meridian. Greenwich, England, is the meridian used as a reference. i One way of remembering how to differentiate between latitude and longitude is to think of the earth as a sphere on which the longitudinal lines come together at the two poles. The latitudinal lines, on the other hand, are parallel with the equator. \(Copyright, 1950, Science Service)

From Now On: How Earth Began, and How Cong Ago, Should Be Research Subject in Next Half Century

By WATSON DAVIS Director, Science Service (Ninth in a series of glances forward into next half century of science.) If there is anything solidly known, it would be logical to suppose that it ir the earth beneath our feet. Yet today there is less assurance than ever before about what lies within the earth, a mere few thousands of miles below us. There is even less agreement and positiveness about the origin of the earth. Central Core We do know that the stuff of the central core of the earth must be about four times as heavy as the surface rock layers, which means that it is twice as dense as the densest materials known at or near the surface. The core is in a state of great compression. There seems little doubt but that there are three distinct layers lying upon the earth’s central core: The surface crust about 30 miles thick with rocks about three times as heavy as water, then a 720-mile layer of density four, and about a 1000-mile layer of density 5 to 6, and then the strange center of the earth which is density 10 to 13. Earthquake waves give us this information. Geologists have long abandoned ideas of a “hell and brimstone” interior of the earth. Volcanoes give us no clue to what is deep within—for their molten lava is strictly on'the surface, liquefied by temporary release of pressure. Even the idea that the earth’s surface was once molten is not in scientific favor now. Flow of the earth’s materials deep within the globe is due to the enormous pressures. Under pressure the

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Make the line above a straight line instead of a spiral and it would be far too long to print on this page. Note the tiny space given to the time covered by written history. most solid stuff will move like so much liquid. But the surface of the earth, unlike that of the moon, does not have signs of having been molten. The history of the earth goes back some three billion years or so when the earth was formed in some manner out of the nebula that gave birth to the sun and the other planets. You can take your choice of theories of the origin of the sun and planets, but the most recent of them returns to something akin to Kant’s idea of a whirling cloud of dust out of which the bodies seem to have been accumulated. There are many chemical puzzles in the rocks of the earth when scientists try to fit them into the geological picture. Why does the earth have as much water as it does? Dr. Harold C. Urey, Chicago Nobelist, who has

turned from nuclear chemistry to earth chemistry these days, finds enough chemically combined water in the large amount of serpentine in the earthly rocks to account for the water. The earth’s origin is but one step in the process of providing a platform in time and space for the human race. Where did the original gas and dust come from? How can hot bodies like the sun and other stars be created out of cold gas and dust? There are theories, of course, and plausible ones at that. But when some of the steps seem to be understood, someone asks: “When did time begin?” Then the question must follow: “What kind of time?” We are told the earth’s rotation (our clock) is slowing down onethousandth of a second a century compared with the other planets. The quest for positiveness may be as endless—one hardly dares say—as time. Deep Mysteries While we worry about the Hbomb, there are many deep mysteries that we can afford to strive to fathom, given the peace to do so. We may hope: A. Astronomers, geologists and other scientists will ponder whence came and whither goes the solid earth beneath our feet and the stars over our heads. B. Amidst our preoccupation with discoveries for new weapons, for the fight against world starvation, for countering disease, for new industries, we shall take a little time to inquire what it was in the beginning and whether it always will be. C. Our ideas of past and possible future may never become dogma, for then our intellectual children will disown our brash finality. (Copyright, 1950, Science Service)

You Can Do It

Make Lazy Susan From Two Bread Boards

By JOSEPH H. KRAUS Science Service Home Editor Lazy Susans make it easy for guests to help themselves from the array of tidbits, arranged on the rotatable tray. A suitable platform on which dishes may be set can be prepared easily from two circular breadboards. The breadboards should be flat. Suitable sizes will be 14 inches in diameter for the top board and about nine inches for the bottom one, but considerable variation from these measurements is possible. Decide on Design Decide first on which design you wish to make. The one with the ball bearing skate wheel will rotate more freely, while the second (Jesign shown is more compact, may be washed freely and can be produced without the aid of a drill. Insert a common, straight pin through one end of a strip of stiff cardboard and punch a small hole near the other end. Then, with pin held against the side of a breadboard, describe an arc by inserting a pencil point through the hole. Repeat in three more places approximately 90 degrees apart. Draw straight lines across the intersections of the arcs. Where the straight lines cross will be the center of the board. Repeat on the second board. With ice pick, nail or center punch, indent the wood at the center. Select a bolt about % inch in

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diameter and of the proper length, as determined by the thickness of the boards. It should not go through the top. Optional Treatment In the simple form, drill a hole large enough in diameter to countersink the head of the bolt, then continue with a smaller drill for a drive fit of the body of the bolt into the wood. Should you by chance make this hole too large the body may be wrapped with several turns of thread for a force fit. Drill a hole part way into the under surface of the top board being sure that there will be a space of less than Vs inch between top and bottom pieces when the two are brought to-

gether with bolt in place. If you drilled too deeply you can insert a disk or two of oil-soaked leather. For greater freedom of motion use a single bearing ball on top of the supporting bolt. If you do not have a suitable drill, both of these holes may be burned through the wooden pieces with a nail repeatedly heated red hot in the flame of a gas stove and applied immediately to the wood. Make sure to hold the nail in pliers to avoid finger burns. The hole may be enlarged at one end with a knife to set the bolt head below the surface. • Or you may take advantage of a replacement ball-bearing roller skate wheel. Get a bolt to fit tightly the axle bearing. One side of these wheels usually has holes drilled through the end plate. Select any three holes about equidistant and with a drill of about the same size as the holes already present drill through the opposite face. With roundhead screws secure the skate wheel to the under face of the top board first drilling or burning pilot holes into the wood. The nut for the bolt will serve as a washer. If the wheel does not clear the bottom boafd add another washer or two. Shellac a pad of felt to the bottom of the article to protect furniture on which it may be placed, and shellac or varnish the rest of the wood. (Copyright, 1950, Science Service)

The H-Bomb Story

More Dangerous to Us Than To Russia, Physicist Says

By DR. R. E. LAPP For Science Service

Note: The author, a noted physicist, worked on the A-bomb during the war and since has been scientific adviser to the Research and Development Division of the Army’s General Staff and head of the Nuclear Physics branch of the Office of Naval Research. He is the author of “Must We Hide?”, book on the A-bomb. Now, he is a consultant to government agencies and private Industry. He has written this two-part article especially for Science Service.

Nature Ramblings s**™ swics

“Now the Lord* had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah’s “great fish” is not further identified in the Biblical account. The general opinion is that Jonah’s place of detention was the belly of a whale, but the question is by no means settled. Many other creatures have been suggested, among them the shark. No less an authority than the 18th century Swedish naturalist Linnaeus has argued that it was a shark that swallowed up Jonah. The details of the event are beclouded in antiquity and it is unlikely that the argument will ever be finally resolved at this late date. But on grounds of his qualifications for the job, the shark is clearly in the running. The Great White Shark, or Maneater, grows to a length of 40 feet or more, which seems quite adequate for housing a man if he doesn’t thrash around too much.

Sharks

The name, Man-eater, is obviously something of a misnomer. If the exclusive food of this creature which is found in all the warmer waters of the world were the hapless humans it came upon, it would be a long time between meals. All that the name means to convey is that the shark is not too finicky about its diet. Sharks prefer to eat fish, and it is on fish that they chiefly subsist. However, there is at least one instance in the record of a shark whose stomach contents included a young sea lion. Another observer reported seeing

a shark attack a large loggerhead turtle. It seized the turtle in its jaws and went under with it. Apparently the tough shell was too much for the shark, because next day the observer harpooned a loggerhead turtle with a 30inch shark tooth mark on its upper shell, and minus a right rear flipper. Sharks belong to a class of fishes called the Elasmobranchii. They share this category with skates and rays. The outstanding peculiarity of the class is that the skeleton is made up not of bone but of cartilage, which is a strong elastic kind of tissue. This distinguishes them from the true bony fish. Unlike the bony fish, most sharks give birth to living young. The egg is fertilized inside the mother and the embryos develop there. After birth the young shark receives no further sustenance from its mother. It is on its own and must fend for itself. (Copyright, 1950, Science Service)

The hydrbgen bomb may be even more dangerous for us than for Russia. Since President Truman’s announcement that this government would make H-bombs, no competent person has doubted that the Soviet Union would,

and could, make them too. ^ However, a glance at vital statistics tables for the two countries will show that we are much more vulnerable to H-bomb attack than is

Russia.

A Million Tons It can be assumed that Hbombs which pack the punch of one million tons of T.N.T will be manufactured. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki model A-bombs were as strong as 20,000 tons of T.N.T and we know that stronger ones have been made. A Nagasaki bomb covers ten square miles. A million-ton Hbomb would scorch an area of from 200 to 400 square miles. Obviously it would be bad economics to use a bomb of this size on a target much smaller than 200 to 400 square miles. Here in this country there are about 27 metropolitan areas big enough for the H-bomb. Ten of the largest are in our northeast and contain the homes of about 25,000,000 people. Ten H-bombs, dropped the first day of a new war, on those ten cities, would mean ten to 15 million casualties. In Russia, there is only one such target—Moscow itself. The Soviet Union’s capital has an area of 235 square miles and a population approaching 5,000,000. Only Leningrad comes up to Moscow in size and it has not been rebuilt into a major military target since it was devastated in the last war. New York City A glance at the map of New York City accompanying this article shows the difference between the areas covered by an A-bomb and an H-bomb. A mil-lion-ton H-bomb exploding above the site of the United Nations on the East River would be effective up to Washington Heights, down New York bay past the Statue of Liberty, out past the World’s Fair site in Queens and across the Hudson River into New Jersey. An aggressor nation, planning an H-bomb attack on any of these ten major cities of the northeast would have to consider the exact height at which the firing of the bomb would take place. For a bomb of the one million ton size, the optimum altitude will probably be about four miles. The bomb might be built into an aircraft and guided to the site of detonation by remote control. Awesome Spectacle The explosion of the H-bomb will be an. awesome spectacle. To a spectator 20 miles from the target it would seem that a miniature sun had been born. The blue-white flash of light would dazzle with the brilliance of a hundred atomic bombs. Through dark glasses our observer would see the liquid-like growth of a huge ball of fire. The sight would be like staring

at the setting sun without shielding the eye in any way, only the brilliance would be more intense. In a matter of a few seconds the mile-wide ball of fire would stop glowing and the temperature would drop abruptly as the

whole mass shot skyward. Below the column of ascending

gases the target area would have already been devastated by the powerful blast wave. All buildings within a 100-square-mile area would be collapsed. Complete demolition would be the rule in the inner 50 square miles. Buildings of lighter construction outside the 100-square-mile zone would suffer moderate to heavy

damage.

Bomb’s Heat '

Even beyond the area of blast destruction the effects of the bomb’s heat would be felt. One can estimate that the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet rays from the bomb would scorch an area of from 200 to 400 square miles. Persons standing in the open at a distance of ten miles would be exposed to serious flash burn even though they would be unhurt by the blast effect. In addition to the effects of heat and blast, there would be a third but less important effect. At the moment of the detonation a flash of very penetrating gamma rays woi^d be emitted. This flash would last but a very short time but it would produce serious to lethal effects in any human being within a 25-square-mile zone around ground zero. Less serious effects would be felt in a 50-square-mile zone. There would be no important source of prolonged radioactivity from the H-bomb. Only a minor number of casualties would result from such effects and in this sense the H-bdmb would be less hazardous than A-bombs.

In a war with H-bombs the advantage goes to ihe aggressor. Not only does he have the advantage of surprise but he is also able to steel himself for the retaliation which he knows is coming. In the case of U.S. and Russia, the aggressor could only be the latter for we are bound both by tradition and by our basic democratic concepts to attack only if at-

tacked first.

This being the case it is important that Americans assess for themselves the impact of this new weapon upon the national security. Only if the problem is freely discussed in the true democratic tradition can this nation arrive at sound conclusions.

Secret Decisions

Decisions reached in secret, the withholding of vital information, and continued secrecy in many

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Hydrogen Isotopes

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LIGHT HYDROGEN ( Protium)

HEAVY HYDROGEN ( Deuterium )

EXTRA HEAVY HYDROGEN ( Tritium )

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The simple arithmetic of the H-bomb and fusion. With hydrogen it is as simple as two plus two or one plus three. You force together either one deuterium atom and another deuterium atom, or one protium atom and one tritium atom. You get, in either case, one helium atom and 20,000,000 electron volts of energy. That energy, multiplied many times, will be the punch of the hydrogen bomb.

j. ••i'.. Target, New York. The two circles on the map of the New York City metropolitan area, above, show the approximate extent of damage from an A-bomb (smaller circle) and an H-bomb (larger circle) The artist has supposed that the enemy has chosen as bis “ground zero” the site of the United Nations on the East River. The A-bomb would obliterate an area of about ten square miles—the H-bomb however, would take in up to 400 square miles.

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Dr. R. E. Lapp, noted physicist, who worked on the A-bomb during the war and for various defense agencies after the war, expresses himself on the H-bomb. He is shown above attending a conference of scientists on cosmic rays. areas of our government’s activities imperil the ability of freethinking Americans to determine upon the proper policies for this country. Secrecy has long been the real enemy of science. In a larger sense it is the true foe of democracy. In order to discuss the H-bomb, we ought to know what it is and how it works. There is nothing secret about that. Hydrogen has been around now for billions of years. Scientists all over the world know that it is the fusion of hydrogen into helium with a release of energy which makes the sun go and provides us with life. Scientists all over the world know, and have known for some time, the basic theories upon which a hydrogen bomb can be constructed. Fission Process The. so-called A-bomb —^the uranium plutonium bomb—explodes by a process called fission. This means splitting an atom by hurling a neutron at it. When that happens, in a uranium-plu-tonium bomb, 200,000,000 electron volts of energy are released for every atom split. Uranium and plutonium are among the heaviest of elements. At the other end of the Periodic Table of Elements lie the lightest elements—hydrogen and helium gas. If one splits helium or heavy hydrogen into two parts (fission) energy is not released by the process. Energy is actually absorbed. Thus fission in the light elements cannot be made to produce an explosion. If, however, one does the exact opposite of fission and causes a collision of hydrogen atoms to form a heavier atom of helium, this fusing together of the particles releases energy. Ordinary hydrogen as found in nature consists of 99.98 % of hydrogen 1 or H 1 . This is known as light hydrogen or more technically as protium. In addition to the light isotope of mass one, there is a rare isotope of mass two (twice as heavy as protium), deuterium or D 2 . There is also an artificial isotope of hydrogen of mass three, tritium or T 3 . One can produce tritium gas by bombarding lithium metal with neutrons. Thus one might expect lithium cylinders inserted into the Hanford uranium pile to be a source of tritium. The fusion of two hydrogen

Th* Vulnerable Heart of the U.S.A.

METROPOUTAN POPULATION*

1. New York . 9,517,000 J- Chicago . 3,700,000 3. Philadelphia - 2,300,000 4. Detroit . 2,071,000 5. Boston - 1,948,000 6. Baltimore - 1,254,000 ! 7. St. Louis - 1,238,000 8. Cleveland . 1,108,000 9. Pittsburgh . 1,089,000 : ■ ■: 10. Washington - 1.000.000 S $S Total 88,225,000 " 10 Bombs * 10-15 Million Casualties

Ten major American cities. Twenty-five million inhabitants. All it would take, according to Dr. Lapp, would be ten H-bombs to wipe out those cities and cause 10 to 15 million casualties. There’s only one city in Russia —Moscow—of comparable size. isotopes to form one helium atom is illustrated in the diagram. It is as simple as 2 plus 2 equals 4 or 3 plus 1 equals 4. Of the two possibilities, D plus D or H plus T, the D-D reaction has been well investigated and the fusion reaction is very improbable. This leads one to the conclusion that the H-T reaction is more likely. If so, it poses very serious experimental difficulties for tritium is exceedingly difficult to produce. Energy Release The fusion of one tritium atom to form a helium atom releases 20.000. 000 electron volts of energy. Note that this is ten times less than the energy released in the fission of a single U 23 5 atom. Where then is the advantage of fusion reaction as applied to a bomb? The real advantage of an Hbomb is that there is no theoretical limit to the amount of hydrogen which can be used. No limit such as critical size is imposed. This being the case how can the hydrogen be used in a bomb? One must remember that both the light hydrogen atom and the tritium atom carry a single positive charge and they will tend to repel each other. Only if they are forcefully projected at each other can they be made to fuse together. High Temperature They can be forced to high speed by being subjected to very high temperatures such as are found in the sun. Here on earth the only way in which such solar temperatures can be imitated is to use the heat generated by an atomic bomb. While such an explosion has no theoretical limit, practical considerations will certainly limit the size of the bomb. A rough estimate of the total weight of this hypothetical bomb places it at about 25 tons. If the bomb is produced, we may be sure that it will not destroy the world. While the explosive violence of an Hbomb may be equivalent to 1.000. 000 tons of T.N.T., even this explosion is relatively confined. It will devastate a metropolitan area but no more. Thia is, of course, quite enough for military purposes, but it is a far cry from spelling the end of civilization. (Copyright, 1950, Science Service)