Atoms For Peace: Introducing the Atom

since has known that his survival UNS upon the rising of the Sun for the sun gives him light and warmth it grows it provides sustenance too for the domestic animals that nourish it man worshiped the Sun as a God today through a telescope during a total eclipse he can know the Sun for what it is a burning star 93 million miles from Earth a raging Holocaust of fiery matter almost a million miles in diameter explosions vast Beyond imagining Roar up from its surface to shoot flaming gas for hundreds of thousands of miles into outer space but even before the telescope man knew that the sun could be a destroyer as well as a Giver of Life it has turned whole areas of his planet's surface into arid desert it can dry up streams and rivers kill crops cause famines it can kill Man Too overexposure to the sun's Rays can cause sunstroke heat prostration and even death the sun can foster life or destroy life in itself it is neither good nor bad it merely exists the atom bomb has led some men to think of atomic energy as something only destructive but like the sun atomic energy is neither good nor bad it merely exists man's Earth and everything on it people chairs tables are made up of atoms and every atom contains atomic energy an atom is held together by electrical force in the center or nucleus there are particles with positive charges called protons around the nucleus revolve particles with negative charges called electrons also in the nucleus there are very important particles with no electrical charge Char at all these are called neutrons in addition the whole atom is held together by a kind of binding force or Cosmic glue atoms of different elements such as gold or oxygen have different numbers of these particles in their nuclei hydrogen for example has a one proton or positive electrical charge and so scientists have given him an atomic number of one oxygen is heavier he has eight protons and so his atomic number is eight gold still heavier is Rich with 79 protons and uranium heaviest of all the natural elements has 92 each element or family of atoms can have different members called Isotopes each isotope has the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons some elements like tin have many Isotopes others like aluminum have only one they are called stable still others are called unstable they are busy day and night being what science calls radioactive like radium which throws off powerful Rays along with some of it Neutron at uranium the result was nuclear Vision but a double miracle happened when the atom split into two the first concerns that binding force or Cosmic glue that holds the atom together it has a kind of weight all its own but the two atoms that result from the splitting of one have binding Force too and a little less of it is needed to hold them together some is left over what happens to it it explodes as energy proving Einstein's theory that mass and energy are really the same now for the second Miracle when a single particle starts the reaction splitting the uranium atom energy is released as heat and blast while powerful Rays similar to x-rays are given on but something else important happens free neutrons are driven out with tremendous speed neutrons those little particles that split the atom to begin with if enough uranium 235 happens to be present those neutrons in turn bombard other uranium atoms causing them to split and to split still others the result a chain reaction over a million billion billi ion atoms exploding in 2 seconds but in an atomic pile this Chain Reaction can be slowed down here at Oak Ridge atom splitting is taking place but it is and completely under man's control and man can make an atomic pile also called a nuclear reactor work for peace not war he can expose many kinds of chemicals to the neutron activ of an atomic pile and make them radioactive these substances are called radioisotopes and they are opening New Horizons in research for man's benefit in agriculture industry and in medicine in a hospital where radioisotopes are already being used a doctor explains to some skutin nurses just what a radioisotope is a substance which has become radioactive through exposure to the neutrons of an atomic pile the doctor has two bottles of iodine one is radioactive the other is not they both look the same and have the same medical properties but the radioactive iodine has begun to give off invisible Rays similar to x-rays invisible though they are they can be detected by a sensitive instrument called a Geer counter as the Rays hit the counter they register with a clicking noise the Rays also register on the counter dial swinging it to the right if radiation is present first the doctor places the counter over the ordinary iodine there are no clicks and no reaction but when the counter is placed over the radioactive iodine called radioiodine the clicks begin showing that rays are present the amount of radiation is registered by the needle of the dial these Rays like the sun's Rays can be dangerous if the human body is Overexposed to them some like the gamma ray can penetrate cardboard very easily and also human flesh here the rays penetrate the cardboard and register one of Nature's elements ordinary lead has the ability to stop most of the Rays here they are not able to the G counter and no radiation is registered for this reason all radioactive substances are kept in containers made of lead or other impenetrable material a nurse asks whether radioisotopes stay radioactive permanently the doctor explains that each one has a different length of life from a millionth of a second to 1 and A2 billion years now let us go back to the atomic pile at Oak and see how these radioisotopes are made this technician is preparing ordinary baking soda for a radiation in the pile it will become radioactive and give off invisible rays in this form it can become immensely valuable for research this is the isotope face of the atomic file here substances are exposed to Neutron activity and are made radioactive the process is continuous materials already irradiated are removed from the graphite stringers and new materials to be irradiated are inserted the newly produced radioisotopes are now giving off raids and are stored temporarily in a lead safe a gerer counter measures the radiation present so that the health of the operators is not endangered by overexposure later R Isotopes are stored in a special building called the atomic Apothecary apparatus for the handling and storing of radioactive materials has been specially designed so that operators are subject to a minimum of exposure one direct exposure to these substances would probably not be dangerous but frequent exposure is radiation effects are cumulative that is successive exposures build up within the body therefore people who work daily with radioactive substances must be perfected many thousands of shipments of radioisotopes have been made from this building to many kinds of organizations to hospitals and Medical Research Laboratories to centers for agricultural experimentation and to Industry not only in the United States but in 53 other nations let us look now at some specific ways in which radioisotopes have already been used for Mankind's benefit [Music] foremost is their use in medical research and diagnosis for example in diagnosing diseases of the thyroid gland doctors have found radio iodine to be highly effective before examination the patient drinks a solution of radio iodine which like ordinary iodine is quickly absorbed from the bloodstream into the thyroid gland by using a type of G counter to measure the radiation coming from the region near the throat where the gland is located the doctor can determine whether it is functioning normally radioisotopes offer almost Limitless possibilities for medical research on a wide variety of diseases at Oak Ridge cancer hospital research is concentrated on the most mysterious and dreaded disease of our times scientists have called radioisotopes the greatest Aid to medical research since the microscope and so the atom which helped create the most terrible weapon in the history of warfare May tomorrow help eliminate one of man's most terrible peacetime Killers next to disease our world's greatest problem is the production of sufficient food for all people everywhere more than one billion of our Earth's people do not have enough food to maintain Health poor crops and undernourished livestock bring illness and stamina in their wake radioisotopes are opening a whole new field for the study of plant and livestock nutrition in agricultural Research Laboratories it is now possible to learn exactly what elements are needed for the growth of a specific crop how much of each and stages of growth certain elements should be supplied in sealed green houses plants can be grown with complete control over temperature moisture sunlight and nutrients in this experiment soybeans will be grown in an atmosphere of radioactive carbon dioxide pumped into the chamber [Music] when the soybean plants have grown the scientist Harvest his radioactive crops such agricultural research helps man to learn more about the effects of radiation on his living environment more about the basic nature of the food plants so vital to his agricultural economy experiments had been done with many of the elements used by plants for food the important Discovery has been that f F izers used by Farmers have often been wasted because their ingredients were useless to the plants of a particular crop knowled like this will enable Farmers to produce more food per acre of Arab [Music] land more wheat more food a healthier and happier world and atomic energy can help to bring it closer in Industry 2 the atom has already gone to work for piece in the oil industry the ability of the radio isotope to serve as a tracer is saving money and time oil producers for example have the problem of identifying each different batch of oil pumped from an oil field a small amount of a radioisotope is added to the head of each new batch of crude oil as it leaves the field pumps Force the oil through pipes to the refinery where a counter detects the Rays from the radio isotope as soon as the new R automatically a light flashes at refiner headquarters this takes the place a former tip that were both costly and time consuming although it is not expected that radioactive materials will revolutionize industry the ability of a radio isotope to act as a tracer makes it invaluable in techniques of testing products for higher levels of quality in the field of industrial and chemical research particularly with synthetics its contribution is already important but perhaps the greatest promise of atomic energy is power itself power for peace and productivity nuclear physicists are at work in the United States and in many countries seeking practical ways of harnessing the energy within the atom to work peacefully for man the atom unlike power from water and fuels can bring its energy to those areas of the world which until now have been starved for electricity and fuel developed in the United States the world's first atomic power plant produced usable electricity from a nuclear reactor in 1951 it still operates today in the western state of Idaho a forerunner of fullscale atomic power stations there are still adequate stores of natural fuels like coal but how long will they last with the expanding needs of modern civilization it is estimated that by 1975 the world need for all fuels will be twice that of 1950 scientists realize that at this rate fuel needs May outrun nature supply of oil and coal in the not too distant future there is milli times more energy in a lump of uranium than in a lump of coal but so far scientists have unlocked only a very small portion of the energy inside when the uranium atom is split only a tiny fraction of its atomic energy is released the energy is there the problem is to get it out more efficiently and to use it for the betterment not of one nation but of all Nations everywhere President Eisenhower in his address to the United Nations on December 8th 1953 said United States knows that peaceful power from atomic energy is no dream of the future that capability already proved is here now today entire body of the world's scientists and Engineers had adequate amounts of fish of material with which to test and develop their ideas that this capability would L be transformed into Universal efficient and economic usage the president proposed the founding of an international Atomic agency to which all the nations of our world would belong 6 months later in June 1954 at the University of Michigan in the United States an International Conference of nuclear physicists was held scientists from 17 Nations gathered together their purpose was to exchange ideas and information about their work they talked a language that knew no boundaries of nation nor of color they had a common interest in the atom and its peaceful power and in the future and survival of a race called simply on December 4th 1954 a resolution endorsing President Eisenhower's proposal for the setting up of an international atomic energy agency received the unanimous approval of the United Nations General Assembly this resolution included plans for the holding of an International Conference of nuclear physicists on the development of the peacetime uses of atomic energy and so men everywhere have moved to join President Eisenhower in the pledge he made to the United Nations on that December day in 1953 uned States pledges before you and therefore before the world its determination to help solve the fearful Atomic Dilemma to devote its entire heart and mind to find the way by which the miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be dedicated to his death but consecrated to his life [Music]