CURIOSITIES OF MODERN SCIENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17900, 3 April 1920, Page 10

CURIOSITIES OF MODERN SCIENCE.

THE ROMANCE OF RADIUM. The story of science has many curious and interesting phases. One of these was pointed out by Professor Dexey at tho 1919 British Association meetings. lie pointed out that the great discoveries in science are not always made by those working consciously for a definite object. »So many scientists have found their seeking rewarded by greater things than they sought This is true of the work of M. and Mde. Curie, who were seeking for a radio-acti /e substance, and found radium. — The Strangest Secrfct.— Radium brings us face to face with one of tho profound mysteries of the world. For of all tho strange things, the strangest is the secret of what scientists call atomic energy. It is always with us; it beats on our hands and „ faces, and envelops us in the warm rays of the sun. When we turn on the electric light it is again there, shining in all its mysterious brilliance. It has been pointed out. that the mediaeval scholar, pouring over his tome by the light of a candle, and the modern savant in his brilliantly-lighted laboratory, have both been working in the presence of this supreme mystery. For the chemical secret of the candle— remarks one able exponent of these problems, Professor Duncan—is the secret of all things, for it is the secret of energy. And, if we cnuld only pierce this secret and know what the gaseous ions of the candle flame and the glowing wire of an electric lamp really mean, we would possess the supreme secret of the world's life, power,, and motion. This mystery of atomic energy, then, is the secret of radium. Tho curious thing about it is that it appears to give ofi energy without being consumed. A candle burns out, and gas and electricity become exhausted: but radium, like the Burning Bush of Biblical story, gives off licht and heat without apparent/ exhaustion.

— A Piece of Amber.— The story of radium forms perhaps the greatest of all chapters in modern sci.euce. and it is the story of the discovery of how radio-activity is inherent in matter. Yet it is an old story. Anyone can rub a piece of amber on a sleeve and picK up fragments of paper with it. The amber reveals the power of attraction. Over 2000 years ago Theophrastus (c. B.C. 372287) did this very simple action. Theli the discovery of load-stone awakened the wonder of the medinsval mind. It is a lone; and curious chanter in science, with many links, which leads un to the di - ooverv of radio-activitv and the properties of elements like radium and uranium. Before this riiDreme modern discover-" was made, men like Balfour. Stewart. Kirchkoff, • Bnnsen, and Clerk-Maxwell were with the fundamental problems of physics. The work of these men had to be done before the scientist found himself faced with radio-activity inherent in matter. ■

— " The Greatest Triuviph." Now. radium compounds are got from pitch-blende. It was due to the la bonus of the two distinguished French scientists, the late M. Cnrie and his wife, that radium was discovered in 1900. In 1895. while following up the experiments of Lenard, Professor W. »K. Rontson stumbled on the X-irays. Becquerel. the French scientist, found out the 'radioactivity of matter, and, taking un the task, others have oontinued the experiments. Radium not only emits rays, but it has the power of imparting to other substances something of its own radioactivity. So it was discovered that radioactive substances gave off emanations. And it has been contended that - helium is the product of radium. If this is so, then the world is faced by a stupendous fact. To quote the words of Professor Duncan: " The world has witnessed the greatest triumph of modern science." And it is this: the transmutation of matter is demonstrated before our eyes. If the gas known as helium is got from radium, then radium has become another elerfient in process of disintegration. Some 40 years ago Sir Norman Lockyer noticed that the sun contained enormous quantities of an element which he named helium, but some 20 years later, Sir William Ramsay and Mr Soddy (1003), after experimenting with the spectrum of radium emanation, oame to the conclusion that helium is the result of the disintegration of radium. Thus science becomes almost prophetic, and the dream of the old alchemist* regarding transmutation of matter seems to find a curious fulfilment in modern times. —Radium's Healing Value.—

Radio-activity, then, is everywhere. It has been found in fresh fallen snow, and in the air boiled off the water of mineral

springs at Bath. Ordinary substances, like tinfoil, glass, silver, zinc, reveal radio-activity. But the greatest chapter of all these phases of modern science is the application of radium to modern surgery. The value of X-rays and radium in healing has been amply demonstrated. The alchemist wanted to find some magic elixir of life, but the modern hospital demonstrates how human ills can be cured and life prolonged in an almost miraculous way. So the discovery of the radioactivity of matter with the revelation of atomic energy has been well described as an* " atom cataclysm." And the completo development of these curious, yet wonderful discoveries may lead to yet greater revolutions in our old world. — Tail First.— Another curious chapter in modern science relates to astronomy and the strange phenomenon of the comet's tail. Why does the tail of the comet point away from the sun? Sometimes this tail 1 is 100,000,000 of miles in length, and it stretches, like the smoke of a steamer, behind it. But when the comet is flying away from the sun we should expect the tail to be behind it, yet it is not so. The tail goes before the comet in this case. And the solution offered is that the light of the sun exerts a pressure which drives the comet's tail before it. That light has pressure is revealed by the delicate little instrument, the radiometer. How many schoolboys have watched this little instrument with its tiny sail-like apparatus, in an optician's window? So clearly light has a pressure, and this is exerted througa the unseen waves .of ether which vibrate on the delicate instrument. When in 1680 Newton was interested in the problem of the great comet, he calculated that its tail was 20,000,000 leagues m length. So the modern explanation of this curious phenomenon is that, as the comet flies away from the sun, the pressure of the liglit drives the fine particles matter away. And the scientist sees the strange sight of the long luminous comet's tail, not following it, but thrown out in front of it. — Prediction in Science.—

The mystery of numbers has always had a curious fascination for many people. Numbers like three and seven came to be regarded as perfect, and both occupy a strange place in life and thought. In the tabulation of the elements it was found that eight played a. strange part, for the elements ranged themselves in octaves. This periodic system of the element was expounded by the Russian scientist, Mendeleeff, and this law states that the "properties of an element are 4 periodic function of its atomic weight.' The scientist could not only enumerate the elements, but he could group them in series. In 1871 Mendeleeff did so and made out a table, and according to periodic law he left three vacant spaces for undiscovered elements. whose ft properties he clearly indicated. He named these hypothetical elements eka-boron. eka-aluminium, eka-silicon. and he lived to see the discovery of these very new elements. From different parts of the world came scandium, gajlium, germanium. These corresponded exactly to the missing elements, and bo mrtde up the total of 78 substances which the scientist knew as elements. This is another curious instance where science has shown its prophetic powers. And the truth of the periodic In 77 was fully demonstrated. These inr,f,i;:oes form some of the curious aspects of modern science.