THE PEACEFUL ATOM _by_ BERNICE KOHN _illustrated by_ ZENOWIJ ONYSHKEWYCH PRENTICE-HALL. INC. ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS. NEW JERSEY OTHER PRENTICE-HALL BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR: _Our Tiny Servants: Molds and Yeasts_ illustrated by John Kaufmann _Computers at Your Service_ illustrated by Aliki _The Peaceful Atom_, by Bernice Kohn Copyright under International Pan-American copyright conventions ©1963 by Bernice Kohn All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or any portions thereof, in any form except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-9054 Printed in the United States of America 65524-T CONTENTS 1. The Atomic Age 2. The Smallest Thing There Is 3. The Mystery of the Rays 4. What's in an Atom? 5. A Search Begins 6. Journey to the New World 7. Tiny Atoms, Big Power 8. Atoms for Transport 9. Atoms That Trace 10. Atoms to Change Atoms Appendix Glossary 1 THE ATOMIC AGE Do you ever look at the things around you and wonder what they are made of? You may see a table that is made of wood. But what is _wood_ made of? What are you made of? What are carrots made of, and birds, and bikes, and baseballs? [Illustration] Every single thing in the world is made of _atoms_. Atoms are so tiny that there are only a few microscopes in the whole world powerful enough to show them. It would take about 20 million atoms to make a dot as big as this one over the letter _i_. In fact, if you had one atom for every single person in the states of Pennsylvania and California, you could fit them all on the head of a pin! But, small as they are, atoms are the building blocks that make everything. You certainly don't look anything like an elephant--do you? But you are both made of atoms! You don't look anything like a scrambled egg, either--or a washcloth, or a refrigerator--but they are all made of atoms, too! Atoms are everywhere, they are everything--and you should learn something about them because you live in the atomic age. Why is this the atomic age? Were atoms just discovered? No, they weren't. People have known about atoms for a long time. Then what is different about this age? The difference that we have learned how to make atoms work for us. We call this work _atomic energy_. When your father and mother were children, no one had ever heard of atomic energy. Energy for heat, light, and to operate machinery came from a few main sources. Some came from water power, a little from wind power--but almost all energy came from burning fuels. [Illustration] The chief fuels of the world for many years have been coal, oil, and natural gas. These are all _fossil fuels_. That means that they were made millions of years ago and have lain trapped in the earth ever since. Once these fuels are used up, there will be no way to replace them. There just won't be any more.