Microcosmology Atom in Jain Philosophy and Modern Science

Author(s): Jethalal S Zaveri, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 75

Atom in Modern Science
ATOM IN WAR
The requirement to start the fission process of U-235 and also the two man-made elements mentioned above (all these being known as nuclear fuels), is simple. All that is necessary for the spontaneous combustion, to use a familiar phrase, of any one of the three atomic fuels, is to assemble a lump of a certain weight known as critical-mass which is between ten and thirty kilograms. This would mean that a lump of any of the three atomic fuels weighing ten or thirty kilograms (exact mass is a secret) would explode automatically and release an explosive force of 20 millioin times greater than that of TNT, (on an equal weight basis). Such as, spontaneous combustion destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th & 7th August 1945. In a conventional A-bomb, a critical-mass is assembled by a timing mechanism that brings together, let us say, one-tenth and nine-tenths of a critical-mass in the last split second.
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Long before, it was discovered that vast amounts of energy could be liberated by the fission of the nuclei of U-235, scientists had known that fusion of four atoms of hydrogen into one atom of helium would release enormous amount of energy. In 1938, slightly before the discovery of uranium, fission was announced in Germany, Dr. Bethe had published his famous hypothesis about the fusion of four hydrogen atoms to form helium in the sun. This provided the first satisfactory explanation of the mechanism that enables the sun to radiate away staggereing amounts of energy in space every second. While Dr. Bethe was the first to work out the fine details of the process of hydrogen fusion as the source of the sun's radiance, Prof.F.W. Aston, the British Nobel Prize-winner and other scientists indicated the possibility more than 20 years ago. We shall examine the solar process in brief a little later.
Deuterium, popularly known as heavy hydrogen, is an isotope of hydrogen having double the weight of common hydrogen. It was found to exist in nature constituting one five-thousandth part of the earth's waters. Water containing two deuterium atoms in place of the two atoms of common hydrogen is called heavy water.
The most startling fact discovered about deuterium was that it would become explosive at a temperature of the order of 5,00,00,000 degrees centigrade. Explosive of an A-bomb would