Sub-Atom-Smashing

It was the biggest week for nuclear physics since the Smyth Report came out. Scientists of the General Electric Co.' announced that their mighty betatron, which generates 100 million-volt X rays, had shattered not only atoms but also attacked the sub-atomic particles themselves. Bombarding neutrons and protons with their powerful X ray, the G.E. men had produced mesons*--particles whose mass is partway between a proton and an electron.

Mesons disintegrate in a few millionths of a second. They had been observed before only in the debris left by the impact of a cosmic ray. Now, for the first time, they could be bred in the laboratory. What happens to the proton (or neutron) after the meson leaves it? One theory: it turns into no-one-yet-knows-what. Another theory: the X ray "condenses" into matter within the particle, and then bursts out again in the form of a meson.

Besides tossing off mesons, the G.E. betatron has smashed nearly every type of atom to smithereens. The other great atom-smasher, the cyclotron, is used to shoot high-velocity particles at atoms. The betatron shoots pure energy in the form of X rays. When the X rays hit the nucleus of an atom, they act something like a red-hot poker thrust into a glass of almost-boiling water. The added energy entering the nucleus causes some of its particles to "boil off" like steam. To celebrate their triumph, the G.E. scientists were already busy last week building more & more powerful smashers.

*Also called mesatrons. Both words mean "intermediate particles," but "mesons" is better Greek.

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