Vincent Canney age 12 of Philadelphia, PA. for his question:

Will you explain the words atom and atomic?

The idea of the atom came into the minds of the thoughtful Greeks, This was over 2,000 years ago and yet only recently have we started to talk about the Atomic Age. The fact is that all this time the idea of a world made of minute atoms has been growing to a proven fact, The Atomic Age had to wait until we could break a tiny atom apart and use its energy.

Modern science has proved that though the world is made up of atoms there are a limited number of different atoms. In fact there are less than a hundred different kinds of atoms and each atom behaves according to its kind, The atoms in a poker of pure iron would be all alike each having the same number of particles and the same weight.

Hydrogen atoms are different from iron atoms   and every atom of simple hydrogen is duet like every other atom of simple hydrogen.

We know that every atom is made of minute parts; some bundled together in a central nucleus some whirling around like planets of a solar systems The central particles are either protons charged with positive electricity or neutrons of neutral charges. The particles whirling in the outer shells are the negatively charged electrons, and so the electric charge is balanced off and the atom itself is neutral

The word atomic of course, means to do with atoms. In one sense we might say that everything in the world is atomic, for everything in the world is made of atoms, Certainly we might say that electricity is atomic, for our electric current is caused by the activity of the tiny electron in the outside shell of the copper atom.

However, we usually save the term atomic for something even mire powerful than electricity. We use it to describe the unbelievable energy which is locked in the central heart, or nucleus of the atoms We call this atomic energy, When we put this energy to use we call it atomic power. Atomic power is released in boundless quantities when the particles which form the nucleus of the atom are split apart,.

This splitting of the heart of the atom changes the atom itself, when a large and complex atom of uranium 235 splits apart, some of its particles will become smaller atoms of barium and krypton. Others will be blown apart with the release of the energy which kept the atomic particles together. In the case of a bombs some of these neutrons will blast into other nearby uranium atoms splitting them also. This is an atomic explosion   the splitting of the atoms nucleus which 3s called nuclear fission.

One pound of uranium 235 can release as much atomic energy as could 280,000 pounds of coal. Maybe some day we will tame that energy to be as friendly as a coal fire in the grates Then we shall really be living in the Atomic Age.