Cook's Corner — The power of the atom
By Tom Cook
Saturday, November 14, 2009 11:15 PM PST
This is for all you science geeks out there. It was more than 30 years ago when I enlisted in the Navy as a nuclear submarine engineer.
I was specifically trained to operate the nuclear power plant in the aft section (that’s the back part for you landlubbers) of the sub. It was a very intensive training for two years. Math, chemistry, metallurgy and, of course, some nuclear physics.
Here is the “Reader’s Digest” version of how a nuclear reactor works: uranium is a metal that will “split” or “fission” when the atom is hit by the atomic particle called a neutron; when the atom splits, it releases more neutrons that cause other uranium atoms to split, that release more neutrons, and so on and so on; the uranium rods are submersed in water inside the reactor container, and when these atoms split, the particles “fly” though the water and heat the water up, similar to heating water in your microwave; the heat of the water is transferred to a boiler, and thus steam, to propel the submarine.
The person who discovered the protons inside the nucleus of the atom and paved the way for nuclear power was Lord Earnest Rutherford of New Zealand. He did this in 1918.
However, Rutherford’s discovery was on a very small scale — and he saw no use in splitting the atom. In fact, he said in 1933: “The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who looks for a source of power in the transformation of the atom is talking moonshine.”
Of course, when he says that such ideas are “moonshine,” he is not thinking of “white lightening.” The term “moonshine,” at the turn of the century, meant foolishness. In other words, nuclear power is folly.
Wow. Did Lord Rutherford miss that or what?
Power. It is what mankind has sought after for millennia. The ability to change things, to move things, to achieve great things. However, the Bible says there is another kind of power — not one of human wisdom. It is the power of God. That, my friends, is the kind of power that is not some impersonal force, but a living God that reaches into the depths of our lives — and changes things forever.
“So that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” — I Corinthians 2:5.
Now that is something to think about!
Cook’s Corner is written by Tom Cook, pastor at the Nyssa Church of the Nazarene. He can be contacted at NyssaNaz@cableone.net. The views and opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the Argus Observer.
