I think what really made the world talk was the fact that electrons were escaping from what had been supposed to be an eternal habitation. In other words, this material radium was actually going to pieces. That is to say, gradually, as far as man is concerned, for, looking at it from our point of view, the word gradual seems out of place entirely. The breaking up of an atom is really of the nature of an explosion. It is a continual bombardment that is proceeding in radium. Why man is apt to think of it as a gradual effect is that there is such an enormous number of atoms in a tiny speck of radium, that even the incessant series of explosions will take a very long time to break down the whole of the small particle.
Electrons differ in their opinions as to whether man will succeed in drawing upon this internal energy of the atom. My own difficulty is that, having been a roaming electron at all times, I have no idea regarding the cause of the atomic explosions. I have remarked already that the electrons locked up within the atoms possess more energy than man could ever use. If all these electrons were deprived of their energy, the atoms of matter would cease to exist, and man, where would he be?
CHAPTER XX
CONCLUSION
THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER TWENTY
Not many of us have realised the true importance of electrons in the Creator's plans.