Energy is an essential input for economic development and for improving the quality of life. The atom is one of the important sources of inexhaustible energy. This energy should be applied to serve the peaceful purposes of life. If it is prudently canalized, this energy source could prove a wonderful gift of science to mankind. Atomic energy contains the tremendous potentiality to produce creative forces which may bring about pleasant changes to society. Indeed, atomic energy may make life on this earth comfortable and easier when new sophisticated machines worked and powered by atomic energy revolutionize our ways of working and living.
The mighty atom is one of the three breeders of limitless and inexhaustible energy. It is a wonderful gift of God to mankind the other two being the sun and the wind. The scientist community realized the various peaceful uses of the atomic energy. A big conference was organized by the United Nations on August 8, 1955 to discuss the future uses of atomic energy. Speaking on the occasion, eminent Indian scientist and the conference President, Dr. Homi J. Bhabha said that in the atomic age, “major war should ultimately become impossible and the area of peaceful existence should eventually cover this globe.” Emphasizing the importance of peaceful uses of atomic power he further added, “I venture to predict that a method will be found for liberating fusion energy in a controlled manner within the next two decades.
When that happens the energy problems of the world will truly have been solved for ever, for the fuel will be as plentiful as heavy hydrogen in the oceans.” Mr. Eisenhower, the then American President said that nuclear science could become “the most promising tool for bettering human life and wiping out disease, ignorance, economic stagnation and other ills which breed disorder and war.”
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This potentiality of atomic energy is appearing to bring desired result. It has been successfully used to cut passages for the flow of water in rocky regions, to divert the courses of rivers, to drive ships and submarines and to act as power fuel in a number of different ways. It contains the potentiality to meet the growing demands of expanding economy and provides the best substitute of coal, petroleum and other sources of power. If used peacefully, the atomic energy can promise to mankind an age of prosperity and progress in which food scarcity, low standard of living and insufficiency of necessary things will find no place.
The greatest advantage of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is that it can replace the conventional sources of energy, i.e. coal, petroleum, natural gas, which are likely to be completely exhausted during the next one hundred years. Besides, it has tremendous potentiality, providing used peacefully to eradicate from the planet, different diseases, thus ensuring a life of peace and comfort to mankind. Its peaceful use ensures great benefits to humanity, and accessibility to those difficult region which lie deep down in the bosoms of rivers, lakes and oceans and discover in them the hidden treasures of nature-minerals. If utilized properly the atomic energy can wipe out poverty and suffering from the globe and can ensure a dignified life for mankind.
In the field of interplanetary communication, there are tremendous possibilities of harnessing the power of the mighty atom which alone can make space journeys scientifically and atomically useful for the whole mankind. It has the immense potentiality to explore distant heavenly bodies. Furthermore, the radioactive particles are being seen as new hopes for mankind as the particles contain potentiality to free this earth from the deadly diseases namely cancer, leukemia, etc.
Atomic energy has tremendous uses in the field of agriculture.
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It can be used to protect agriculture from the tiny insects which are harmful for plants. Radio isotopes, a by-product of nuclear fission, are being used to sterilize the male flies by radiation. Experiments are also being conducted to control the growth of flies and their eventual extermination. Besides, nuclear energy can be useful for producing desirable characteristics in grains for the purposeful uses of mankind. Radio isotopes can be immensely useful in the preservation of different food items. One of the important uses of nuclear energy includes its rising success in the field of crime detection. Infinitesimal traces of gunpowder residues taken from the persons who have recently fired a gun are made radioactive by scientific process, during which various elements are formed.
These elements are later changed into radio isotopes, each having characteristic “finger prints” or energy of emitted gamma radiation. Gamma ray spectrometry reveals individual “fingerprints” of antimony. Finally, electronic counting and sorting techniques are used to get the quantitative measurements of the trace element. This is an important use of nuclear energy in crime detection which is incontrovertible and cannot be challenged in a court.
Today, we have a number of electronic and mechanical devices, which include watches, clocks, typewriters and computing machines; they owe their speed, accuracy and efficiency to nuclear power. This indicates the growing success of atomic energy in day-to-day life. It appears that atomic energy is going to dominate the technological development in future. It has potential to create lots of miracles of science which may change the mankind.
Thus, it can be said that the determination of the future of mankind largely depends on the handling of atomic energy. If it is utilized and employed prudently, it may prove an immense source of pleasure and comfort to humanity; otherwise its tremendous powder contains that potentiality that may ruin this planet. Today’s fast moving competitive world in which self- interest is the dominant factor it is a matter of concern that every atom should be directed to take the road that leads to the promised land of peace, prosperity and pleasure.
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Thus, our future largely depends on the new generation of scientists at whose disposal lays its immense potentiality. Besides, policymakers and statesmen are, to some extent, responsible to ensure its peaceful uses for the larger benefit of mankind by laying down such policies and guidelines that ensure that it is not being used destructively.