Made by veteran animated John Sutherland for the General Electric Company, A IS FOR ATOM presents fundamentals of atomic structure, and looks at the potential peaceful uses of the atom. It dates to 1953. The short explains what an atom is, how nuclear energy is released from certain kinds of atoms, the peacetime uses of nuclear power, and the by-products of nuclear fission. It is Sutherland’s most-decorated film, having won numerous honors at film festivals. In 1964, A is for Atom was re-released by General Electric and John Sutherland Studios slightly modernized the film.

Film summary: Atoms are the building blocks of everything. In an atom, the nucleus is the center (1:52) with electrons orbiting around it (2:05). The force holding an atom together is electrical (2:19). The negatively charged electrons are attracted by the positively charged protons. Particles in the nucleus without a charge are called neutrons (2:28). There’s also a binding force holding it all together. Not all atoms are alike due to the more than 90 basic elements in a periodic chart of the atom (2:58). Elements are defined by the number of protons in their nucleus (3:16-3:36). For example, hydrogen only has one proton, oxygen has 8, gold has 79, and uranium has 92. Within each element, atoms can have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Added together, these are its atomic weight (3:47-4:04). These different members of the same element or atom family are called isotopes. Some elements, such as tin, have many isotopes, while aluminum only has one. Some elements are stable whereas others are radioactive, such as radium (4:32). These throw off protons and neutrons, changing into a different element, until they become stable again (4:38), known as natural transmutation. Artificial transmutation is when scientists purposely cause this (5:11-5:32). This process takes place in a particle accelerator, also known as an atom smasher (5:43). In 1939, scientists discovered that a neutron fired at a uranium nucleus caused the atom to split in two, known as nuclear fission (5:54-6:10). After splitting into two atoms (6:50-7:10), a tiny fraction is leftover that explodes as energy, proving Einstein’s theory of special relativity. The U-235 chain reaction process (7:21) is exponential, leading to thoughts of how to put it in a weapon; however, there is a limited amount of natural uranium with that isotope (8:29). In 1943, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee (8:55) was built to separate enough U-235 to build the first atomic bomb. A nuclear plant in Hanford, Washington was built in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project to mass produce the artificial element plutonium (9:04). This process is explained (9:18-10:28) as a reactor pile of graphite blocks with rods of natural uranium containing both U-235 and U-238 fissions. In addition to producing plutonium, the reactor is predicted to provide fuel for an atomic energy power plant and in locomotives, submarines, ships, and airplanes (10:35-11:23). Valuable by-products of reactor piles are radioactive isotopes such as cobalt, iodine, phosphorus, sodium, and nitrogen (11:28). These work as tracers with Geiger counters (11:48). They are used in agriculture to test fertilizers and in industry for the automatic thickness control of sheet aluminum (12:29). They are used in medicine and biochemistry for the diagnosis of heart disease and circulatory problems using radioactive sodium (12:38), to locate brain tumors using radioactive phosphorus (12:55), and for thyroid conditions using iodine-131 (13:06). The film closes with atomic energy can be used for good or evil.

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com