Word: rod
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...rods was automatic, controlled by a motor which could shoot it back into the pile when instruments warned that neutrons were getting too thick. Another (called "Zip") was attached to a heavy weight by a rope running over a pulley. When in the "withdrawn" position, it was tethered by another rope; a man with an ax stood ready to cut it free, send it zipping into the pile if anything went wrong. The last rod, marked in feet and inches, was to be worked by hand...
Into the Unknown. Fermi ran the test. At 9:54 a.m. he gave an order. A whining motor withdrew the automatic control rod. The Geiger counters on the instrument panel clicked a little faster; a pen drew a slightly higher curve on a strip of paper...
...ordered Fermi a few minutes later. Physicist Walter H. Zinn pulled out the Zip rod and tied it carefully. The counters clicked still faster. The graph pen moved up again...
...Pull it to 13 feet, George," commanded Fermi. Physicist George Weil drew the final control rod part way out of the pile. Faster clicked the counters. He drew it out another foot; then another six inches...
...Kilogram is a spool-sized chunk of 90% platinum, 10% iridium, weighing exactly one kilogram (2.2046 Ibs.). The Meter, a rod of the same alloy, is exactly one meter (39.37 in.) long. For nearly 70 years nations have sent their standards to the Pavilion de Breteuil for measuring and checking, but modern science has lessened the importance of The Meter at Paris. Instead of using a meter bar for a check, a scientist in a well-equipped laboratory can now determine the accurate meter in terms of light waves, which give as accurate a measure of distance as direct comparison...