Word: uranium
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...Since most of the protons missed their targets, the hydrogen-lithium reaction gave a net loss of energy, and no one knew how to improve its efficiency. Other reactions of light elements yielded theoretical energy too, but all of them were overshadowed by the wartime development of atom-splitting uranium fission...
...scientists, however, did not forget fusion. Graven on their minds was a curious set of facts: when the elements are arranged in series according to their atomic weights, the atoms of those in the center of the series are lighter than they "should be." So when an atom of uranium (the heaviest natural element) splits into two fragments and a few loose neutrons, all the pieces, added together, weigh less than the original uranium atom. By Einstein's famous equation (E = Mc2), this loss of weight shows up as the energy that powers uranium bombs...
...into a larger atom, it weighs less than the pieces that form it. Here again, the loss of weight shows up as energy. A little figuring told the physicists that a given amount of a light element, forced to fuse, would yield more energy than the same amount of uranium. Besides, light elements are plentiful, while uranium is scarce...
This was an exciting and ominous prospect, but the trouble with fusion reactions is that they are not self-starting; uranium fission is. When a sufficient amount (critical mass) of U-235 is assembled, a single, slow-moving neutron can start an atom-splitting chain reaction in it and make the whole chunck explode. Light elements are not so accommodating. Their atoms must be slammed together violently to make them group into larger atoms and yield energy...
...companies have struck uranium, or even worked their claims. Nevertheless, early investors have not lost money. The trick has been to get in on the ground floor of a new issue and then unload at double or triple the price to latecomers. The big lure is that there is uranium in the Colorado Plateau, and in some places, lots of it. All the penny plungers dream of the day when their company makes the big strike-and their penny stocks suddenly are worth dollars...