The Atomic Age mineral

The prospector moved slowly across a rocky, desert hillside. He was searching for a very valuable mineral. But he had no pick or shovel. As he walked along, he held a metal tube over the rocks. A wire connected the tube to a metal box he carried in his other hand.

Suddenly, a popping noise came from the box. Then another. Then the pops came so rapidly they sounded like a machine gun. The prospector let out a whoop of joy. He had found the mineral - uranium.

Uranium is a mineral that is the main source of atomic energy. It is a metal that is radioactive. This means that, in a way, it is "exploding" - that it shoots out tiny bits of itself in all directions. These tiny bits are parts of the atoms of which uranium is made. They are so small they cannot be seen with even the most powerful microscope. But they can be discovered by a machine called a Geiger counter.

Uranium is never found by itself. It is always mixed with other minerals. Prospectors usually look for it in a mineral called pitchblende. Pitchblende is a lumpy black rock that shines like fresh tar. It is found near the top of the ground. Uranium is also found in a powdery, yellowish mineral called carnotite that forms in a thick coat on sandstone and other rocks.

When uranium is taken out of pitchblende or canotite, it is a heavy, silver-gray metal. Copper is the metal of the Bronze Age, and iron is the metal of the Iron Age and Steel Age, but uranium is the metal of the Atomic Age - which has just begun.