A Is For Atom
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A Is For Atom
''A Is for Atom'' (1953) is a 14-minute promotional animated short documentary film created by John Sutherland and sponsored by General Electric (GE). The short documentary, which is now in the public domain, 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. The film is Sutherland's most-decorated film, having won numerous honors at film festivals. The film also received a theatrical release, opening at the Pantages and Hillstreet Theatres in Los Angeles on July 2, 1953. The distributor was Al O. Bondy, who made the short available for free.''Boxoffice Barometer'', Jan. 30, 1954, pg. 145 Synopsis A narrator is relating what is an atom and how atomic energy can be harnessed by man to produce "limitless" energy. Dr. Atom (a caricature with an atom for a head) then explains the similarities between the solar system The Solar System Capitalization of the name varie ...
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Carl Urbano
Carl Urbano (December 20, 1910 – October 16, 2003) was an American animator and director, best remembered for the promotional animated short ''A Is for Atom'' (1953) which promotes atomic energy. Life During the 1950s, Carl would be found directing for John Sutherland (producer), John Sutherland Productions, directing theatrical quality cartoons for industry. Later in his career, he was at H-B directing under supervisor Ray Patterson (animator), Ray Patterson at Hanna-Barbera Productions. Some of his directing credits at Hanna-Barbera include: *''Godzilla (1978 TV series), Godzilla'' (1978–1979) *''Scooby's All Stars'' (1978) Season 2 *''Challenge of the Super Friends'' (1978) *''Yogi's Space Race'' (1978) *''Buford and the Galloping Ghost'' (1979) *''The New Fred and Barney Show'' (1979) *''Fred and Barney Meet the Thing'' (1979) *''Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo'' (1979–1980) *''Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (1979 TV series), Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo'' (1979) *''The Flin ...
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Isotopes
Isotopes are two or more types of atoms that have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), and that differ in nucleon numbers (mass numbers) due to different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei. While all isotopes of a given element have almost the same chemical properties, they have different atomic masses and physical properties. The term isotope is formed from the Greek roots isos ( ἴσος "equal") and topos ( τόπος "place"), meaning "the same place"; thus, the meaning behind the name is that different isotopes of a single element occupy the same position on the periodic table. It was coined by Scottish doctor and writer Margaret Todd in 1913 in a suggestion to the British chemist Frederick Soddy. The number of protons within the atom's nucleus is called its atomic number and is equal to the number of electrons in the neutral (non-ionized) atom. Each atomic numbe ...
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Your Safety First
''Your Safety First'' was a 1956 promotional cartoon created by the Automobile Manufacturers of America. The 13-minute short film set in the year 2000 explains the history of the automobile and the improvements to comfort, performance, and safety that have been made over the years. It led to the development of the animated series ''The Jetsons'', which borrowed heavily on the ideas presented in the cartoon including a three-hour work day, automated flying cars, and robotic arms performing most tasks. Synopsis ''Your Safety First'' opens with a newspaper from the distant future of October 5, 2000 with headlines reading " Space Travel to Mars" and "tax cuts". The protagonist of the short begins by debating whether to buy a new car or not as his family watches 3-D television. A show then comes on explaining the history of the automobile. The show within the show moves through the beginning of the 20th century starting with hand cranking cars and topless buggies. The clip moves thr ...
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Our Friend The Atom
"Our Friend the Atom" is a 1957 episode of the television series ''Disneyland'' describing the benefits of nuclear power and hosted by Heinz Haber. It was part of the publicity campaign for peaceful uses of atomic energy, following Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" speech at the UN General Assembly in December 1953. The episode was broadcast on January 23, 1957, and repeated on April 24 of the same year. In 1956, Golden Press published a children's book, ''The Walt Disney Story of Our Friend the Atom'', using artwork from the show. Educational film In 1980, an updated version called ''The Atom: A Closer Look'' was released by Disney's educational media division. Production team Animation * Jack Boyd * Cliff Nordberg * John Lounsbery * Jack Campbell * Jack Buckley * Ed Parks Animation Art Styling * Claude Coats * John Hench Layout * Al Zinnen * Thor Putnam Backgrounds * Jimi Trout * Irv Wyner Special Processes * Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 2 ...
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Destination Earth
''For the European Commission project, see Destination Earth (European Union)'' ''Destination Earth'' is a 1956 promotional cartoon created by John Sutherland and funded by the American Petroleum Institute. The short explains the fundamentals of the petroleum industry and how petroleum products enrich everyday life in the United States of America, as well as the benefits of a free market economy. Synopsis Destination Earth begins on the planet Mars, where the emperor Ogg (reminiscent of Stalin) is addressing an arena of his subjects. Prior to this, Martian society is shown with virtually everything having puns akin to Ogg and billboards extolling "our glorious leader". The Martians are "invited" to attend a speech at a stadium, where one Martian who tries to run away is "convinced" otherwise by being fired at by laser rifles. During the speech, Ogg dictates his audience's reactions, through a remote-controlled teleprompt. The Martians are shown to have stony, unhappy express ...
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Nuclear Bombs
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first test of a fission ("atomic") bomb released an amount of energy approximately equal to . The first thermonuclear ("hydrogen") bomb test released energy approximately equal to . Nuclear bombs have had yields between 10 tons TNT (the W54) and 50 megatons for the Tsar Bomba (see TNT equivalent). A thermonuclear weapon weighing as little as can release energy equal to more than . A nuclear device no larger than a conventional bomb can devastate an entire city by blast, fire, and radiation. Since they are weapons of mass destruction, the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a focus of international relations policy. Nuclear weapons have been deployed ...
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Watchmen
''Watchmen'' is an American comic book Limited series (comics), maxiseries by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-volume edition in 1987. ''Watchmen'' originated from a story proposal Moore submitted to DC featuring superhero characters that the company had acquired from Charlton Comics. As Moore's proposed story would have left many of the characters unusable for future stories, managing editor Dick Giordano convinced Moore to create original characters instead. Moore used the story as a means to reflect contemporary anxieties, to deconstruct and satirize the superhero concept and political commentary. ''Watchmen'' depicts an alternate history in which superheroes emerged in the 1940s and 1960s and their presence changed history so that the United States won the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal was neve ...
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Agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities. The history of agriculture began thousands of years ago. After gathering wild grains beginning at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers began to plant them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs and cattle were domesticated over 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture in the twentieth century came to dominate agricultural output, though about 2 billion people still depended on subsistence agriculture. The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials (such as rubber). Food classes include cereals (grains), vegetables, fruits, cooking oils, meat, milk, ...
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Medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, genetics, and medical technology to diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, external splints and traction, medical devices, biologics, and ionizing radiation, amongst others. Medicine has been practiced since prehistoric times, and for most of this time it was an art (an area of skill and knowledge), frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing, o ...
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Radionuclide
A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferred to one of its electrons to release it as a conversion electron; or used to create and emit a new particle (alpha particle or beta particle) from the nucleus. During those processes, the radionuclide is said to undergo radioactive decay. These emissions are considered ionizing radiation because they are energetic enough to liberate an electron from another atom. The radioactive decay can produce a stable nuclide or will sometimes produce a new unstable radionuclide which may undergo further decay. Radioactive decay is a random process at the level of single atoms: it is impossible to predict when one particular atom will decay. However, for a collection of atoms of a single nuclide the decay rate, and thus the half-life (''t''1/2) for ...
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Nuclear Power Plants
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces electricity. , the International Atomic Energy Agency reported there were 422 nuclear power reactors in operation in 32 countries around the world, and 57 nuclear power reactors under construction. Nuclear plants are very often used for base load since their operations, maintenance, and fuel costs are at the lower end of the spectrum of costs. However, building a nuclear power plant often spans five to ten years, which can accrue to significant financial costs, depending on how the initial investments are financed. Nuclear power plants have a carbon footprint comparable to that of renewable energy such as solar farms and wind farms, and much lower than fossil fuels such as natural gas and brown coal. Despite some spectacular cata ...
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Plutonium
Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation states. It reacts with carbon, halogens, nitrogen, silicon, and hydrogen. When exposed to moist air, it forms oxides and hydrides that can expand the sample up to 70% in volume, which in turn flake off as a powder that is pyrophoric. It is radioactive and can accumulate in bones, which makes the handling of plutonium dangerous. Plutonium was first synthetically produced and isolated in late 1940 and early 1941, by a deuteron bombardment of uranium-238 in the cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. First, neptunium-238 ( half-life 2.1 days) was synthesized, which subsequently beta-decayed to form the new element with atomic number 94 and atomic weight 238 (half-life 88 years). Since ...
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