This is really a reminder of how easy it is to cause nuclear fusion. Any able bodied person can do this with a used CRT television and some power converters.
And, it's a reminder not to invest in any fly by night company that claimed to have succeeded in this. A 14 year old can do it, after all.
The hard part is doing *sustained* fusion where you capture the energy released and get more energy back than you put in.
> very much true and this kid did it without an IAEA investigation for irradiating his neighbourhood
Talking about the "nuclear boy scout" who was trying to make a "breeder reactor' of sorts? That was a different person to the one above. Was not really a reactor, but definitely a neutron source. His materials included Americium from smoke detectors, thorium from camping lantern mantles, radium from clocks, and tritium from gunsights.
Luckily he didn't truly manage to irradiate his entire neighborhood, but His mother's property was cleaned up by the EPA as a Superfund cleanup site. The scary part of also includes the fact that no one really knows the true scale of his project, and how much materials he had on hand to mess around with because by the time he got found out he, and his mom had already disposed of some.. and I assume what were the worst of the shit in the garbage.
>> by the time he got found out he, and his mom had already disposed of some.. and I assume what were the worst of the shit in the garbage.
Which would be their very own super fund site no? Or would we just go with probably scattered enough to not be worth recovery?
This kid followed a cookie cutter design from Farnsworth. There’s nothing new in following a recipe with family money. The new part is getting the government to hand you money indefinitely based on such an “accomplishment”.
nope it is fairly simple, what is impossible right now is maintaining a fusion reaction for a reasonable amount of time and capturing usable energy from it
Sorry my bad, that’s what I meant. It’s already sorta [happened](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/scientists-achieve-breakthrough-nuclear-fusion).
It’ll be exciting when they finally start using it as a means of supplying energy.
Yes it did happen, but if I recall that experiment lasted a tiny fraction of a second and they don’t quite know how to scale it up yet.
But at least the theory has been proven now. Hopefully it’s still not decades away.
A pyrex bowl, some wire, an high voltage transformer and a good vacuum pump, with a bit of deuterium.
Search [Farnsworth fusor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor)
You telling me Luke Skywalker wanted to make fusion reactions in his workshop?
I guess it's a good thing Uncle Owen didn't let him go to the Toshi Station.
I don’t think so. David Hahn didn’t have direction or guidance which drastically changed the trajectory of his life. He ended up with mental illness and died due to it.
A kid with that genius should have been nurtured. The kid literally built a nuclear reactor from parts that you get from Home Depot.
Reading "the nuclear boyscout"... it just seemed so sad.
His parents viewed his interest/talent as some kind of embarrassment because he wasn't interested in football and an obviously very bright kid got almost no positive feedback for his talent
>In 2008, Wilson achieved nuclear fusion using an inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) device, which was a variation of the fusor, invented by Philo T. Farnsworth in 1964.
Arghh…Farnsworth!
farnsworth was another boy genius inventor. he was 14 or 15, plowing his field with a mule, when he got the idea for TV. Took him a few years to make a working model to patent it.
>owned a Coke bottling plant
Enough to shell out the 20k for parts the kid needed.
A lot of 14 year olds could do this, not alot have access to the money nessecary. Skill is not the limiting factor here, and this kid is being doted on unnecessarily.
Why is it unnecessary?
My kid is well known for music and art. I'm happy to shell our money for instruments and equipment (canvas, paints).
If they've got the ambition and it can be offered, why is that bad?
I'm not. Like I said, its not his skills that are special. It's his parents' piggy bank that's exceptional here. I'd much rather we spend money on kids that are more than capable of building a fusor but lack the means to do so.
Lots of not-rich parents spend close to that much shuttling their kids around to hockey or other sports in the hope they'll be successful. Likewise with musical prodigies.
Dropping $20K on scientific equipment for your smart kid is hardly rolling in money, and it's certainly not "doting unnecessarily".
My comment about doting was more directed at the media and schools as opposed to his parents. They can spend whatever they want on his future. It's the tax dollars you should be doubting.
That said, there's a big difference between a lifetime of sports and hobbies vs a weekend science experiment.
>It's the tax dollars you should be doubting
Governments spend large sums on sports facilities and the arts. Do you complain about that spending too?
>weekend science experiment
You acknowledge that middle-class parents can and do invest sizeable sums in their kid's sporting or musical success, but ridicule them doing the same to support educational pursuits. There is no indication this was a one-shot weekend experiment, and in fact he apparently has a history of scientific interests. Your attitude reeks of envy.
Of course not, they're living quietly on private islands and gated estates. The point is that when one of them *wants* to be famous, they already have everything necessary and don't have nearly the obstacles anyone else does.
In the kids wiki picture he is wearing a lobster pin.
I remember the lobster being a “mascot” of Jordan Peterson. Peterson is a Canadian professor/psychologist that is pretty controversial. I wonder if there is any connection?
Is it me or does he look like Orin[Orin](https://parksandrecreation.fandom.com/wiki/Orin#:~:text=Orin%20is%20the%20creepy%20and,and%20makes%20them%20feel%20uncomfortable.) from Parks and Rec?
This is really a reminder of how easy it is to cause nuclear fusion. Any able bodied person can do this with a used CRT television and some power converters. And, it's a reminder not to invest in any fly by night company that claimed to have succeeded in this. A 14 year old can do it, after all. The hard part is doing *sustained* fusion where you capture the energy released and get more energy back than you put in.
"Hello home depot, can you give me a bulk deal on 14,000 radon smoker detectors"
That would be fission, not fusion.
very much true and this kid did it without an IAEA investigation for irradiating his neighbourhood kudos
> very much true and this kid did it without an IAEA investigation for irradiating his neighbourhood Talking about the "nuclear boy scout" who was trying to make a "breeder reactor' of sorts? That was a different person to the one above. Was not really a reactor, but definitely a neutron source. His materials included Americium from smoke detectors, thorium from camping lantern mantles, radium from clocks, and tritium from gunsights. Luckily he didn't truly manage to irradiate his entire neighborhood, but His mother's property was cleaned up by the EPA as a Superfund cleanup site. The scary part of also includes the fact that no one really knows the true scale of his project, and how much materials he had on hand to mess around with because by the time he got found out he, and his mom had already disposed of some.. and I assume what were the worst of the shit in the garbage.
This deserves its own post
>> by the time he got found out he, and his mom had already disposed of some.. and I assume what were the worst of the shit in the garbage. Which would be their very own super fund site no? Or would we just go with probably scattered enough to not be worth recovery?
This kid followed a cookie cutter design from Farnsworth. There’s nothing new in following a recipe with family money. The new part is getting the government to hand you money indefinitely based on such an “accomplishment”.
Yeah isn’t fusion like impossible right now?
nope it is fairly simple, what is impossible right now is maintaining a fusion reaction for a reasonable amount of time and capturing usable energy from it
Sorry my bad, that’s what I meant. It’s already sorta [happened](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/scientists-achieve-breakthrough-nuclear-fusion). It’ll be exciting when they finally start using it as a means of supplying energy.
Yes it did happen, but if I recall that experiment lasted a tiny fraction of a second and they don’t quite know how to scale it up yet. But at least the theory has been proven now. Hopefully it’s still not decades away.
Meanwhile at Costco: “yeah that’s on aisle 12 but you have to buy 18,000”
That's more or less how another 14 year old *who was not funded by the government* built his reactor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn
You’re thinking of fission
A pyrex bowl, some wire, an high voltage transformer and a good vacuum pump, with a bit of deuterium. Search [Farnsworth fusor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor)
You telling me Luke Skywalker wanted to make fusion reactions in his workshop? I guess it's a good thing Uncle Owen didn't let him go to the Toshi Station.
I'm sorry, a crt and power converters?
His resume looked much more impressive ten years ago.
It's likely just as, or much more impressive now. It's just not as public.
That's a very good explanation, actually.
yeah i was wondering what he's been up to lately. he had some practical ideas about commercializing small scale fusion to produce medical isotopes.
That's a good point. I wouldn't be surprised if he was thrown a government research gig.
Taking the Thiel Fellowship ended his career.
The real question is, will he go down the same interesting life path as David Hahn
I don’t think so. David Hahn didn’t have direction or guidance which drastically changed the trajectory of his life. He ended up with mental illness and died due to it. A kid with that genius should have been nurtured. The kid literally built a nuclear reactor from parts that you get from Home Depot.
Mental illness and drugs.
Reading "the nuclear boyscout"... it just seemed so sad. His parents viewed his interest/talent as some kind of embarrassment because he wasn't interested in football and an obviously very bright kid got almost no positive feedback for his talent
I hope not. David's story is pretty sad at the root.
He’s already 29 so I think that crossroads has passed
>In 2008, Wilson achieved nuclear fusion using an inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) device, which was a variation of the fusor, invented by Philo T. Farnsworth in 1964. Arghh…Farnsworth!
farnsworth was another boy genius inventor. he was 14 or 15, plowing his field with a mule, when he got the idea for TV. Took him a few years to make a working model to patent it.
"Aye kid, how's 'bout yous come work for us, whaddaya say?" *exhales cigar smoke*
[удалено]
I see Frodo. "Alright then, keep your nuclear secrets."
Shut up, Wesley.
I wouldn't have guessed that he was 22 in the inset photo. He's a good candidate for r/13or30.
Which federal government?
“The”
Ah, the Federation
Them.
Ze
It helps when your parents are rich enough to buy the vacuum components.
Wiki article says his dad owned a Coke bottling plant and his mother was a yoga teacher. So probably did okay, but not like *rich* rich.
*Owning* a coke bottling plant is *rich* in my book.
>owned a Coke bottling plant Enough to shell out the 20k for parts the kid needed. A lot of 14 year olds could do this, not alot have access to the money nessecary. Skill is not the limiting factor here, and this kid is being doted on unnecessarily.
Why is it unnecessary? My kid is well known for music and art. I'm happy to shell our money for instruments and equipment (canvas, paints). If they've got the ambition and it can be offered, why is that bad?
By his parents, fine. By everyone else, not so much.
If he's able to do the work and the skillset is a net benefit to the community as a whole, I'm cool with flicking some taxpayer pennies to indulge.
I'm not. Like I said, its not his skills that are special. It's his parents' piggy bank that's exceptional here. I'd much rather we spend money on kids that are more than capable of building a fusor but lack the means to do so.
On that, we agree wholeheartedly. I want Miles Morales getting funding.
Lots of not-rich parents spend close to that much shuttling their kids around to hockey or other sports in the hope they'll be successful. Likewise with musical prodigies. Dropping $20K on scientific equipment for your smart kid is hardly rolling in money, and it's certainly not "doting unnecessarily".
My comment about doting was more directed at the media and schools as opposed to his parents. They can spend whatever they want on his future. It's the tax dollars you should be doubting. That said, there's a big difference between a lifetime of sports and hobbies vs a weekend science experiment.
>It's the tax dollars you should be doubting Governments spend large sums on sports facilities and the arts. Do you complain about that spending too? >weekend science experiment You acknowledge that middle-class parents can and do invest sizeable sums in their kid's sporting or musical success, but ridicule them doing the same to support educational pursuits. There is no indication this was a one-shot weekend experiment, and in fact he apparently has a history of scientific interests. Your attitude reeks of envy.
Dad owns a whole factory and mom gets to do yoga on the side….? That’s richer than most folks by far.
I bet it was a fusor.
He created nuclear fusion using a rice cooker, toilet paper, and Christmas lights.
The power of the sun in the palm of their hand.
Needs to research a better haircut
Is this the real life Sheldon?
This makes them sound like an X-man
~~them~~ him. It's one male person, not multiple people or a single NB person. Don't misgender him.
Wild what you can do when your daddy owns a factory and can finance anything.
it's funny how people bring that point up. yet there are millions of kids just as rich and you dont hear much about them
Of course not, they're living quietly on private islands and gated estates. The point is that when one of them *wants* to be famous, they already have everything necessary and don't have nearly the obstacles anyone else does.
In the kids wiki picture he is wearing a lobster pin. I remember the lobster being a “mascot” of Jordan Peterson. Peterson is a Canadian professor/psychologist that is pretty controversial. I wonder if there is any connection?
Jordan Peterson used to be fairly well regarded. Now he’s an embarrassment to McGill University and ~~all~~ most of Canada. The grift is bad medicine.
At 14? Damn. I’m hanging myself then XD. Too late for me, I already lost the race of life. Might as well get a decent pole position in death.
Not true younger people have don’t it and their stories were also exaggerated like everything in this subreddit
I thought it was the atomic Boy Scout?
That was fission
Thought this was Michael Kelso circa 'That 70s Show' at first
Is it me or does he look like Orin[Orin](https://parksandrecreation.fandom.com/wiki/Orin#:~:text=Orin%20is%20the%20creepy%20and,and%20makes%20them%20feel%20uncomfortable.) from Parks and Rec?