NationStates Jolt Archive

On the surface, Thiago Olson is like any typical teenager.

He's on the cross country and track teams at Stoney Creek High School in Rochester Hills. He's a good-looking, clean-cut 17-year-old with a 3.75 grade point average, and he has his eyes fixed on the next big step: college.

But to his friends, Thiago is known as "the mad scientist."

In the basement of his parents' Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren't privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build -- a large, intricate machine that , on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion.
Link (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/NEWS03/611190639/1005/NEWS)

My own accomplishments seem diminished now... :(

You mean they actually have this on the internet?

Well, it was fun building it...

*blinks* Ok, he wins the ultimate neat geek thing award.

Despite the interest from national media and countless blogs and Web sites, some scientists have questioned the validity of his project. Thiago has not had his claim verified by experts. He has discussed his project with his physics teacher and scientists he met on the Web.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061123/NEWS03/611230377

Boring:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor


Not really as impressive as it seems, with plans widely available and no real practical application.

so is this what he built, like one of the comments said?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor


still a damn cool thing to builld in your parents basement

So. Does this mean he's gunna open a portal to another dimension? Like in the game Half-Life? There was some pretty intense science stuff in taht game.

seems more like he can generate neutrons and dangerously irradiate himself, if he's not careful.

Less dangerous than that teen who built a working fisson reactor in a shed... (http://www.amazon.com/Radioactive-Boy-Scout-Backyard-Reactor/dp/product-description/037550351X)

He really needs a girlfreind.

Less dangerous than that teen who built a working fisson reactor in a shed... (http://www.amazon.com/Radioactive-Boy-Scout-Backyard-Reactor/dp/product-description/037550351X)

No, not really. Still can kill himself quite easily.

No, not really. Still can kill himself quite easily.

Through electricity, maybe. But he's not spreading radioactive material through an entire neighborhood.

Feh! That's nothing! I designed and helped build the Poo Cannon! *nod*

Through electricity, maybe. But he's not spreading radioactive material through an entire neighborhood.

Fusion releases some neutrons which can kill you (provided the energy's high enough). No radioactive decay products though, but then again the radioactive kid didn't do much of that either.

So. Does this mean he's gunna open a portal to another dimension? Like in the game Half-Life? There was some pretty intense science stuff in taht game.

:rolleyes:

seems more like he can generate neutrons and dangerously irradiate himself, if he's not careful.

If he runs up the voltage without proper sheilding.

Less dangerous than that teen who built a working fisson reactor in a shed... (http://www.amazon.com/Radioactive-Boy-Scout-Backyard-Reactor/dp/product-description/037550351X)



No, not really. Still can kill himself quite easily.

Indeed. In addition to the electrical and radiation dangers, there are the dangers of working with vacuum and hazerdous materials. Deuterium gas goes BOOM if ya ain't careful, and LN2 is dangerous as well.

Through electricity, maybe. But he's not spreading radioactive material through an entire neighborhood.

The radiation danger depends on the voltage.

5. Radiation hazards

The demonstration, air operated, fusor poses no real radiation hazards
especially if operated below 10,000 volts.

Regardless of where neutons start to be produced in a deuterium fusor,
X-rays will begin after 15,000 volts applied across the chamber. The
rays are very soft and will not penetrate chamber walls until above
20,000 volts. Beyond 30,000 volts the X-rays are very dangerous and are
the number one radiation hazard.

Lead sheeting or other dense material is suggested to protect people in
the vacinity of operating fusors at high voltages. consult a book on
X-ray technology for proper shielding requirements.

Neutron production can begin at 15,000 volts although it will not be of
any real significance until the 20-25,000 volt range. Remember we are
making fast neutrons and these ae the worst kind of neutron. They must
be slowed to thermal energies to protect personnel. To do this tanks of
water or large, thick cast blocks of parafin are needed surrounding the
chamber. In this manner, the slowed neutrons will react only with the
outer layers of skin and body tissue. (minimal risk)

Unshielded fast neutrons will see the human body as a nice moderator,
(being a big bag of water), and penetrate deep into the body, thermalize
and be totally absorbed in delicate easily damaged internal tissue and
organs. The worst of this would occur in chambers operating well above
40,000 volts though.

A simple parafin wall of about 8 inches thickness around a fusor will
afford good protection from fast neutrons even above 100,000 volts.
However, one would also need almost 15 mm thickness of lead to shield
from the intense x-rays at this same voltage! parafin won't stop x-rays
at all!

Thus , if you are going over 30,000 volts in a deuterium fusor, be ready
to shield with both lead and parafin.

You must also have at the very least, an ionization chamber type of
radiation survey meter (mainly for X-rays) inorder to know just how much
radiation you are producing and or absorbing.

Neutron counting is a complex and expensive issue requiring special
equipment. The builder is referred to any number of books on radiation
physics and metrology.

http://www.kronjaeger.com/hv/fusor/construction/fusor_safe.txt

Link (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/NEWS03/611190639/1005/NEWS)

My own accomplishments seem diminished now... :(

theres gotta be a law....

Fusion releases some neutrons which can kill you (provided the energy's high enough). No radioactive decay products though, but then again the radioactive kid didn't do much of that either.

Hahn didn't manage a critical pile, but he did manage to turn his backyard into a superfund site, as well as probably giving himself in excess of a lifetimes safe Thorium exposure all in one go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn


Some University of Chicago students did manage a working one, however.
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/99/990519.scavhunt.nyt.html

Next week's headline: Michigan cedes from the union. In little green glowing pieces.

Next week's headline: Michigan cedes from the union. In little green glowing pieces.

I didn't know that David Hahn was from Michigan too. Apparently Michiganders have some sort of strange inclination towards amateur nuclear physics.

Next week's headline: Michigan cedes from the union. In little green glowing pieces.

Nah it would be more like "Al Quedia takes Michigan Teen hostage and demands he builds a dirty bomb for them."

or

"Michigan Teen is offered loads of cash for home made Fusion Reactor."

That is pretty awesome. He's definitely going to be working in some awesome lab and develop some awesome stuff in the future.

Those damn commie Canichiganers.

Hahn didn't manage a critical pile, but he did manage to turn his backyard into a superfund site, as well as probably giving himself in excess of a lifetimes safe Thorium exposure all in one go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn

That guy's from my hometown!

The incident received scant media attention at the time, but was widely disseminated after writer Ken Silverstein published an article about the incident in Harper's Magazine in 1998, and subsequently expanded it into a 2004 biography, The Radioactive Boy Scout.Amazingly, the first I knew of it was when I looked up my hometown on Wiki about a year ago. "Scant" attention is an understatement (granted, I do usually ignore the town paper since hardly anything exciting ever happens here, but I don't remember hearing any gossip about it either).

That is pretty awesome. He's definitely going to be working in some awesome lab and develop some awesome stuff in the future.

Not really.
As for lab work, that should be in his future, as long as he keeps on the legit and safe side. Hahn seems to have ended up with his hopes fairly well dashed due largely to his unsafe overexposure...