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View Full Version : good thing this guy doesn't live in Alaska


Ike
11/21/2006, 12:18 PM
cause they'd probably pass a city ordinance just to make him stop. Actually, they'd probably do that in about 15 other states too.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/NEWS03/611190639


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.
Frozen Sooner
11/21/2006, 12:20 PM
Albert is a brilliant man. It ain't like he's going to be blowin' up the damn neighborhood. :D
Jerk
11/21/2006, 12:27 PM
I wonder if he's smart enough to know what dynamic entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_entry) means. If not, he'll probably find out soon.
yermom
11/21/2006, 05:18 PM
where did he get the materials for this???

and i thought of the dude in Alaska when i read this too :D
Ike
11/21/2006, 05:29 PM
where did he get the materials for this???

and i thought of the dude in Alaska when i read this too :D

unlike fission, fusion doesn't require any materials the average citizen can't get his hands on.
IB4OU2
11/21/2006, 05:40 PM
Don't show him Pat's ham cause we don't want science to lose him...
yermom
11/21/2006, 05:42 PM
where do you get Deuterium gas?
BeetDigger
11/21/2006, 05:43 PM
I think that when you name your kid Thiago, you pretty much set him up to be called a mad scientist. It's like naming your kid Coleman and expecting him to be something other than a chauffer.
BeetDigger
11/21/2006, 05:44 PM
where do you get Deuterium gas?


Ask olevet, my guess is that he can get you some after a night of eating pickled eggs and drinking beer.
yermom
11/21/2006, 05:50 PM
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,510054502,00.html

heh, this guy made it from heavy water

crazy.
jeremy885
11/21/2006, 05:50 PM
cause they'd probably pass a city ordinance just to make him stop. Actually, they'd probably do that in about 15 other states too.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/NEWS03/611190639

Ike,

You being the scientist and all, would it be harder for him to make this or a fission bomb (if the materials for it were as easy to get as the fusion device)?
Ike
11/21/2006, 06:34 PM
Ike,

You being the scientist and all, would it be harder for him to make this or a fission bomb (if the materials for it were as easy to get as the fusion device)?

Thats a tough question to answer, because the materials figure in very heavily. First off, both fusion and fission are very well known processes that anyone who wants to can look up. There really isn't any secret physics going on there.

It's a bit of a silly assumption to take that the materials would be equally accessible. Fission bombs are made from specific isotopes of uranium and plutonium. These are VERY rare elements, and when found naturally, require large amounts of purification. Fusion could theoretically be accomplished with any element lighter than Iron so long as there are neutrons in it (like Heavy Hydrogen---1 proton, 1 neutron)

I've heard that with a web browser and about 60 minutes, any physics grad student can figure out how to make a fission bomb. However, this also implies that weapons grade uranium or plutonium is readily available. The methods to create high-purity uranium and/or plutonium are not so simple, and again, obtaining the materials to do so is difficult. Assuming one could easily get weapons grade material (which is a very silly assumption) as your question indicates, the only extra difficulty then arises from the handling of such material during construction, which is much more difficult than the handling of heavy water. Not only that, but if you decided to build a fission bomb, at some point, you are going to have to test it to see if you got it right. at that point, someone will notice, if they haven't already, and you can bet that they wouldnt be very pleased.

Yeah, this little device is far easier to build than a bomb.