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Michigan Teen Creates Fusion Device
Josh Lindenmuth writes "The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Thiago Olson, a 17 year old Michigan teen, was able to create a small fusion device in his parents' basement. The machine uses a 40,000 volt charge and deuterium gas to create the small reaction, which he says looks like a 'small intense ball of energy.' The teen's fusion device is obviously not a self-sustaining reactor, but it still shows how fusion technology is becoming more accessible. Hopefully this points to a future where large scale fusion reactors are both economical and widely used."
Could somebody please tell me what energy looks like? I really have no idea.
If he really managed it, the real news will be when he manages to procreate. Those 14KeV fusion neutrons play very interesting games with DNA. That is if he really managed to get any fusion to succeed which I doubt.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
Hopefully this points to a future where large scale fusion reactors are both economical and widely used.
Either that, or it points to a future where large scale fusion reactors are widely used in parents' basements.
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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.
Little does he know, his next big step will actually be gitmo, and from there, the CIA torture camp in Syria.
Good luck, little buddy!
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but his mother wouldn't let him. Quite right too. There's way too much unjustified exaggeration these days. Far more dangerous than a glowing ball of energy.
From TFA his mother wouldn't let him build a hyperbolic chamber.
Definition of hyperbolic
exaggerated: enlarged beyond truth or reasonableness; "had an exaggerated (or inflated) opinion of himself"; "a hyperbolic style"
well, just remember to purge the exhaust manifolds afterwards, check the deutrium reserve levels and recalibrate the deflector dish. (the latter one is extremely necessary)
Note: creating a plasma at 17 years old in a garage would still be very cool. Maybe not slashdot-front-page cool, but still cool.
He didn't do it in a garage, though - he created plasma in his parents' basement, which makes it more relevant to Slashdot readers.
What is there in the water in Michigan?
Deuterium, apparently.
And when that fails, reverse polarity on the ion drives and switch to impulse while using the shields to create a negative graviton balance. It'll take split second timing, but it's our only chance.
dont forget to keep Dee Dee out of lab..
I'm in the process of this very thing... on a much larger scale... in my dining roo+++NO CARRIER
I love bylines! They're so incriminating.
Like GINA DAMRON, the reporter who doesn't listen, and can not know the difference between a "Hyperbaric Chamber" and a [sic] Hyperbolic Chamber, which sounds oddly shaped, but unremarkable.
Good on you Gina, keep up that keen reporting.
I'm looking forward to your report on the Frictional Distillation process.
How many escape pods are there? "NONE,SIR!" You counted them? "TWICE, SIR!"
It is a by-product of charcoal filtered 'Unobtainium' - I hear the rus'kies have it for sale by the kilo...
And people keep telling us that USA kids don't do science. Shit.
A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.
The FBI hasn't fallen on him like a ton of rectangular building blocks yet?
Where did he get the Deuterium from?
It's like this: You take two frisbies, a remote control toy truck, and a bottle of shampoo, and wait for a stormy night...
geek. lawyer.
It makes you a 'tard. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the statement "a sustainable fusion reaction that produces more energy that it uses", apart from the typo. Now, put the inhaler down, and repeat after me: I will not interrupt when grown-ups are speaking.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
I, for one, welcome our new teenage basement-dwelling fusion reactor overlords!
That's just low. Most NRA members are responsible adults who just want the right to bear arms and protect themselves and their families. They're not crazy gun-toting lunatics with hair-trigger rifles and bad tempers.
Hahaha, just kidding, yes they are.Well, assuming you're right handed, and zapped yourself pretty good when a lad, you probably dissipated quite a bit of heat in your right testis, which as everyone knows, is the male testis. Therefore, you're more likely to have girls.
Either that, or he's shitting you. One of the two.
There is no such thing as a "safe" capacitor! They are filled with SMOKE and that smoke is DEADLY. ALWAYS let the smoke out of the capacitors before attempting to handle them! This should only be done by PROFESSIONALS. Do NOT try this at home.
Always assume a CAPACITOR is holding a charge. And: Capacitors don't kill people, it's the circuit of which the person is a part that is dangerous...
"The Internet is made of cats."
What, did the professor travel back in time 1050 years in order to plant a research seed?
Farnsworth: "Good news, everybody! Today we go on a one-way trip back through TIME to stimulate the development of nuclear fusion!"
Everybody: *sigh*
Bender: "Do they have money in the past?"
Farnsworth: "Yes. And they carelessly transport it in pockets, wallets, and purses."
Bender: "I'm in." [burps and roars fire out of his mouth]
Leela: "But professor, won't we be stuck in the past, only to live out the rest of our lives in the gruesomely primitive twentieth century?"
Farnsworth: "Well, there is definitely a very slim chance that someone in the twentieth century will invent the electrostatic fusion device needed to power my Time ReturnoWhatsit to send us back home. Perhaps one of the local nerds will invent one in his parents' basement."
Fry: "Yeah right. When I was in the twentieth century, I spent all of *my* time drinking beer, watching TV, and trying to pick up chicks."
Amy: "That's *still* what you do here in the *thirtieth* century."
Fry: "Oh yeah."
Bender: "We're boned."
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
I'm not sure what alpha male you've been spying on in the changing room, but even with my limited knowledge of other men's packages, I can safely say that there's only supposed to be ONE "wrinkled brown sack." If yours come individually wrapped you should consider yourself a frea...unique snowflake.
Modded Insightful? I guess it's not just intelligent people getting mod points.
Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
Capacitors don't kill people. Capacitor manufacturers kill people. Capacitors are just the tool they use to do it.
Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it. --Mark Twain
And people keep telling us that USA kids don't do science. Shit.
Shh, you aren't allowed to tell anyone outside the US our secret. We've never stopped doing science. It's just that this kid won't be remembered and used as an example to follow by the student body. That sports team that once made it to state or actually won at state; those guys the teachers and students can name most of them off the top of their head. We still have lots of kids that do science and think that its fun, but you'll hardly hear about it except maybe on slashdot, because "science is boring" and we don't have half-time cheerleaders and a band supporting us.
"Someday, I'll build a death-ray! Then they'll all be sorry they laughed at me!
Stupid coach."
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
The only capacitor horror story I have involves an ancient PC AT type computer and a serial port ISA card. I plugged the card into the PC (correctly--antistatic procedures, power off, all that jazz) and powered up the system.
My first thought was "Oh, how nice, they even have a neon pilot lamp on the card to let you know it has power."
My second thought was "Wait? NEON? No way..."
My third thought was "I didn't know tantalum capacitors would glow bright orange."
My fourth thought was a continuation of the third: "...or EXPLODE!"
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
yeah, yeah, rectifying mumbo-jumbo - nobody wants to hear about that. What you want to do is take one of those really big capacitors in an old TV, unsolder the leads and solder them in backwards. Then hook up the power.
See, it's simple - Slashdot readers want to see shrapnel - and lots of it, not how to safely do stuff with electricity. Keep your education stuff in the schools.
>> What is there in the water in Michigan?
> Deuterium, apparently.
*whoa* Heavy.
I buy my D20 at the hobby store....
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on