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."

Comments

Re:Been done before

[arivanov]

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.

either that

[macadamia_harold]

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.

He initially wanted to create a hyperbolic chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:What colour is energy?

[__aaclcg7560]

Take the back cover off of a really old TV and tap the tip of a screwdriver across the back circuit of the picture tube. A ball of energy should melt the tip of the screwdriver and/or throw you back 20 feet and/or turn your hair white.

Re:How do we know it's fusion?

[csnydermvpsoft]

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.

Re:What's up with Michigan?

[Anonymous Coward]

What is there in the water in Michigan?

Deuterium, apparently.

Really? Me too!

[Itsallmyfault]

I'm in the process of this very thing... on a much larger scale... in my dining roo+++NO CARRIER

I love bylines!

[M0b1u5]

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.

Re:I love bylines!

[Control Group]

Hyperbolic Chamber, which sounds oddly shaped, but unremarkable

Are you kidding? I made a Hyperbolic Chamber, and it's the greatest thing ever! Its better than a baseball player batting TWO thousand!! No one has ever even imagined anything as phenomenally revolutionary as my Hyperbolic Chamber!!! I can guarantee that my Hperbolic Chamber will solve world hunger and instantiate world peace!!!! It's as hot as the center of the sun, and as cool as intergalactic space!!!!!

Re:Been done before

[buswolley]

And people keep telling us that USA kids don't do science. Shit.

Commendable.

[tute666]

The FBI hasn't fallen on him like a ton of rectangular building blocks yet?

Re:Biggest question

[crankyspice]

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...

Re:You are joking, aren't you?

[Jekler]

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.

Re:What colour is energy?

[Dorceon]

Or perhaps the glowing red that gets associated with COMMUNISM!

Re:What colour is energy?

[PontifexPrimus]

A ball of energy should melt the tip of the screwdriver and/or throw you back 20 feet and/or turn your hair white.

...and/or give you television-related superpowers (The Amazing Remote-Man(TM)? The Human Static(TM)? The Homeshopper(TM)?).

Re:Capacitors

[0x0000]

TVs have very dangerous capacitors.

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...

Re:Becoming?

[inviolet]

[...] the first farnsworth fusors weren't built 'till ~1960....

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."

MY DEATH RAY!

[Philip K Dickhead]

"Someday, I'll build a death-ray! Then they'll all be sorry they laughed at me!

Stupid coach."

Re:What's up with Michigan?

[Tumbleweed]

>> What is there in the water in Michigan?

> Deuterium, apparently.

*whoa* Heavy.