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Michigan Teen Creates Fusion Device

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the fire-in-the-hole dept.

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."

5 of 460 comments (clear)

  1. Been done before by Spunkee · · Score: -1, Troll

    This has been replicated over 300 times. Maybe 500. Old news. Real news will be when our government finally funds this research.

  2. shi7? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Halt. Even Emacs later seen in won't be shouting AMERICA) i5 the been many, not the By simple fucking

  3. Burning hydrogen perhaps? by syousef · · Score: 0, Troll

    I'd be much more likely to believe he'd managed to burn some hydrogen in a ball of gas and that his little vacuum chamber is less than perfect. Sounds like pseudo scientific horse shit (still steaming) to me.

    --
    These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  4. FUSION?? bad journalism more likely.. by kaysan · · Score: 0, Troll
    "Nuclear fusion -- when atoms are combined to create energy" People that stooopid shouldn't be allowed out of their house, much less write a column in a newspaper! That's called Chemistry you dumb bitch! Fusion is when nuclei are combined to form different atoms!!

    2 years in his basement trying to make something explode... maybe the kid just needs masturbation instructions.

  5. Why is this post here? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    This guy has just put a hobby machine together from plans and info on the net. There seems to be a hobby fraternity out there making these machines.

    No new knowledge or scientific advance has occurred, or will occur. The machine looks quite fun, but doesn't require as much skilled engineering to assemble as, for instance, a good quality steam engine with a flash steam boiler.

    Why is this a Slashdot item? Could it be that Amrericans turn their brains off when it comes to science, and get really impressed with words like 'fusion' and 'nuclear'? I had a good laugh at the morons who talked about this 'heralding a new dawn of cheap power'!