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WY Teen Cut From Science Fair For Entering Too Many

Posted by timothy on from the you-can't-science-in-here-this-is-the-science-room dept.

An anonymous reader writes " A Wyoming high school student who built a nuclear reactor in his dad's garage was disqualified from the International Science and Engineering Fair this month on a technicality.' His crime: competing in too many science fairs."

2 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How? by istartedi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Almost anything is a nuclear reactor if you play with the definition. There are isotopes decaying in my thumb right now. It's a nuclear reactor. I seriously doubt these things are producing net energy beyond curiosity wattage. You can probably do some interesting betavoltaic stuff that would generate power at the cost of $50/milliwatt. If you tried to scale it up and generate any significant power, the Feds would eventually find you... probably. I've often wondered if anybody has set one up for "off grid" power. I think there's a 50-50 chance that one back-woods dude is powering his cabin on a huge parcel of land somwhere where it woudln't attract attention. Dangerous as all get-out though. It's so much easier just to use wood stoves, solar panels, etc.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  2. Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor by mbone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Farnsworth–Hirsch fusor is decades old, relatively easy to build (I know someone who built one in his garage), available commercially (as a neutron source) and is generally considered to be not a candidate for fusion power.

    Given that the name of the student is Conrad Farnsworth, I have to wonder if there is a family connection, but the article does not go into that.