Slashdot Mirror
12-Year-Old Boy Reportedly Builds A Nuclear Fusion Reactor (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes the Guardian:
An American 14-year-old has reportedly become the youngest known person in the world to create a successful nuclear reaction. The Open Source Fusor Research Consortium, a hobbyist group, has recognised the achievement by Jackson Oswalt, from Memphis, Tennessee, when he was aged 12 in January 2018....
The enterprising teenager said he transformed an old playroom in his parents' house into a nuclear laboratory with $10,000 (£7,700) worth of equipment that uses 50,000 volts of electricity to heat deuterium gas and fuse the nuclei to release energy. "The start of the process was just learning about what other people had done with their fusion reactors," Jackson told Fox. "After that, I assembled a list of parts I needed. I got those parts off eBay primarily and then oftentimes the parts that I managed to scrounge off of eBay weren't exactly what I needed. So I'd have to modify them to be able to do what I needed to do for my project...."
[S]cientists are likely to remain sceptical until Oswalt's workings are subject to verification from an official organisation and are published in an academic journal. Still, the teenager may now have usurped the previous record holder, Taylor Wilson, who works in nuclear energy research after achieving fusion aged 14.
The enterprising teenager said he transformed an old playroom in his parents' house into a nuclear laboratory with $10,000 (£7,700) worth of equipment that uses 50,000 volts of electricity to heat deuterium gas and fuse the nuclei to release energy. "The start of the process was just learning about what other people had done with their fusion reactors," Jackson told Fox. "After that, I assembled a list of parts I needed. I got those parts off eBay primarily and then oftentimes the parts that I managed to scrounge off of eBay weren't exactly what I needed. So I'd have to modify them to be able to do what I needed to do for my project...."
[S]cientists are likely to remain sceptical until Oswalt's workings are subject to verification from an official organisation and are published in an academic journal. Still, the teenager may now have usurped the previous record holder, Taylor Wilson, who works in nuclear energy research after achieving fusion aged 14.
Also, he said he built a time machine in his garage based on a 1976 Toyota Corolla. The only problem was he couldn't get it up to 88 mph.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I can see the conversation.
"Hey Jackson, can you come out and play?"
"Not right now. I'm building a fusion reactor."
"Okay, maybe tomorrow."
The device in question is a fusor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor which does involve actual nuclear fusion. They aren't easy to build but they do engage in actual fusion. They are used for a bunch of practical purposes, including as neutron generators. Hobbyists have built them before. Still, a 12 year old doing it is pretty impressive.
Fair point, but consider this: He was 12 years, 11 months and a few days old at the end of January 2018. He turned 13 in February of last year. The Guardian story was published this week, so the kid had exactly a year (and a few days) to grow by one year. Which he did.
Because all 12 year old boys have $10,000 to do whatever they want with.
I think the term "reactor" came from chemical engineering, meaning a vessel in which a *reaction* takes place. So in that sense, what was built was a "reactor".
In a nuclear fission context, it implies a device capable of supporting a sustained and controllable reaction, in which sense this is *not* a "reactor".
But by that criteria, there are no nuclear fusion reactors in the world. It's not unusual for fusion researchers to call fusion devices such as tokamaks or magnetic mirrors "reactors", even though they cannot sustain a reaction. So in that sense it *is* a "reactor".
It's less important what you call a thing as being clear what you mean, which of course in an age where most news sources have shed their science desks in favor of opinion journalism is a rare thing.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Indeed. It doesn't even take $10,000 - you can build a fusor with less than $500 worth of second-hand equipment. Handy if you need a convenient neutron source, or a bad case of radiation poisoning, but not much else.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
... you can buy plutonium off the shelf ...
Where? The only commercial source of plutonium I have ever heard of are ionization smoke detectors (like the KV-1) sold in the Soviet Union, but apparently not made in decades. These don't show up on eBay much (I check from time to time). List a source, or you are blowing smoke.
and order deuterium oxide right from Canada.
I don't know of a regular commercial Canadian source (isotope vendors usually don't sell to the public), do you? If so, list them here. I do know of a U.S. source though, United Nuclear, as far as I know this where all fusor makers get their material (and where I got mine).
I'm pretty sure the do-it-yourself kit also includes radiation poisoning, shorter life span, and investigation by a nuclear regulatory agency since the persons involved would be glowing to the radiation detectors in pretty much any western city...especially since a simple radioactive dye will trip them.
Not with a Farnsworth Fusor. These only put out a few million neutrons a second. Assuming a high performing unit with 10 million, that is 10,000,000 * 2.5 MeV * 1.6*10^-13 J/MeV = 4*10^-6 J/s. A rad is 0.01 J/kg of tissue, so a 50 kg kid would require 0.5 J to get a one rad whole body dose. If the actual absorption from the fusor were 10% of its emission (he isn't wrapped around it), then he would have to sit next to it for 2 weeks without a break to get to 1 rad exposure. Radiation poisoning (overt toxicity) sets in around 200 rads in a short period, no acute symptoms would show up if this is spread out over weeks, much less the 8 years of sitting next to the fusor he would need. He could get up to a 2000 rad lifetime exposure sitting next to it his whole life (80 years) but would never show radiation symptions. His cancer risk would be bumped a bit though.
Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
Still, a 12 year old doing it is pretty impressive.
How impressive it is really depends a lot on how much help he got from his parents. They clearly provided very significant financial support...