PDA

View Full Version : A really, really cool WTF


Marcus Telcontar
Sep 16th, 2003, 11:23:56 PM
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,510054502,00.html

Damn, that would be a cool as project.
Darth Viscera
Sep 17th, 2003, 12:14:15 AM
:(

I wish I had me a fusion reactor. Could use one of them.
Falcon Gyndar
Sep 17th, 2003, 12:15:57 AM
Hmm. Coolies.
Figrin D'an
Sep 17th, 2003, 02:41:47 PM
It's a pretty neat toy. If it gets him scholarship money and brownie points with his professors (which it already seems to have accomplished both), then it was well worth the time and effort.
Charley
Sep 17th, 2003, 02:52:32 PM
The best part about that story is that he placed second in the national science fair, next to some girl whose project was how blueberry pie makes people fat or something.
Wei Wu Wei
Sep 17th, 2003, 07:31:59 PM
SAY WHAT? I didn't read that in the article. But dude, that is so cool. If I had one, I'd be using it to power all sorts of stuff. Like...I don't know. Maybe my golf cart.
Sene Unty
Sep 18th, 2003, 08:01:35 AM
That was so cool...heh. I wish I could do something like that? :(
Lance Freestar
Sep 18th, 2003, 09:18:45 AM
Hmmph, and I thought my Science Project on how Cigarettes can kill by using plants as the victims was cool. We put the potted plants into a plastic container, made sure it had plenty of space, sunlight, and water, then we pumped in the second hand smoke. In one day one plant shriveled up and died, the others took a few more days to die.
Xela Oxralad
Sep 18th, 2003, 06:34:20 PM
Originally posted by Figrin D'an
It's a pretty neat toy. If it gets him scholarship money and brownie points with his professors (which it already seems to have accomplished both), then it was well worth the time and effort.
Just being able to truthfully ask someone if they wanted to see your fusion reactor then it would be enough reason for me to make one.
But I'd rather not work with heavy water.
Park Kraken
Sep 18th, 2003, 09:18:28 PM
How heavy is the water?
Sanis Prent
Sep 18th, 2003, 10:09:14 PM
Originally posted by Admiral Kraken
How heavy is the water?

TWO DEMERITS

Snape is not amused.
Figrin D'an
Sep 18th, 2003, 10:25:43 PM
Originally posted by Xela Oxralad
But I'd rather not work with heavy water.

It's not that dangerous if you know how to handle it. There are other subtances I'd be much more leary of working with than deuterium.




Originally posted by Admiral Kraken
How heavy is the water?


It's about 10% more massive than normal water. But that isn't the concern...
Master Yoghurt
Sep 21st, 2003, 08:08:20 AM
Looks a bit safer than the attempt to build a <a href=http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1111/n1782_v297/21281407/print.jhtml>breeder reactor in the backyard potting shed</a>
Figrin D'an
Sep 21st, 2003, 11:24:21 AM
Yeah, I read that article a while ago. The kid actually pulled Amercium-241 out of a bunch of old smoke detectors to use as the radioactive souce for a neutron gun.


Clever and creative, but extremely dangerous.
Park Kraken
Sep 21st, 2003, 11:43:34 AM
I was just wondering, never heard of heavy water before......
How do they make stuff like that?
Figrin D'an
Sep 21st, 2003, 12:13:24 PM
Heavy water is mearly water that contains an isotope of hydrogen, called deuterium. Hydrogen, the most simple element in the universe, is structured as a 1 proton nucleus orbited by 1 election. Deuterium has a 1 proton and 1 neutron nucleus, orbited by 1 electron. So, instead of H2O, we have D2O, or "heavy water." It's useful in fusion processes because it's capable of neutron emission.