Man Arrested For Trying to Split the Atom at Home
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this guy sounds like he could be a D20 modern ability score trope:
"Intelligence is the stat that will help you figure out how to build a fission reactor from common household items.
Wisdom is the stat that will tell you not to do it in your kitchen."
Also, holy crap, following a few links from this thread led me to this:
"Intelligence is the stat that will help you figure out how to build a fission reactor from common household items.
Wisdom is the stat that will tell you not to do it in your kitchen."
Also, holy crap, following a few links from this thread led me to this:
I remember reading about this on a Swedish web-site yesterday. I took particular interest in it as it all happened to occur in the town where I live. It's a quiet little town without all that much to do on your spare time, so this could actually likely be a project born out of sheer boredom.
or sheer crazy boredom...
or I guess sheer crazy boredom of madman proportions...
I'm also weirdly proud to have been living sort of next-door to what could have been the first actual supervillain in history, had he been able to keep pursuing his hobby.
I see it now...
"Richard Handl was just a normal guy trying to cleave atoms in his stove when a teerrrrrible accident occured! A great explosion caused him to merge with his makeshift fission-chamber and SUCH was the birth of the sinister DR STOVE!"
or sheer crazy boredom...
or I guess sheer crazy boredom of madman proportions...
I'm also weirdly proud to have been living sort of next-door to what could have been the first actual supervillain in history, had he been able to keep pursuing his hobby.
I see it now...
"Richard Handl was just a normal guy trying to cleave atoms in his stove when a teerrrrrible accident occured! A great explosion caused him to merge with his makeshift fission-chamber and SUCH was the birth of the sinister DR STOVE!"
Honestly, it really isn't that bad. Simply put, you can't generate enough energy to create a proper explosion in a home. At absolute worst, he could create a low-yield "dirty bomb" that would damage (possibly destroy, but I doubt it) his home and leak a non-fatal amount of radiation.Owlslayer said:
That said, just having the compounds needed for such experiments is dangerous and the radiation from them could have side-effects on his neighbors if they were improperly contained for a long period.
Well, the article didn't mention just how much he had. Plus, it's not the problem of a nuclear explosion, but radioactive material being in a humble house.lacktheknack said:
Oh, I've met people with that level of absent mindedness, I just wanted to show that at least one future physicist (if all goes well) is more aware of his surroundings.Generic Gamer said:
Ok, for everyone that is curious (read not Swedish) the man was never sent to jail he was just fined.
He started to self study nuclear science when he was 14 years old. He stated that it was one of his passions from early age.
As stated in this thread he used easy to find items including a smoke detector.
He already had everything he needed just never got around to building it (that why he called to ask if it was ok to assemble it).
He spend somewhere between 940-780 dollars for all the material.
All the equipment was taken by the police and he decided to keep it theoretical in the future.
The meld down only amounted to soot on the stove, it was no more than that.
Hope this will keep the speculation to a minimum and clarify what the U.S media has inadequately reported.
He started to self study nuclear science when he was 14 years old. He stated that it was one of his passions from early age.
As stated in this thread he used easy to find items including a smoke detector.
He already had everything he needed just never got around to building it (that why he called to ask if it was ok to assemble it).
He spend somewhere between 940-780 dollars for all the material.
All the equipment was taken by the police and he decided to keep it theoretical in the future.
The meld down only amounted to soot on the stove, it was no more than that.
Hope this will keep the speculation to a minimum and clarify what the U.S media has inadequately reported.
My knowledge of physics is a little rusty. If he had somehow succeeded in splitting an atom, would that have been sufficient to cause a massive explosion? Or are the conditions to create a chain reaction more complicated than that?
Wait, what?Byere said:
one uranium atom of u-235 would release approximately 15 watt hours of energy, ( 200 Mev's if harnessed ) no where near enough to devastate a townsamsonguy920 said:
remember bombs are rather large and consist of... significantly more than one single atom
it does of-course depend on purity, and vary from reaction to reaction on allot of factors but this could be done safely if he was as smart as he seems to think
there is a calculator for mega-electron volts here:
http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/units-converter/energy/calculator/megaelectron-volt-%5BMeV%5D-to-watt-hour-%5BW*h%5D/
enjoy
that poor man, i hope he doesn't get convicted for this. i mean it's not like he was bent on world domination or anything like that, he's just a nerd. damn jocks always hating on us...
He never posed a threat, but the fact that he was storing radioactive material (no matter how small the quantity) is a cause for concern.
He was trying to see if he could start a nuclear chain reaction in his home? Must've hated his home, that's all I'm going to say. If he was honestly trying to start a nuclear reaction, then he's an idiot.
Not that he ever had a chance of succeeding. But to even try to attempt to start a reaction in his HOME shows that he doesn't even understand what he was trying to accomplish. If he had truly been able caused a nuclear chain reaction with Uranium 238, then he would be dead - either due to the radiation emitted or the blast of the explosion.
He was trying to see if he could start a nuclear chain reaction in his home? Must've hated his home, that's all I'm going to say. If he was honestly trying to start a nuclear reaction, then he's an idiot.
Not that he ever had a chance of succeeding. But to even try to attempt to start a reaction in his HOME shows that he doesn't even understand what he was trying to accomplish. If he had truly been able caused a nuclear chain reaction with Uranium 238, then he would be dead - either due to the radiation emitted or the blast of the explosion.
There seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding about what is involved in a project like this.
First, making a small nuclear reactor at home doesn't make him a genius or a moron. Anyone of average intelligence could do so if they were so inclined, as all the information you need is readily available. It's not a stupid project; small volumes of material pose very little risk to you or your neighbors. Personally, I think its fantastic.
A nuclear reactor is not a nuclear bomb, and a meltdown is not a nuclear explosion. Nuclear reactors capture the energy from the decay of nuclear isotopes. Nuclear bombs induce a chain reaction of nuclear fission which is then used to induce a chain reaction of nuclear fusion, releasing vast amounts of energy. The nuclear reactor at Chernobyl experienced a worst-case meltdown, and there was still no atomic explosion, since nuclear reactors don't work like that (not even terribly unsafe graphite medium reactors like the Soviets built).
I can understand why possession of nuclear material is illegal, and I can understand why the authorities would shut down his experiments. What I can't understand is why there would be any threat of criminal charges against this individual, when he clearly did not mean any harm nor had he done anything to directly jeopardize his neighbors.
Certainly he had the potential to cause harm, but that doesn't count for much. Any person who owns a car has the potential to cause a great deal of harm. Anyone who owns a kitchen knife is capable of posing a threat to the safety of others. It's what we DO with these things that matters.
First, making a small nuclear reactor at home doesn't make him a genius or a moron. Anyone of average intelligence could do so if they were so inclined, as all the information you need is readily available. It's not a stupid project; small volumes of material pose very little risk to you or your neighbors. Personally, I think its fantastic.
A nuclear reactor is not a nuclear bomb, and a meltdown is not a nuclear explosion. Nuclear reactors capture the energy from the decay of nuclear isotopes. Nuclear bombs induce a chain reaction of nuclear fission which is then used to induce a chain reaction of nuclear fusion, releasing vast amounts of energy. The nuclear reactor at Chernobyl experienced a worst-case meltdown, and there was still no atomic explosion, since nuclear reactors don't work like that (not even terribly unsafe graphite medium reactors like the Soviets built).
I can understand why possession of nuclear material is illegal, and I can understand why the authorities would shut down his experiments. What I can't understand is why there would be any threat of criminal charges against this individual, when he clearly did not mean any harm nor had he done anything to directly jeopardize his neighbors.
Certainly he had the potential to cause harm, but that doesn't count for much. Any person who owns a car has the potential to cause a great deal of harm. Anyone who owns a kitchen knife is capable of posing a threat to the safety of others. It's what we DO with these things that matters.