A 17 year old teenager from Michigan, who wanted to win a science fair, decided to build a fusion reactor in his basement… talk about overkill!
The project was no easy task, and required over 1000 hours for research and design (that’s over 2 months and a half of studying and planning if he spent all of his awaken time doing research for it). How did he managed to get the parts he needed for it? Well, from eBay of course!
Now I don’t know what’s most surprising, the fact that it was a 17 year old that made a device that can fuse two hydrogen atoms together, or the fact that you can get the pieces for it from eBay.
I bet it makes one hell of an Espresso.
But does it run Linux? ;)
[...] So with those tips, I hope that you’d be a better eBayer now. Learn from experience and enjoy. Who know, you might score some great deals on a fusion reactor somewhere. [...]
[...] Ah science fair projects. Oddly enough I never participated in any, my school didn’t have them. But we did have the yearly science project for class. Let’s see for chem I tested various water proofing agents on leather. Bio was a bacteria experiment. Physics, I played with wing design on gliders. I never considered making a fusion reactor. Well a 17 year old in Michigan thought about it, and did it: Now I don’t know what’s most surprising, the fact that it was a 17 year old that made a device that can fuse two hydrogen atoms together, or the fact that you can get the pieces for it from eBay. Source: 17 year old teenager builds homemade fusion reactor [...]
This is B.S
Umm no. Thats all I have to say on the matter as to explain why this is so mind numbingly wrong would take to long.
Nope. Not a chance. Scientists haven’t managed to build controlled fusion reactors yet, so no way did a 17 year old build one for a science fair.
Actually, creating fusion a fusion reactor is easier than you would think. Scientists have created many different types of fusion reactors capable of fusing hydrogen. The problem is that they are unable to stabalize the reaction so that it can produce more energy than it initially consumes. Fusion in itself has been done before though.
Steve and ben: Amazing that you’re so quick to call it fake without any cogent reasoning. Stop judging a story just because it seems, based on your little bit of knowledge, a tad outlandish. If you really don’t believe it possible, do some research and form a real argument. I’m all about taking things with a grain of salt, but don’t dismiss something if you don’t know anything about it, or why you dismiss it.
yea but will it blend?
Okay guys. the article says he created a device that can fuse two hydrogen atoms together, something we’ve been able to do for nearly 70 years. Nobody said he has used it to power his house or anything. And for the people who are freaking out, I think it’s great. The world needs more 17 year olds willing and capable to do outstanding feats of home brewed engineering in their basements. I hope this kid enjoys his full ride to MIT, or at the very least his A. Even if he failed and it doesn’t work, A for effort.
Nuclear energy is the future people. Just because its destructive doesn’t mean we have to fear it. Gasoline is dangerous too. More power = more destructive potential. Its just the trade off. Its up us to ensure that this new tool is used for the betterment of human society. We can’t trade progress for safety, not after we’ve come this far.
Instead of trying to be smart by typing so much and stating facts about why or why not he could do it, open your eyes and look at the post date.
Idiots!
That is impossible. The closest place to Earth that Fusion happens is the sun. So far man has only been able to produce fission, which is separating atoms. The fact is it just takes to much energy and heat to preform fusion.
“17 year old teenager…”
Oh so he is a teenager then? Not a 17 year old in his thirties?
Interesting idea, but not the first time it has been done. I will bow to it’s elegance. It looks very impressive. Any specs on time of plasma burn, cost, safeguards, etc.?
I went to a very advanced high school in the sciences in the 1960′s. We had advanced everything. We were pioneers in what is now called AP classes. I personally remember in 1966 seeing a 17 year old junior ( what we called than an ” accelerated science student”) building a fusion plasma device. He did, of course, win the science fair. He also received many offers from many university physics dept.’s. I graduated that year and was less impressed than many of you, because it was something anyone in our advanced group could have done (given the money).
I personally thought I should have won. My project was too intellectual for most judges. I devised a scheme to detect every member of the chloride group quantitatively. Unfortunately, except for lead , silver, and mercury, the other metals in my group were very expensive and dangerous. And yes, I know these heavy metals can be dangerous when handled incorrectly, but check out Thallium. There is some money and danger. The only person that appreciated my project ( which had to be in poster form due to the danger), was my chem teacher.