I'm thinking this is how NOT to do a test with live Plutonium.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Talented and Stupid
At the same time. It killed him and injured others. Louis Slotin was working on supercriticality experiments on a fission plutonium bomb.
I'm thinking this is how NOT to do a test with live Plutonium.
The screwdriver slipped and the mass went critical. He stopped the reaction but he was dead already. In fact nine days later.
I'm thinking this is how NOT to do a test with live Plutonium.
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If you haven't seen it, check out the film "Fat Man and Little Boy"... this particular incident is touched on. And the Wiki entry on the Demon Core is pretty fascinating...
ReplyDeleteLook up "Demon Core"
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, the "Demon Core".
ReplyDeleteIt killed another couple of people before it was finally used in a test shot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core
It does make one wonder, sometimes...
ReplyDeleteYea! We have a spammer! I don't generally approve such stuff, but this was epic! Go away!
ReplyDeleteBorepatch and I both got the same spam.
ReplyDeleteAh. Good to know!
ReplyDeleteYep, the learning curve was rather steep back then... And he paid with his life!
ReplyDelete