Michigan student, 17, builds small nuclear reactor in basement

[UrbScotty]

From the Detroit Free Press:

(snip)

In the basement of his parents' Oakland Township home, tucked away in an area most aren't privy to see, Thiago is exhausting his love of physics on a project that has taken him more than two years and 1,000 hours to research and build -- a large, intricate machine that, on a small scale, creates nuclear fusion.

(snip)

Pointing to the steel chamber where all the magic happens, Thiago said on Friday that this piece of the puzzle serves as a vacuum. The air is sucked out and into a filter.

Then, deuterium gas -- a form of hydrogen -- is injected into the vacuum. About 40,000 volts of electricity are charged into the chamber from a piece of equipment taken from an old mammogram machine. As the machine runs, the atoms in the chamber are attracted to the center and soon -- ta da -- nuclear fusion.

Thiago said when that happens, a small intense ball of energy forms.

The article does say that the kid has a 3.75 GPA - so I'm hoping he at least knows how to pronounce NUCLEAR.

[UrbScotty]

1. Sunday evening kick (nt)

[MissB]

2. Excellent.

Unless you live next door to him.

[UrbScotty]

3. I actually know a couple people who live in Oakland Township

...and they know this kid very well.

[BikeWriter]

4. That's a kid with way too much time on his hands!