18 Year Old Builds Working Nuclear Reactor In Dad's Garage For Science Fair

[Initech]

Conrad Farnsworth of Newcastle, Wyom. wasn't even old enough to vote when he built a successful nuclear fusion reactor.

Now 18, Farnsworth told the Casper Star-Tribune last month that while the reactor he built in the garage is too inefficient to be used for energy production, it could potentially be used to produce cancer-fighting isotopes.

The teen, who shares his last name with the fusor's original designer, Philo T. Farnsworth, and self-proclaimed mad scientist Hubert J. Farnsworth, began work on the project at age 16. He started by contacting members of the international amateur fusion community for guidance.

The resulting reactor is a maze of wires, buttons and doo-dads, sitting right next to his father's 1972 Chevy in the shed. The plasma at the heart of his reactor reaches a temperature of 600 million degrees Fahrenheit.

Nuclear fusion is not to be confused with nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is the process of splitting an atom's nucleus, which produces a huge energy release. Most nuclear power plants generate energy via fission.

Fusion, on the other hand, involves multiple atoms joining together to form a heavier nucleus, which may either release or absorb energy, depending on that nucleus' mass. The sun generates energy via fusion.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/conrad-farnsworth-builds-nuclear-fusion-reactor-garage_n_2616998.html

Yeah I remember making the solar system out of styrofoam and tin foil.

[Curmudgeoness]

1. I wasn't even motivated enough

to make a volcano. I don't even remember what I did, but I do know it was not memorable. Or very good.

Ah, if only I could go back to school just to make a science fair project today! I was one dumb and lazy student!

[UrbScotty]

2. He's not the first:

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2007-03/popsci-videoteen-builds-basement-nuclear-reactor