Analysis of Soviet smoke detector plutonium • Hacker News Board

Re: Analysis of Soviet smoke detector plutonium

#31

Post by credit_guy » Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 3:41 PM UTC

exabrial wrote: post #3

"... the guest bedroom of the home (the least radioactive room, as it should be)..." I think that's my new favorite quote from a scientist.

I don't entirely get it. What is "it" here? The room where you do gamma ray spectroscopy, which should have the least ambient noise (radioactivity), or the bedroom, in which case the radioactivity is probably metaphorical? Or it's intended to be a double entendre?

Re: Analysis of Soviet smoke detector plutonium

#32

Post by c0nsumer » Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 3:56 PM UTC

seesomesense wrote: post #16

mmmBacon wrote: post #8

Reminds me of David Hahn, a kid who tried to make a breeder reactor in a garden shed. He massed Americium from smoke detectors in an attempt to make Plutonium. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn#Death

I was unaware that he died. :\ He's sort of a local legedend here in SE Michigan. I wish I'd known about his funeral, the funeral home is a few hundred feet from my house.

Re: Analysis of Soviet smoke detector plutonium

#33

Post by ethbro » Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 4:41 PM UTC

petee wrote: post #29

seesomesense wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn#Death

Probably important to highlight that he was 39 when he died... I always admired his passion, but puzzled at his stubborn lack of safety precautions.

Probably a good lesson for us all: anything can be learned on your own, but learning on your own is not guaranteed to highlight what you don't know and need to.

Re: Analysis of Soviet smoke detector plutonium

#34

Post by frozenport » Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 6:56 PM UTC

petee wrote: post #29

seesomesense wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn#Death

Probably important to highlight that he was 39 when he died... I always admired his passion, but puzzled at his stubborn lack of safety precautions.

If I recall, the cause of death was "unatural" and years of mental health problems hint that he didn't die of radiation related diseases.

Re: Analysis of Soviet smoke detector plutonium

#35

Post by petee » Sun, Feb 12, 2017, 1:58 AM UTC

frozenport wrote: post #34

petee wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably important to highlight that he was 39 when he died... I always admired his passion, but puzzled at his stubborn lack of safety precautions.

If I recall, the cause of death was "unatural" and years of mental health problems hint that he didn't die of radiation related diseases.

Thats what I had recalled, until I found his mugshot when he was arrested stealing smoke detectors - his face was covered in lesions attributed to radiation. Pretty sad. If it wasn't the immediate cause, it likely wasn't unrelated either.