Teenage physics wonder turns to nuclear safety

(CBS News) - Seventeen-year-old Taylor Wilson is like most high school boys. He can only think about one thing. But, the one thing that he's obsessed about isn't what you think it is: It's radioactive rocks.

"When I hold something that's radioactive, it's kind of an indescribable feeling. It's kind of like when I'm with my girlfriend," he told CBS News.

It may sound scary for a teenager to be handling radiation, but the levels are safe. There's never been any reason for concern, until he decided to build his own reactor. CBS news correspondent Steve Hartman visited him at the site -- Taylor's own home.

The teenager explained that he was trying to produce nuclear fission -- because he thought he could. "There's nothing that's impossible to me. You can ask my parents," he said.

Taylor's dad, a Coca-Cola bottler, and his mom, a yoga instructor, said their son started reading about nuclear physics in fifth grade. A year later, he gave an hour-long science fair presentation on the subject. It soared over everyone's head.

"I have no clue what he was talking about," Ken Wilson, Taylor's father, admitted.

Still, they let him try to build a nuclear reactor in their garage.

"It sounds like we're not good parents," Ken said. "But, he's pretty much convinced us he knows what he's doing."

Taylor eventually convinced the University of Nevada, Reno physics department that he knew what he was doing as well. They let Taylor move his project into their basement. At the age of 14, Wilson became the youngest person on earth to create fusion. He unlocked the secrets that drive the sun before he could drive.

Taylor is now a senior at the Davidson Academy for Profoundly Gifted Students three years later. He could go to any college he wants, but given the fact that he taught a graduate level nuclear physics class last semester, it might be a moot point.

Instead, he's considering pursuing his next goal of keeping the world safe. Taylor recently invented a new way to scan shipping containers for nuclear material. His way could prove to be much more sensitive and far less expensive than the technology currently in use.

"Because it's incredibly cheap, it can be deployed all over the U.S. and all over the world, creating first, second and third lines of defense all over," he explained.

That's in addition to the cancer cure he's working on. And God knows what else.

"I have too many ideas for a lifetime," he said.

[margroks]

ANyone experimenting with radioactives in their basement should be interviewed by the government authorities. How does this qualify as working on "safety?"

[beeresearch]

Before making a statement like this you should check out the facts. Taylor's apparatus is capable of accelerating ions to temperatures well above the temperature in the core of the sun. Nuclear fusion of deuterium is proven by the neutron that the reaction emits. The patent for the reactor design that taylor is using expired several decades ago.

Steven

[fusor]

Many here obviously do not understand what fusion is, How it is defined or how very easily it can be done compared to other forms of energetic nuclear reactions.

Taylor has been part of a large group of amateur fusioneers doing fusion over the internet website devoted to amateur fusion. There are perhaps 45 or more registered fusioneers who have successfully done fusion in there IEC reactors since 1999. Hundreds of others have or are currently trying to make their own small reactors.

Taylor is about the 25th person to do fusion and about the 8th, high school teenager! Taylor is certainly special from any standpoint, but 7 others preceeded him from 14 to 18 years of age.

As noted, genuine "hot" fusion is relatively easy to do. However, net, continuous energy producing fusion is impossible to do at this point whether by the billions spent by governments or the hundreds spent by amateurs.

The fusion reaction that all amateurs do consumes about 10 trillion times more energy from the wall outlet than is produced by the fusion process in their reactors. Hardly a green endeavor.

There is a sick phrase about fusion that in playful moments even advanced fusion engineers and physicists use. "Fusion is the energy of the future, and it always will be.

Richard

[JeradP]

Way to make Nevada Proud. Go Wolfpack!!!!!!

[LordSnooty]

I can't think of a nicer way to start my day than reading about this lad. It's marvellous to see this sort of engagement by youth. I wish him all success. It is a pity we can't produce more children like him, because there certainly is a need in society for more bright and curious individuals. We are right to celebrate kids like him. Maybe we can figure out some covert eugenics solution :)

[Olsonic]

I 100% agree. You should read the story in Popular Science--it's unreal.

[Freepress1111]

If this kid really is smart, then he'll recognize that the model of the nuclear atom promoted by modern science is a physical impossibility, plausible only if you accept the concept of some kind of unknown 'nuclear force' that keeps the positively charged protons in the nucleus from flying apart and another unexplained invention of electron 'shells' which somehow keep the negatively charged electrons from being drawn into the positive nucleus. Contrary to popular theory, physical laws do apply at the quantum level. The kid needs to investigate Dewey B. Larson. All physical objects are indeed motions or combinations of motions. There is nothing in the universe that is not in motion. The main equation that defines the physical universe is not Einstein's e=mc2, but rather Larson's M=S/T, or Motion=Space/Time.

[Olsonic]

lol.

[caljack430]

something tells me that it is this article that is lacking in thought and proper articulation. i'm willing to bet that if he has already created nuclear fusion... he's way ahead of your thought process.

[physicsteach]

I was confused by the article. The writer seems to start talking about fission and later switches to fusion like it's a synonym. They're two entirely different processes. Fission seems more likely to be within the reach of a 14 year-old. Fusion...not so much.

[KevinK32]

Any one can do fusion if they have an IEC and deuterium gas. Biggest part I would think is building the high vacuum system. Depending on its design it can be pretty expensive. Plenty of online content for one with a technical capabilities to a high voltage source. However, I bet you can get your hands on a used/broken HV supply.

Though I am not trying to take nothing away from Taylor or Thiago. It requires a lot of know how especially if you do without getting injured.

How many adults let alone teenagers would you trust to operate a 40 kV supply?

[Dreadnut]

What's this? Bill and Ted's Most Excellent kitchen sink experiment? We should get teen-aged whiz kids to solve all our problems.

[j_mcdonald-2009]

The kid did NOT create fusion.

The evidence for this is that there is not a 300-ft deep smoking hole in the ground where he worked.

[Olsonic]

yeah he did. you should read the Popular Science article on him.

Fusion isn't hard to do, it just isn't energy efficient.

[KevinK32]

@djconklin: As ToolMangler has already has stated... a H-Bomb crates fusion.

I suggest everyone read up on inertial electrostatic confinement. It basically uses strong electric fields to create a hot plasmas. If you use a deuterium gas, you can get a nuclear fusion. I seen one of these running in someone's lab. A few of you should also remember Thiago Olson who did the same thing in his parents basement several years before.

However, IECs take a lot more energy to create the fusion than energy the fusion makes, so it will not be good for electrics production. They actually make really good neutron sources for industrial uses.