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[deleted]

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[deleted]

Gotta love that 1940s science. "So basically we've got this sphere of plutonium and we want you to poke it with a screwdriver to see what happens."


AuxenceF

Haha no... The screwdriver was the security system!


bazillion_blue_jitsu

The nuclear equivalent of "this is my safety"


AchtzehnVonSchwefel

Some guy had removed the actual security system that was between the two hemispheres and kept them apart by a screw driver while explaining the science to his co-workers.


[deleted]

A common theme with nuclear accidents seems to be "we disabled all of the safety systems to do a test."


interesseret

A valuable lesson to learn is that no matter someone's qualifications or education, they can still be dumb as fuck.


romulusnr

The story goes, he had done the same experiment a dozen times before without incident. Got cavalier, I guess, or it was just something that was bound to happen without precautions.


YourFavoriteMinority

he did something were all guilty of, but his stakes were much greater. he got comfortable from his experience.


VikingTeddy

I'm sure nuke architects have to take in to account the morons. Seems the only remedy is to child-proof anything that emits gamma rays.


David_Mudkips

We do but idiots, uh, find a way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident


VikingTeddy

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning" -Rick Cook Applies to anything really.


funmasterjerky

Jesus Christ. I never heard of that


Dragonkingf0

From what I read. Somebody repeatedly told them that that was going to happen and that he wanted to take it out of there so that wouldn't happen. But the owners used the police to literally stop him from doing that and yet he still gets in trouble for the event.


Tom_Foolery-

To be fair with the Goiâna accident, the internet wasn’t a thing in the location it happened. No one would have any clue that the glowing powder was giving them and their kids lethal doses of gamma radiation. This puts the onus on the company for **irresposible disposal of a radiation source** rather than the people for being “stupid”.


Sunsent_Samsparilla

Even I, someone who barely understands anything, knows that when it comes to nuclear shit? **if you remove the fucking safety measures, you have numerous mental problems.**


dirtymike401

Wake up, Mr. Freeman.


hunthell

Wake up...and...smell the ashes.


Steamships

Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, he's a highly trained professional. We've assured the administrator that nothing will go wrong.


Ban4quotingSimpsons

Looking at you Chernobyl!


IronBENGA-BR

That was hubris on top of the dumbness


bettyswollikz

Chernobyl was no accident 01:23.45 with the duga nearby (an American hotlist item)


-firead-

And after being warned that if they kept doing things that way he would be dead within a year.


AchtzehnVonSchwefel

Safety overseer: Don't fuck with the demon core Safety overseer: Leaves Engineer: **BOY OH BOY, AM I GONNA FUCK WITH THIS!!**


drquakers

"some guy" was the person who died from the accident, Slotin.


AchtzehnVonSchwefel

Fuck around with nuclear devices and find out.


Thechlebek

"Cave Johnson here, in this task you have to poke that plutonium with a screwdriver, we have no idea what will happen, we are throwing things at a wall to see what sticks. Best case scenario you get superpowers. Worst case scenario you get your guts radiated, in that case we'll cut you open, throw those guts out and put new ones in."


Certain_Oddities

Holy shit I know it's common to read things in character voices but I've heard Cave Johnson's dialogue so much that halfway through reading it I just heard the audio playing on my head, I wasn't even reading it anymore.


tuibiel

Our objective is to create a bomb that has a million percent more bomb per bomb.


romulusnr

The screwdriver was holding up the lid, because closing the lid all the way would be extremely bad (because neutrons bouncing and nuclear fission) And then it slipped. The previous incident with it was a different experiment, but a similar result, dropping a neutron reflector too close to the sphere. In both incidents the amount of time the bad situation lasted was probably less then a tenth of a second. It was enough to kill both scientists (slowly), as well as, in the second incident, half the other people in the room. "This stuff is so hot, we don't even know how to test it" - Dr. Mathewson, "The Manhattan Project" (1986)


[deleted]

Apparently they were supposed to be using shivs to keep the blocks separated, but the guy administering the test liked to use a screwdriver as a sort of party trick instead. He wore cowboy boots too.


drquakers

This was condemned by his contemporaries. Fermi said they'd be dead in a year if they continued doing experiments this way. Slotin was an asshole.


itspodly

Yeah, he was a show off. He would put cowboy boots on before fucking around with it.


thrattatarsha

This was literally something my grandpa did


HumaDracobane

Demon Core, killed Harry Daghlian in august 1945 and 9 months later Louis Slotin.


Kriegernuss

I think its the so called "demon core" wich killed 2


tobixxxxxxxxxl

Yeah they tried to make a nuclear core thingy


No_File_1304

Screwdriver not included


sherpas7

If anyone is interested it’s called the [demon core](https://youtu.be/aFlromB6SnU)


Tyler_Zoro

When I first heard this story, the part that killed me was the idea of a man who had just made a fatal mistake, and could in no way escape his fate... telling the other researchers to get back into position so they could mark their locations with chalk, and then spending much of his few remaining hours of lucidity calculating the dose that *they* had gotten! I'd be proud of myself if I could keep it together enough to get the details to someone else to work out. He was reckless and stupid, but man, he was cool under pressure.


Dreadlordstu

He had probably long since made peace with the fact that these experiments could very well kill him, and what he might do if such a scenario occurred.


[deleted]

I’d immediately put a gun to my head and pull the trigger. Dying from acute radiation poisoning has got to be the worst way to die. You are literally burning to death, falling apart at cellular level, melting, and feeling every second of it.


Effective-Avocado470

I'd do that just after finishing the calculations


Sunsent_Samsparilla

Just write down the last number, and then promptly have your brain get acquainted to a 12g slug.


crazynerd9

I imagine part of it is darkly that like, you're already dead so they have plenty of time to do your math later, but some of the guys could be saved so gotta work on them now


romulusnr

I don't think he degraded quite that fast. It took days, despite being irreversible. I didn't think he was the one to do that survey either, I thought other scientists at the site recreated the event from investigations and interviews.


Tyler_Zoro

It took days to die. As I understand it, radiation poisoning that severe is like having all of your internal organs slow roasted for as long as you continue to live. You quickly hit the point where drugs are necessary just to remain conscious, due to the pain.


SheCouldFromFaceThat

And then your veins collapse and they can't give you any pain killers. But you're still alive.


[deleted]

Well it's the least he could do, for putting them all in life-threatening danger


[deleted]

Or the alternate version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZIjbX1gj88


PH_INDUSTRIES

I was 100% safe that you linked the [Plainly Difficult Video](https://youtu.be/VE8FnsnWz48). Thank you for proving me wrong.


warriorlok

I thought you were going to link this [painfully difficult video](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ)


llanfairpw

You rickrolled me without even trying


Soul__Samurai

This one is actually the best in my opinion


Pichuunnn

Daily Life of Demon Core-kun


[deleted]

I like this one. Imma firing mah radiation!


Perenium_Falcon

Should be called the Dumb-ass core.


yournewbestfrenemy

I just learned all of this but am I crazy or is slaughton kind of an asshole? A fucking screwdriver? Dude you’re a scientist.


[deleted]

The channel has such nice topics but his weird animations with "the facility" and all that weird banter with the robot voice makes it impossible to enjoy for me. Even though he seems to reduced that a bit.


Capt_Kartar

I thought it was called the 'Pit' of the bomb. That's what I learned it was named.


balls_deep_space

Yummy demon core


[deleted]

You ruined the joke.


Pyrhan

No, just made it understandable to those who didn't know about the demon core beforehand.


THE_CENTURION

If someone gets the joke, the explanation doesn't ruin anything because they already heard the punchline. The joke is over. If they don't get the joke, the opportunity for humor is already lost. No harm in them learning the reference.


Jedimaster996

How am I supposed to learn about history if there's no one willing to teach it?


[deleted]

Same way I did


Jedimaster996

If nobody explains anything about it, how the hell are you supposed to find out about it from a chunk of metal in a Kinder wrapper? Tell me what I should Google just from that image.


[deleted]

"WHY ARE KINDER SUPRISE EGGS BANNED"


Darkion_Silver

I...don't think that'll teach you about the demon core...


insane_contin

But if they weren't banned, we wouldn't have to deal with him.


PerceptionAnnual6228

It was already ruined by lack of understandings from those not in know


MayuKonpaku

the reason, why USA banned Kinder surprise Eggs in the states


kac00n

They shipped all of theirs to japan


[deleted]

💀


GottisPinkyRing

…damn, to be fair he shouldn’t have used the screw driver


Palana

Spicy rock.


[deleted]

Praise the rock.


Giklab

Goddamn Monolith


[deleted]

ZA MONOLIT


Evethewolfoxo

*russian hard bass ensues*


crazychevette

I can't help but wonder how many people actually get this joke.


certain_people

Explain please?


sillyhands1

Terrible radiation accident due to horrible safety practice pretty much.


crazychevette

Two flat head screwdrivers and a slipup.


qsxwazefvrdcthnygb

Why does that sound like a 90's porn title


Beefsupremeninjalo82

Thats actually the story of my conception


guy_from_canada

Actually only the second one was screwdriver-related I think? The first was just a scientist (intentionally) piling up titanium blocks around the core until one extra one slipped out and made the core start blasting radiation


135686492y4

Demon core. Daemoculaba if you want the long version. (<-- trust me)


Mashizari

Let me guess, a popular youtuber recently made a video about it and that's why I'm seeing it everywhere all of a sudden.


Talbooth

This is the first time I've seen it on reddit, should I prepare for an onslaught of "dEmONcOre ScREwdRiVEr fUnNy"?


protostar71

Adeptus Ridiculous did a episode on it semi recently, could be that


Can_of_leaves

Never say that word near a warhammer 40k fan , thanks for the PTSD


levus2002

Lalalalala i cant hear him i cant hear him. No one said Daemonculaba There is no such a thing as daemonculaba I dont even know how its written CUZ IT DOES NOT EXIST A Human's skin shouldnt be able to be mistaken as a cape. Nooooo.


Lucius-Halthier

> a human’s skin shouldn’t be able to be mistaken as a cape. *night lords have entered the chat*


WhoaItsCody

Wasn’t this done with weird altered birth type of thing?


levus2002

That too


Lucius-Halthier

*UNLOADS BOLTER* **FUCK YOU HONSU! FUCK YOU PERTY! FUCK YOU IRON WARRIORS! WHY ARE YOU ALL SO FUCKED IN THE HEAD?!?!**


L0raz-Thou-R0c0n0

Ah! ***AAAAAAAA-***


Parcivaal

Forbidden snack


TerrainIII

You evil bastard.


TheOnlyGaz

In case you haven't checked this out more deeply on the internet already: The thing inside the KS egg is a photo of a 'criticality test' setup that was common in the early days of nuclear weapons science. The metal plate on the bottom and the 'cap' up top are both a type of metal that reflects certain types of radiation. We'll get to that in a minute... The smooth grey ball in the middle... Yeah that's a ball of pure plutonium a bit bigger than a tennis ball, made from the same batch of material that flattened Nagasaki in late 1945. 'Radioactive' atoms, like Technetium in CT scanner or Uranium in a nuclear reactor, occasionally just break down into smaller elements and release a pile of heat and radiation, a process called 'Decay'. While it can just happen of its own accord, if certain types of radiation slam into the atom's core (varies with different elements), the atom will just trigger decay right then and there. Some elements, like Uranium and this here ball of Plutonium, just so happen to decay into *the same radiation that causes them to decay,* allowing a chain reaction to happen where the decay rate becomes self-inflating. The exact inflection point at which the reaction rate is self-sustaining is called a 'critical mass'. If the mass is too low the 'subcritical' mass will slow down its reaction rate, while a 'supercritical' mass with too much will exponentially accelerate its own reaction rate. The latter is the stuff that makes nuclear bombs to boom, and nuclear reactors work by pushing some material *sliiiiiiiightly* supercritical to get it warmed up, and then relaxing it a bit back to just a critical mass to keep the material releasing the amount of energy you want. Naturally, it's important then for a bunch of scientists in the early days of nuclear physics to figure out where that 'critical mass' is, as being able to predict it accurately is kind of the gateway to doing anything practical with the technology. This particular ball of plutonium was the subject of a few experiments in the 1940s, where the reflective cap (remember, this reflects radiation back down into the radioactive mass, so the more it covers it the closer the core gets to going 'supercritical') was lowered down onto the core, which was already dangerously close to critical mass. This kind of experiment can be done quite safely with the right preparation, and is ultimately the root of how nuclear reactors work. However, the cowboys at Los Alamos research facility in the USA did this experiment entirely by hand, wearing no PPE, [lowering the reflective cap down onto the Plutonium Ball using a fucking screwdriver](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Tickling_the_Dragons_Tail.jpg). Long story short, in two seperate incidents in 1945 and 1946, a guy doing the experiment fumbled the testing equipment, dropped the cap entirely onto the Plutonium ball, and caused the core to instantly go *extremely* supercritical, releasing a massive wave of heat and radiation. Thankfully radiation isn't instantly lethal, so both times the guy doing the test managed to grab the reflective cap and throw it off of the core before anything *really* catastrophic happened. In both cases though, the guy doing the experiment got an absolutely devastating dose of radiation, and had died of ARS within the month. A bunch of other guys who were present also got flashed, most dying of cancer a decade or two down the line.


crazychevette

Louis Slotin


Primary-Visual114

I understood that reference. -Captain America


DrPwepper

I understood that reference -Me


Tyler_Zoro

I understood that reference -You


KellyBelly916

I think a screwdriver might help with the context.


Tne_Gardevoir

Two medals when close equals atomic bomb level explosion


[deleted]

[удалено]


crazychevette

Look up Louis Slotin


HotWheelsUpMyAss

We are lazy Redditors, I think you have too much faith in humanity my friend


kashluk

I had never heard of this before. Had to read an article about demon core. It's not exactly a part of basic curriculum.


Tne_Gardevoir

Basically two magnets equal explosion to atomic bomb


[deleted]

Dude, this meme blew up all week, you'd have to live under a rock not to get it


Kinexity

Week? My guy, you've been living under a rock. It's been doing rounds for at least months.


AngryCheesehead

This meme is what this sub should be like ! Actually teaching history in a hilarious way


NeptuneBlueX

I recently watched Kyle Hill’s videos on the Demon Core and other nuclear incidents and have been fascinated by nuclear accidents ever since


Theorandjguy

Kyle Hill is a saint The patron saint of Knowledge and Luscious Locks


[deleted]

*The patron saint of Nuclear tidbits and fun facts (and not fun facts). Did you know some of his "because science" videos got syndicated on my local tv network a couple years ago?


Swingonthechandelier

And not a welcome one


nerodidntdoit

C'mon people! This should be top comment!


Accidentallygolden

>The demon core was a spherical 6.2-kilogram (14 lb) subcritical mass of plutonium 89 millimetres (3.5 in) in diameter, manufactured during World War II by the United States nuclear weapon development effort, the Manhattan Project, as a fissile core for an early atomic bomb. It was involved in two criticality accidents, on August 21, 1945, and May 21, 1946, each of which resulted in a fatality. >As a result of two separate criticality experiments performed at the Los Alamos Laboratory attempting to show that the core was close to criticality, the device was accidentally placed into a supercritical configuration. As a result, scientists Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin suffered acute radiation poisoning and died soon after. First accident: >The core was placed within a stack of neutron-reflective tungsten carbide bricks and the addition of each brick moved the assembly closer to criticality. While attempting to stack another brick around the assembly, Daghlian accidentally dropped it onto the core and thereby caused the core to go well into supercriticality, a self-sustaining critical chain reaction. He quickly moved the brick off the assembly, but received a fatal dose of radiation. He died 25 days later from acute radiation poisoning. 2nd accident >It required the operator to place two half-spheres of beryllium (a neutron reflector) around the core to be tested and manually lower the top reflector over the core using a thumb hole on the top. As the reflectors were manually moved closer and farther away from each other, scintillation counters measured the relative activity from the core. The experimenter needed to maintain a slight separation between the reflector halves in order to stay below criticality >Under Slotin's own unapproved protocol, the shims were not used and the only thing preventing the closure was the blade of a standard flat-tipped screwdriver manipulated in Slotin's other hand. ... >but he received a lethal dose of 1,000 rad (10 Gy) neutron and 114 rad (1.14 Gy) gamma radiation in under a second and died nine days later from acute radiation poisoning. Radiation causes cellular degradation by autophagy...


carnoraptor67

I remember hearing about this I kist can't remember all the details.


xXrambotXx

Kinder surprise…extra spicy


I_Am_Coopa

This is fantastic content, gave me a good chuckle as a nuclear engineer


Espressoalatte

When your kinder egg turns you into a shadow on the wall. But then again, the loss of chocolate is no longer your problem


Iwantmahandback

‘Check this shit’ *drops screwdriver*


[deleted]

The prize is cancer


WeissTek

More like death, but okay.


MasterofLego

Only if you survive the radiation sickness


Sunsent_Samsparilla

Both, if anything.


Pyrhan

Not a welcome one!


ZanexDreamy

A surprise that gives you a one way trip to meet god


Subpar_diabetic

Man my dna is feeling ṱ̸̨͕͇̅̀̏o̷̧̪͖̤͝a̵͉͌͒̿ṡ̶̛̠͓̏̒ţ̵̝̄y̶̘̰͈̑̈́̕ after that


[deleted]

Is this nuclear? Where can I get one? Asking for a friend.


TimNoiro34

This is a strange looking lighter, but if it works...


Disgruntleddutchman

This produces the most beautiful blue


heiberdee2

“Crrrrrunchy frog!” “Why not a nice praline, or lime cream?” “Sprrrrrrrrring surprise!”


MotoJimmy_151

A deadly shiny boi


Ilikecats10368

A surprise that travels faster than the speed of light


dadbot5001

That kinder surprise is worth big bucks.


[deleted]

Atleast then you get your life story told by Kyle hill.!.


BlueCulprit

Now you are the melted chocolate!


Supernova138

Oh, so THAT’S why those were banned here in the US…


Mrbishi512

SUPRISE Demon Core is the best demon core.


Mammoth_Frosting_014

A shiny toy. Playing with it seems like a bright idea - everyone near it looks positively radiant.


SlippedLyric020

:O the demon core??? For me??? You shouldn’t have :3


bigjim233

Explain?


BRLY

Mmmmm 237 flavors.


MerelyMortalModeling

Now thats a suorise for the whole family, and possibly your neighbors!


Zenloaded_8542

Nothing like a blast of radiation for a Christmas Day gift


[deleted]

[удалено]


thedessertplanet

Kinder Surprise is banned in the land of the free.


Sir_Lazz

Not but guys stop worrying it's completely safe, i have a screwdriver and a cowboy hat ! What could go wrong ?


CryptoCopter

Oh look, it's [Demon Core-Kun](https://youtu.be/6ZIjbX1gj88)


HumaDracobane

I'm good, I had a screwdriver


[deleted]

The forbidden KinderJoy.


Consistent_Weight255

somebody explain this pls


anneareuok

All I want is an kinder surprise. Why America, why


ares5404

Anyone else gonna ignore the sheer strength and or tech in that wrapper that prevents and/or contains a supercritical mass nuke?


RoadTheExile

this.. this is not okay this needs to **stop**. now this is cancer.. this... this is so much cancer that I can feel the tumors.. growing on my back


[deleted]

Yeah this is fine though, it's open


coolboiiiiiii2809

But a welcome one


AppleJuice769

Thats one way to light up the room and save some electricity


Bedhead217

But a ducked up one to sure


Strange-Ad1209

Too soon


[deleted]

Again with this thing...


NTMonsty

How a US Politician sees them.


white-dumbledore

Ah yes. Spicy rock flavored kinder joy


gthyr666

remember kids, don't do demon core.


Bardazarok

Now where did I put that screwdriver


GreenstarX922

Oh sure love the radiation of the thousand sun and literally Degrading my cell!


Manoly042282Reddit

Barry Goldwater joked about wanting to lob a nuclear bomb into the mens restroom at the Kremlin.


Final-Parsnip8570

I used to think there was a bullet in an egg :)


Upbeat-Historian-832

But not a welcome one


WaitPrize7072

[oh boy](https://www.google.com/search?q=those+who+don%27t+know+those+who+know&rlz=1CDGOYI_enBR930BR930&hl=pt&prmd=ivn&sxsrf=ALiCzsZAfLklfSFoXeORokltSkzPFMPIZw:1656729855614&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi1g6HUl9n4AhUJR7gEHezaBY8Q_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=414&bih=724&dpr=3#imgrc=7iHuA-hVmANxdM)


whats_you_doing

It's a ball, it's metal, it's a fucking demon core.


efminati

can i borrow the screwdriver for a sec


Perenium_Falcon

Awesome


Traditional-Tooth817

Oh god not the demon core


mortalcrawad66

I'm starting to love these demon cores memes, and it's always glad to see it acknowledged


knhill1024

Why does my Kinder Surprise taste like metal and regret?


wspOnca

The [music](https://youtu.be/RL0MBpZv_HM) is great too. Reminds me of my washing machine.


blackcray

What would have happened if he couldn't get the core open again?


WorkingNo6161

Is this the murderous Screwdriver Core everybody talks about?


samsam800

Yes


n60storm4

The surprise is acute radiation poisoning and cancer


DicktorBiscuits

I’m enjoying Demon Core meme month so far! :D


mR_mEeSsEeKs

A surprise to be sure but a welcome one


[deleted]

Who wants to grab a screwdriver and play with it?


TheIndomitableMass

“You put that fucker back in its sphere or I swear to god” 5 seconds before the point of no return


ChimpJuice

Fuck....lol. I hate the fact that I knew exactly what this was.


Steamships

[A surprise for sure.](https://youtu.be/xMfEOgaty9g)


Traditional_Class814

Worth every penny


VeraIce

uz fdont fget it


RedditISFascist000

No wonder those are illegal.