Data Graham posted:

That drat radiation!

KillHour posted:

Carbon dioxide posted:

When has molecular strain ever stopped chemists before?

Carbon dioxide posted:

When has molecular strain ever stopped chemists before?

Rigged Death Trap posted:

When it killed them.

Hexyflexy posted:

That's what threw me a few posts up when I thought the only nice configuration was a sheet. Turns out the only nice configuration is a sheet.

Hijo Del Helmsley posted:

There's always more grad students

Hijo Del Helmsley posted:

Isn't the longest compound name a muscle protein?

Skinny King Pimp posted:

the biggest exon among them.

rndmnmbr posted:

Klapötke is quite possibly incapable of creating compounds that don't spontaneously detonate.

Phanatic posted:

Feh, piddling little Co-60 source.

Read about a completely unshielded 10-megawatt research reactor in a forest near Atlanta:

http://www.examiner.com/article/a-naked-nuclear-reactor-georgia-part-i

GWBBQ posted:

How about a facility that, unlike Chernobyl, intentionally irradiated the hell out of its surroundings to simulate nuclear war? A good radiation exposure story tends to be a reliable way to unnerve people, so it fits in perfectly for this thread. I've been collecting sources with the intention of writing a full article on Wikipedia, so I'll share it here.

The Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory was a cold war era facility that

quote:

was the site of Lockheed's lab for investigating the feasibility of nuclear aircraft. The site was used for irradiating military equipment, as well as the forest to determine the effect of nuclear war, and its effects on wildlife. The area was closed in 1971 and acquired by the city of Atlanta for a second airport, but its topography was determined to be ill-suited for an airport. Documents explaining what went on at the site remain highly classified, and the entrance to the underground portion of the facility has been buried. The only objects left above ground were the concrete foundations on which the buildings and reactors were placed.

There are a few inaccuracies there, but I'll get to those in a moment.

The heart of the GNAL was a 10MW unshielded reactor that was normally stored submerged in a cooling pond, but was hoisted up into the air to irradiate materials during experiments. Before construction, the intent had been to irradiate aircraft systems to see how well they held up to radiation with the end-goal of developing a nuclear-powered bomber that could remain in flight for weeks to months at a time. By the time the facility was finished, this had been all but dismissed as ridiculously impractical and the facility took on a new purpose: to study the effects of radiation levels that would be present in the aftermath of nuclear war.

A typical test would consist of several steps: The material to be irradiated would be brought into the reactor building on rail cars. Next, everyone on site inside of the "lethal fence," the area in which humans could receive fatal doses of radiation (look for the circle in the woods on this map) would get into the underground safety bunkers (more on these later.) Once the site was clear, the reactor would be brought up to its operating power of 10 megawatts and hoisted out of the pit into the air for the duration of the test, then lowered back into the pit. Once the all-clear was sounded, the rail cars would be moved to an outdoor cool-down area (one of the fenced-off areas still off-limits to this day because of contamination) where they would sit for days or weeks until they were safe to bring into the hot cell (more on this later) and be manipulated, repaired, etc. by robotic tools because they were still too radioactive for people to get near them.

Sometimes, early on, they tested aircraft parts. Other times, they tested various materials, including pine wood that was dubbed "Lockwood" (Lockheed was running the site) which became quite hard and durable, and was used in various applications including flooring at the IAEA headquarters. There were also "biological materials" tested, which is a nice way of saying they exposed live animals and the surrounding forest. Doses of radiation were measured in rads; Wikipedia sources say that a whole body dose of 400 rads will kill the average person, and off the top of my head I think 1000 will kill most animals. Several ten hour tests were conducted, with rodents and birds exposed to a mean whole-body dose of 6000-8000 rads and a peak measured dose of nearly 30,000. Nearby trees lost all of their foliage within a week of the first test.

Then came the big one, a test to simulate the aftermath of a nuclear attack. The reactor was raised and left in the elevated position for a full three weeks. Trees 1000 feet from the reactor absorbed as much as 100,000 rads. Levels at the lethal fence perimeter 3000 feet away were between 500 and 1000 rads, enough to kill a person.

The site was shut down in spring of 1971 and cleanup took just over a year. Most buildings were razed and only the concrete pads left behind, but there are a few still standing. The hot cell and several surrounding structures are still dangerously radioactive due to high levels of cobalt-60 and cesium-137 and won't be safe for demolition for another 30-50 years. The pump house building that supplied cooling water for the reactor is still standing, just a small concrete shack. Some explorers with a very poor sense of self-preservation have cut the double fence and entered the Hot Cell building with a Geiger counter confirming the official story that it's not safe to be there. Trees inside the hot cell area still show signs of radiation damage and mutations. The underground bunkers were gutted but left intact and the entrances buried. Every few years, the exploration bug bites someone and they dig it out. The lower levels are flooded, but there's apparently plenty to see.

Carbon dioxide posted:

I like to think the first two syllables of his name are an onomatopoeia for a big explosion.

Collateral Damage posted:

Both of which are stolen from the french capot.

Ultimate Mango posted:

The French have all the good words for giving up.

Zopotantor posted:

I have to grin whenever I see that name. It is strangely appropriate for a mad scientist.
It doesn't actually mean anything in German, it just sounds like it belongs to somebody with thick glasses, unkempt hair and a slightly badly singed lab coat.

Zopotantor posted:

It doesn't actually mean anything in German, it just sounds like it belongs to somebody with thick glasses, unkempt hair and a slightly badly singed lab coat.

Collateral Damage posted:

What's the name of that channel of chemistry videos on youtube? Older guy, looks like the stereotypical mad scientist.

Collateral Damage posted:

What's the name of that channel of chemistry videos on youtube? Older guy, looks like the stereotypical mad scientist.

Kinetica posted:

You know, I would be quite happy and interested in watching any of the hexanitro or other nitrogen hell compounds be made and tested. -Via webcam on Mars.

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

Hard to open the conference room door when you're missing your arms.

quote:

Rules would be as follows:
1. The device must fit through a 4" hole cut into a piece of plywood.
2. It may produce thrust by any conceivable means but it may not use
nuclear or fluorine based fuels because of safety risks.

Judging categories:
1. Max thrust.
2. Thrust/weight ratio.
3. fuel efficiency based on mass of propellant consumed.
4. Endurance at some specified thrust impulse.

TasogareNoKagi posted:

Someone at my local makerspace thinks we should have a rocket engine competition.


I replied with a link to Ignition! and a quick list of things legal under his rules:

• Dimethylmercury
  
• Triethylborane
  
• Hydrazine
  
• Nitrogen Tetraoxide/Nitric Acid
  

Hijo Del Helmsley posted:

If you manage to power a rocket with Dimethylmercury, I'll be genuinely impressed.

And obviously terrified.

ol qwerty bastard posted:

Are there restrictions on running an extension cord to the rocket? If not, build an ion engine.

Geirskogul posted:

Discussed in this thread (?), the Army tried to.

Hijo Del Helmsley posted:

If you manage to power a rocket with Dimethylmercury, I'll be genuinely impressed.

And obviously terrified.

Geirskogul posted:

Discussed in this thread (?), the Army tried to.

ToxicFrog posted:

Not quite; the original request was for dimethylmercury, but they ended up doing it with elemental mercury instead.

TheHomerTax posted:

Oh, well, ok, that makes it so much better.