Jackson Oswalt broke the record as the youngest physicist to successfully build a nuclear fusion reactor. (Photo: Guinness World Record / IFL Science)
JACKSON Oswalt became the youngest physicist to build a nuclear fusion reactor . He was also listed in the Guinness World Record as the youngest person at the age of 12 to successfully build a home-scale nuclear fusion reactor.
Jackson managed to fuse two deuterium atoms into a small table fuse. The reactor is a device that utilizes an electric field to heat the ions to extreme temperatures capable of facilitating nuclear fusion.
The enormous energy draw and the unnatural temperature made Jackson's reactor an impressive feat. In experiments at his home in Memphis, Tenessee, United States, Jackson used his reactor to combine with the deuterium atom, a stable isotope of hydrogen, to create nuclear fusion.
"I've been able to use electricity to accelerate two deuterium atoms together so that they melt into helium 3 atoms, which also release neutrons which can be used to heat water and start a steam engine, eventually generating electricity," explains Jackson in a Guinness World Records video. , as quoted from IFL Science , Sunday (11/10/2020).
"It is a very dangerous process, especially because of the high electricity used in the reactor. Certain precautions need to be taken, such as wearing gloves to protect me," said Jackson, now 15.
He said that the reactor cannot be taken lightly, because the temperature inside can reach up to 100 million degrees Kelvin.
Reactors are becoming commonplace as an accessible mode of entry to nuclear fusion by hobbyists. But it's not only people like Jackson who use it, it can also be applied commercially.
Several medical institutions use them to produce medical isotopes that have a variety of uses in diagnosis and testing.
Hantoro, Journalist