Building a nuclear reactor out of garbage, and why experimentation should be central to learning
When I was in high school, I talked my dad into letting me set up a laboratory in the basement. It wasn’t much at first, just a table and some shelves, but it grew quickly into a reasonable work space filled with all manner of equipment. When I first started out, I was focused on chemistry and tried my best to replicate various reactions by following scientific papers or youtube videos. To get the chemicals needed for the reactions I would either order them online (you’d be amazed what people will sell you) or I’d make them myself starting from commercially available products. I quickly started expanding my horizons to the world of physics, and quickly became fascinated with high voltage devices.
I managed to get some old high voltage neon sign transformers from the electrician who lived down the street and used them to make myself a little Jacobs ladder and even a really bad Tesla coil. As I was researching how to build a better Tesla coil, I stumbled onto a device called a fusor, the world’s first nuclear fusion reactor.
As soon as I heard about these relatively simple devices, I was hooked. The devices are in no way efficient enough to be a power source but are more an exercise to help understand the different systems that make them work. I knew I needed to build one, though I didn’t realize at the time how difficult it would be. Luckily there’s a whole community of people who build these things and they’ve got a forum where you can learn everything you would ever want to know about these devices. Since I couldn’t afford nice parts, I used what I had around lying around my lab to build my first attempt. I used the high voltage transformer out of a microwave as my power source, some copper wire as the electrodes, a mason jar as my vacuum chamber and the pump out of an old fridge as my vacuum pump and stuffed it all into a wooden box that used to be a record player. I didn’t have a way to easily control the power, so I used a series of light bulbs and light switches to vary the voltage. Needless to say, all this didn’t do much at first. It took several months of tinkering with it and learning all the things I was doing wrong and constantly rebuilding it before I finally had any success. The result, was glorious.
This success was muted though since, that’s not what it’s supposed to look like when it’s running. The blue glow you see is plasma and it’s formed as electrons jump from one electrode to the other and smash into the tiny amount of gas left in the chamber. The problem was using the weak pump. There was too much air left in the chamber, so only a tiny amount of plasma would form. It took more work and eventually buying a proper vacuum pump before I got it fully working. I ended up having to put in a high voltage line in my house just to be able to run the pump. But once everything was set up and I finished all my checks, I switched it on and jumped for joy at what I saw.
Now to burst a very important bubble. You’re probably wondering where the nuclear part comes in. The device above was never intended to produce actual fusion. I would need to increase the voltage and a few other parameters for that. It was meant as a learning experience so I could then start over and build a proper reactor out of something more robust than a mason jar. I spent a year and a bit collecting old stainless steel vacuum parts from labs that were retiring them. I got all the radiation detection equipment needed to safely go to fusion levels of power. I was building shielding to protect myself from the radiation and was just left finding a power supply that was strong enough. But right as I was approaching the end, my experiment was cut short due to safety concerns by my dad and the fact that it was consuming all of my thoughts. I’m glad he did honestly. I was getting too sucked in and didn’t have the resources or the space to pursue this properly. So I took it all as a learning opportunity and kept moving. And the skills I learned in the process have proven invaluable time and time again. More than the theory, it was the tips and tricks I only could have learned through troubleshooting that have served me the most.
As the years past, I started new experiments, putting my newly acquired skills to the test. I’ve built more machines that use plasma, like a sputter gun used to coat objects in thin layers of special material. I’ve build machines for growing nanotubes, and ones for working with molten sodium hydroxide. All machines that would normally cost thousands to buy.
It may come as a surprise that amongst all of this, I wasn’t really a fan of school. Early on I realized I was learning and remembering far more from doing the experiments myself, then I was just hearing about them. I hated the mindless absorption and regurgitation of information. I was always frustrated that even when we did get to do experiments, they were all laid out for us. We never really had to think and solve a problem, making it the same regurgitation as everything else. So for most of my academic career, I’ve constantly held the belief that learning by doing and solving problems is the ideal method for learning. Teachers shouldn’t be there to lecture you, they should be there to help you when you get stuck, and to make sure you can use the tools safely.
It wasn’t until this past summer that I found a school called Exosphere academy that was just such a place. In the short span of two months I watched people who had no background in science,go from nothing to doing PhD level research. From bioplastics, to wound trauma foam, to plastic eating fungi, there was a little bit of everything. Yet there were basically no lectures. People were simply given the tools, and allowed to figure it out for themselves, with the guidance of a teacher to keep them safe and on task. If nothing else, it was proof that the learn by doing methodology works, and I hope that one day it will become a more prominent methodology in more schools.
If you’re interested in my work you can find a gallery of my plasma photos HERE. You can find videos of some of my experiments on my youtube channel HERE and photos of the day to day goings on in the lab HERE. I ended up joining Exosphere academy as a mentor and a researcher and will be down in Brazil for the next program in January. If you’re interested in hearing more, head to the Exosphere reddit for more information, or by clicking HERE