Demon Core - The True Story
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 พ.ย. 2020
- In 1946, a P-239 plutonium core scheduled for detonation-by-nuclear-bomb was harmlessly melted down and reintegrated into the United States’ nuclear stockpile. That was the end of a 14-pound metallic sphere that had killed two scientists not 11 months before. This is the true story of the Demon Core.
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*Thanks for watching, nerds!* Let me know what you think of the new format.
More story time please
Absolutely incredible work, and I can't think of a better way to drive home the terrible danger nuclear weapons pose to everyone. Superb work, sir.
What would have happened to the demon core if it was completely covered for one week. Would it even last that long?
I love the new format, you should do more videos like this that cause real fear.
Very good. Feels like an actual documentary
Nuclear edging has got to be one of the most hardcore kinks I have ever heard of
NOOOO NUCLEAR EDGING
top comment
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought of this
I'm not even sure I know what that means and pretty sure I don't want to but it made me laugh...wtf
@@russhamilton3800 basically
“baby I’m about to go critical”
“not yet. You go critical when I say so”
*bright blue flash*
"Did we all just die?"
"Yep"
Dam
Cherenkov radiation always wins.
Give this to the artificer of the party in dnd see what happens
He shoulda used a Philips screwdriver
Pablo why are we dead?
"Hi, my name is Louis Slotin and this is Jackass!"
*Pokes around a nuclear core with a screwdriver*
Just to make clear, this is utterly terrifying.
But with the incredibly irresponsible manner in which he conducted the experiments he pretty much lost my empathy.
He didn't just play around with his life but with the lives of all his colleagues.
@@richbrooke3008 The entire setup of his experiment was absolutely dumb and reckless. I mean, he never thought about what would happen if he accidentally let the screwdriver slip out of his hand. It's the movie Jackass in real life...
You made me BURST out laughing
Knoxvilles gonna sue you
i just dont get what he hoped for and why he did what did.. is the explanation really as simple as "adrenaline junkie"?
the whole thing is just so wild man..
These incidents perfectly illustrate the difference between intelligence and wisdom. I'm certain these men were among the smartest people in the country, but if you told the average person what they were doing in that lab, that person would run for his car and floor it......
What? You no want to tickle the tail of the sleeping dragon?
Modern science is really good at answering true/false questions, but the scientific method alone cannot answer questions of ethics and spirituality, nor can it determine the purpose of the information it creates... There is certainly a place for this kind of knowledge seeking, but this is what happens when we ignore other forms of knowledge, like the value of human life...
@@nunyabusiness164nope, "spirituality" is not a thing, it's a term used by people that wants to make others believe that believing in magic and ghosts is actually logical, and not f*cking stupid.
And the scientific method is not related to ethics, unless it's about something that is objectively harmful to everyone involved.
(Nukes, white phosphorus, artificially castrating populations, etc)
@@nunyabusiness164
This is pure nonsense. It is entirely possible, indeed more effective than intuition, to form a full understanding of empathy based exclusively on an understanding of causes, effects, and consequences, and the application of that analysis to the self.
I don’t want to be stolen from. Therefore, I should foster an environment where I will not be stolen from. Therefore I should use my knowledge and skills to make the environment around me, whether physical or social, to be such that no one around me feels the need to steal. Therefore, I should help them and not harm them. Therefore, I should ask them how I can help them, and follow through on those requests so long as I am capable and it does not harm me or anyone else.
If-then relationships to pieces of information tell us everything we need to know, and the application of that knowledge gets us everything we need to have.
Einstein became very depressed after he helped to develop this technology. He knew it was just a weapon of destruction to the world and he helped create it. His intelligence was not rooted in violence or anything like that, but rather to better the world around him.
The whole experiment sounds like "How much can I pull the trigger of this gun without killing myself"
Yeah, that's more or less exactly what it was. Except, it wasn't a gun.. it was a detonator for a nuclear bomb.
So just like those idiots that stick guns down their pants on facebook.
@@eno2870 Yes, we got that lol you didn't have to explain it
"Sir, have you considered aiming the gun away from your own face?"
Worse is that (if I understand it right) if they hadn't pulled it away and thus stifled the chain reaction in time after the 'oopsies', it could have caused a thermonuclear explosion. AKA, it would have literally nuked their entire facility with the same destruction that we wrought on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was not just the people in the room that were put at risk. These people put so many more lives at risk in the process. Hopefully they at least had the common sense to make this facility a safe distance away from anywhere that innocent bystanders live.
There's accidents.
Then there's fucking around and finding out.
Otherwise known as ‘mythbusters style science.’
@@ghazghkullthraka9714 well this one got busted
well fucking around are necessary for **SCIENCE**
rip to those who have died tho
That's how my son was born.
Yeah, it seems completely stupid to LOWER the metal half-sphere, as gravity is constantly working to kill you. Why not flip the experiment upside down so you're raising the half-sphere. That way the worst that can happen is it falls to the ground, maybe on your foot.
Id say the screwdriver method wasnt tickling the dragons tail, that was sitting in its snoring mouth and yelling "Pinochiooo" down its throat.
Definitely. Foolish.
Its snoring though, he wouldn't hear you.
@@joeyferguson840 I'm sitting in his mouth and haven't died yet. Anything is possible.
@@Jfreek5050 good point
Tickling the dragons balls more like
I also feel bad for the nurse who cared for both Daghlian and Slotin. When Slotin came in, I can only imagine the despair that nurse must have felt when hearing that the exact same thing that killed Daghlian had happened again. Realizing there was nothing that could be done to save Slotin and that he was going to die a horrendous death. Of course, nothing can compare to the suffering of fatal radiation poisoning, but something has to be said for the anguish of helplessly witnessing someone slowly succumb to it.
Admittedly, the passing away of these two man would be a very tragic way to get to know them. I suspect if we see "blue aurora" we may be witnessing an extended blue flash 5:38 which would result in massive amounts of radiation deaths for that part of the world. I have even wondered if our "blue sky' is actually a blue aurora like we see on Jupiter.
The average nurse, especially in a high profile hospital, will deal with shit like this all the time
@@afromoth8354 I suspect there is going to be a massive Blue Wave CME over Asia and Russia. Something very different we have not seen in nearly 70,000 years. It will be so prominent massive levels of population will be lost, nearly Extinction Event Levels. When the masses start coming looking for help here in India, Australia, Africa and The Americas, we will have to show them Mercy and let them in.
this reminds me of the horrific scenes from the tv series chernobyl as the first responders basically slowly melted in their hospital beds into mush.
it's incredible to me that so many people, after witnessing these ghastly outcomes, still decided these weapons are worth making. instead of figuring out how to conduct diplomacy... let's instead pour resources into devastating weapons that will maul and mangle. why? what's the point of these brains if we can't use them to avoid terrible suffering?
@@afromoth8354 deal with severe radiation poisoning? you can probably count on one hand how many nurses have dealt with that XD
These guys were the original practitioners of “fuck around and find out”.
Lol fr.
😂😂😂😂😂
U're basically describing the scientific method. Lol, true
😆😅😆😂
Basically how experimental data is collected ☠️🤣
"So if that screw driver slips... we all die?"
"Yes."
"Ok, let's do it."
Other Scientist: How about Camera + Lead Wall + string and pulley?
Slotin: Haven't you ever wanted to poke a nuke with a screwdriver?
@@BobMcBobJr string and pulley wouldnt have worked the hole point which was for nuclear bombs is how close you can get it before it exploded. With a pulley system measurements will be off and if the string snaps well you are fucked anyway. So if you are gonna be fucked either way why not do it the most accurate way. What I dont get is why they were all exposed only one guy maybe two needed to be exposed everyone else could stand behind a lead wall.
And let's not wear protective gear
You know, I was fixing the disk brakes on my bike the other day, and I knew what would happen if I slipped (it looks like I'll lose my finger nail in the next couple of days) but I still thought “naw I'll be fine”, so oddly I feel I understand where they were coming from...
@@Gubers “Almost certainly never happen today”... Ya I bet people have learned their...
“since 1945 there have been 60 supercriticality accidents and 21 deaths”
Oh... I guess nuclear physicists aren't that bright after all...
Some years back I worked at a Nuclear Power plant for a summer internship for college. Luckily it was during a time when they were refueling the reactor. When I went into the core (with a decontamination suit, since anti radiation suit, since thin plastic won’t stop neutrons) i could look down and see the spent fuel rods. Each glowed blue like a gigantic lightsaber, and only the water covering it was holding back the radiation that would’ve killed everyone there in a second.
It’s even cooler to stand over the cavity and see the baffle plates (next to the fuel when operating) glow blue because they are so highly irradiated
Scarier than that... going to Za'ha'dhum
Can I see?
That’s so interesting but also the most eeriest thing I read.
Scary. Very, very scary.
Fascinating how even when the weapons-grade core was no longer needed as a bomb, it still killed two people. A drawn weapon demands blood.
🤡
Yeah fr
@@RobertRaspperry igh
“Oh no”
Definition: The most terrifying phrase in nuclear physics.
Oops.
Only thing scarier is “oopsie woopsie, we made a fucky wucky! A widdle fucko boingo”
Or "oops"
Memes have desensitized me and made think Slotin went "Oh no... Anyway" after his experiment went critical
How about? "The lower my payment, the lower the reactor coolant"?
Remember that if you ever feel like you've fucked up at something in life, at least you didn't try to control a nuclear device with a flat head screwdriver and cause a criticality event.
im quoting this.
Also remember that Ryan Seacrest tried to give a blind kid a high five ... as the kid was walking outside of the room hahaha 😆
Yeah there is that. I'm gonna use that too.
Well...there was that ONE time that I did, but I don't really have time to get into the story: I only have a few hours left to complete my will..
Ah yes I've never been happier with a mundane ordinary catastrophic fuck up.
I am sure another source stated that Slotin had been told it would be much safer to invert the hemispheres. That way the upper hemisphere would remain static while the lower hemisphere was raised towards it. If there was an accident, the hemisphere would drop away.
If there’s an accident you’re dead anyway who cares if it drops away?
@@StormBredthe difference is how long the accident lasts for
@@CrunchyJoints it seems like it doesn’t matter how long it lasts, if it happens you’re dead
Wow, Louis Slotin was a scientist to the very end, even after realizing he just killed himself he immediately thought to gather data on the incident, even if it was just to see how soon his colleagues would die too.
Screw driver: *slips *
Scientist: Gentlemen...synchronize your death watches.
I've done nothing but teleport bread.
@@MochaFur1
How much
@@captainshadowfox WHERE?! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN SENDING THEM TO?!
@@maixe13 I DO NOT KNOW ALL I HAVE DONE IS TELEPORT BREAD!
@@captainshadowfox ffffffffff
U r
R
Y
Just imagine not having a scratch on you, walking around, breathing, and all the while knowing you were already dead. Jesus, that is horrifying
Yeah I'm pretty sure you just described the human condition.
@@isleschild damn
@@hwburner1524 lol... I only mean that the difference between Hisashi Ouchi and John Everyman is that Ouchi knew he had only days left, and knew (or discovered) that they would be excruciatingly painful. But, none of us get out of this life alive. We're all walking dead men, so to speak. Some have more time than others. The "Jesus" emphatic was well placed, insofar as only those who believe in "life after death" have any cause for relief.
@@isleschild damn, you’re completely right. I guess life can also be considered a slow death
@@avory7938 I am a melancholy, brooding personality, and have always loved philosophy. If I weren't a Christian I have little doubt that I would have caved under this existential anvil years ago. On the other hand, I now live knowing that I fail to live up to the divine standards of a holy judge, so 🙃 ... still "working" on the implications of imputed grace.
They really did the forbidden How to become a fallout ghoul speedrun
Well sometimes a Fella’s gotta eat a Fella
Slotin, having watched his friend die, should have been removed from the same experiments. I guess the risk process would have unconsciously continually play in his mind as to how, where and why his friend failed carrying out this same experiment. The fact that he didn't panic like his friend or others in the room shows he may have already played out this scenario a thousand times in his mind if it should ever happen.
I can respect their devotion but the fact that everyone was okay with him doing it by hand and a screwdriver is something beyond incredibly stupid.
Humans are naturally obedient to authority and that can be a bitch. Still not nearly the worst showcase of said obedience in that decade, though.
Don't forget.. this was nearly 80 years ago. We literally didn't know any better.
@@BaldBlokeOnABoat I mean they knew they would all die if he messes up.....
@@BaldBlokeOnABoat they knew perfectly, Marie Curie had come before and died from her radioactive discoveries. And they just dropped two of the cores on Japan...
@@Stegibbon yeah, but neither of those two things involved playing with supercriticality on someones desk..
A killer metal ball called demon core is probably the most metal thing to exist
the loc-nar
Hahaha
Killer Kore**
@Jay R that was the most obvious shit you could have said
Jay R bro, you just repeated what was said in the video
I always imagine the demon core as an incredibly deadly Lamp which flicking the On Switch results in Super Criticality. Doesn't matter how quickly you flick the switch to the off position the light still hit you and it was lethal
I think of it more as touching the wire that megavolts travel along. The arc of lightning is unimaginable.
My father was in the US Navy during the Korean War. Often they would visit Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. He described the water being at least 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding water. Ash would float onto their ship, so they would have to wash down the hull. Later in life, he had multiple tumors removed, likely due to the radiation. It is strange to think the demon core may have remotely affected my father, and my health being his son.
The deadliest words in nuclear physics: "It will be fine."
What about "hold my screwdriver "
When does and something not go wrong, when you say it will be fine.
That and " Oops!... "
or "well, that's it, we're done here."
"Huh. That doesn't seem right."
the fact that the last guy saw his friend die in a painful and horrific way and then still acted recklessly and didn't take any safety precautions is mind boggling.
Yet considered a genius..
it probably came from a mindset at least partially like "well, he clutzed it up and made a mistake which cost him his life. I'm better than him, I wouldn't make that sort of mistake." only to learn otherwise
Nah, that's just how scientists are. Like, astronauts did go into space after that failed Apollo mission. The same way painters don't worry too much about working with toxic pigments and other materials, scientists stop caring about safety the second they think they can do something amazing
Proof you can be the smartest person in the room yet be a complete idiot at the same time.
He'd also exposed himself to 100 roentgen just a few months before fixing a nuclear reactor underwater while it was operating instead of waiting a day for it to be shut down. The man just had a death wish.
I can’t help but wonder if Slotin cause the core to go critical on purpose. After all, he seemed way too quick to gather data from the incident. It was also the last demonstration with the core before it was to be discarded of.
Right?! Something wasn't right there. Over and over and over again with a screwdriver. Then one day 'well, that does it' and immediately focused on where everyone stood.
It's a horrifying story. Also I don't care screw that guy.
@@OzymandiasWasRighthe literally only focused on where everyone stood to get the radiation dosage to see if anyone needed immediate medical attention. Brainless idiots these days always assume the most illogical and psychopathic decisions as the most obvious choices LOL
In fact, the Demon core was melted because it was necessary to remove the isotopes formed in critical excursions because it heated up more due to the same isotopes and was more radioactive. A new pit made of purified Pu 239 was used in one of the tests and gave more energy than expected. In the previous critical excursion, most of the Pu240 that can cause spontaneous fission was "burned". Because of Pu240, an implosion compression system had to be used to prevent predetonation, ie the critical mass had to be compressed at high speed to avoid the negative effect of predetonation due to Pu240. Since the new pit had a low concentration of Pu240, the compression and increase in density took place for a longer time and with more neutron generations, which led to more released energy, i.e. "burning" of a larger mass of Pu before the energy created expanded the pit to the point of stopping the chain reaction. In fact, it was more efficient in terms of the mass of Pu used than other pits with a higher level of Pu240
EDIT: It also had a name: Rufus
Where do they get the Pu239/240?
@@Dave-ohhh In a graphite moderated reactor (or heavy water D2O moderated reactor). Pu 239/240 are manufactured elements, they do not exist in nature because half-life is only 24,000 years (there are traces as a result of the decay of other elements such as neptunine). In the reactor, the moderator slows down the neutrons in order to maintain the chain reaction of U235, and an important part is the absorption of slow "tetmal" neutrons in U238, which gives U239, which decays into Neptunium 239 in about 23 minutes, and after a little over 2 days, Neptunium turns into Pu 239. Now , Pu239 can also absorb a neutron and become Pu240, so it is important that the reactor fuel is briefly exposed to the neutron flux in the reactor, but still long enough that the production cycle made a usable amount of Pu239. Supergrade Pu for weapons is up to 3% contamination with Pu240, 3-7% is weapongrade and above that it can only be used as fuel for fast or breeder reactors.
@@dinkoz1 jezuz my knowledge of basic chemistry goes as far as understanding isotopes electron configuration but that just sounds like Chinese to me but I kinda get it. Thank you for answering me.
That feeling when you experience a blue light for half a second and know now that you're a walking corpse due to none of your cells being able to replicate.
Yeah, that's the worst. Hate when that happens. 🤔😂
I will say that the blue light is like nothing that you have ever seen. I had the chance to see the test reactor at Penn State main when they were running tests on it. The reactor was submerged in a large pool of deuterium water which absorbed all the radiation. I'd describe the blue light as a mix between navy blue and 'normal' blue.
Terrifying
@@Zippytez that has to be an impressive sight.
@@HideSeek_Soje111 if you ever get the opportunity to ever see it, I highly recommend getting a tour. Its simply mind blowing.
This is what happens when you have an intelligence of 20 but a wisdom of 1.
The best comment here
Must of had his luck level low too
"I wanna research a nuclear core"
"You got a natural 20"
"Oh finally, after all those trie-
"The continuing process got a 3"
yea i think u mean Luck
@@jacobnolan510 it's must HAVE for fuck sakes
Having your dna ripped apart is a terrifying thought. I never forgot the portrayal of the men who were exposed to the melted down nuclear reactor in hbo’s Chernobyl.
Moral of the story; don’t go sticking screw drivers into a nuclear core just to see what would happen.
The part that really gave me chills was when Slotin basically had to calculate how long until everyone in the room was going to die. Just imagine how terrified that group must've been.
Watch the movie the Manhattan project
The video gives a misleading account. He was calculating dosage, from which one could gauge their future risks. Over a certain amount, near certain death. Another amount, maybe not death but definitely shortened life due to cellular damage (and this was not well understood at the time). How shortened? Depends on luck. There's a book ("Under the Cloud", I believe) which goes into detail on the fates of most of the people in the room. For example, Graves, who was standing only a couple of feet further away from criticality (9:40), died 20 years later at the age of 55. Heart attack, which is a typical fate for anyone who endured a high radiation dose. You can reasonably think of a radiation blast as being significantly aged in an instant (or think of steady radiation exposure as enduring accelerated aging), since the two effects are similar. Most of the rest of the people in the room died at ages and from issues which would be easier to judge as natural causes. That all said, the point to understand is that radiation exposure does not feature a 1:1 relationship with one's lifespan, unlike what the video casually suggested.
@@Asterra2 sorry the 14 minute long video that was made for people to watch while eating or shitting didn’t go into extreme detail about the lives of everyone in that room and how the incident effected them and what eventually cause them all to die
@@heyitsjack7129 I'll give you the benefit of doubt in assuming you're just being snarky, rather than actually failing to understand that giving the exposure explanation slightly different wording would have sidestepped the issue I underscored, without lengthening the video.
HIS would have been that particular moment right after his ass whopping 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Screw driver slips
Scientist: This little maneuver is gonna cost us 50 years.
Is that an Interstellar reference? If so, well done. 😂👍🏼
@@luke_mckay Sure is, such a great movie.
@@stormfath3r754 It is such a great flick and not far from the truth, so I hear.
Come on TARS!
Kinda feel bad for laughing lol
I'm immediately reminded of a line from a movie, "You are the dumbest smart person I know!"
That sounds familiar what movie is it
@@fourcheeseblend8573
"You are the dumbest smart person I ever met in my life!"
- Will Smith in _I, Robot_
To which a comedy robot replied:
"Just like your wife!"
And that was enough for Big Will to b1tchsl@p every robot in the movie until they were nothing but a junk pile.
@@fourcheeseblend8573I robot
@@fourcheeseblend8573also varsity blues. Kilmer says it to mox. You are the dumbest smart kid I know.
lulw
My uncle Lacey Evans was one of the soldiers sitying outside when they first started testing the bombs, he later died from Leukemia but you know... it's not listed as service related
It’s terrifying how being in the same room as a small sphere for a few seconds could remove more than half your lifespan
Pretty sure he died a few weeks later. So like a 99.04 reduction of your current life?
Half life.?? That applies to radioactive materials, not exposed objects..
@@lieutenantpliskin I think the comment was referring to the security guard in the same room as Daghlian, who got radiation-induced leukemia three decades later
Funny how this 7 month old comment has 4 replies, all from
@@Unbridled-Whimsy ohh
"Well, that does it."
Probably the most accurate line of acceptance of one's death ever spoken.
The poor guy accepted it like it was nothing
@@chumimintv9052 he had to realize it was only a matter of time until he slipped.
@@Terratops474 probably didn’t think he had much to lose
@@chumimintv9052 poor guy? He was literally asking for it lol.
Sucks he shortened those other scientists lives though.
@@lethalheart6370 By that logic everyone there asked for it, they were doing what they were researching. A death is still a death.
The really aweful thing about acute radiation poisoning is that there is no effective way to reduce the pain, you feel it all the time and are in total agony until you die.
Dude I love your videos..I sometimes fall asleep to your story telling and the radioactive knowledge you drop on us. Keep doing what you do my guy.
You: have a small ball that wipes a city off the map when it explodes, and if it glows blue you're already dead.
Your safety measures: a screwdriver
Your user name makes it 10 better
If i was in charge of that bullshit: ''Never...EVER...touch or mess with the Demon Core. Slowly get back to my car. Drive AWAY as fast as i can to Mexico.''
Like, there got to be safer was to handle an experiment where you know blue light = death
Sounds like something Aperture Science would do.
It's particularly bad when you realise it HAD a safety device to stop it from completely closing and he REMOVED it in order to replace it with the much less safe version of an unsecured screwdriver.
Daghlian: I received the highest dose of radiation ever received by one man
Slotin: hold my screwdriver
This comment wins!
More like don't hold my screwdriver!
ppl that fall to dust in japan i am a joke to you ?????
LMAO! While watching this video, I'm sitting here drinking a screwdriver!
Too soon!
Richard Feynman was a genius. He exposed the Challenger accident on live TV with a simple experiment. He was also a great safe cracker and musician.
Slotin was like:
"Check this shit" * The screwdriver slips*
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
This is why they spend a whole unit on lab safety in every science class. This is what happens when you fail lab safety.
That one kid who swears he doesn't need the goggles
Well there were no standards for poking bomb cores at the time...
This isn't a lab safety story but it's more of a woodworking safety story: Basically used to do woodworking in high school, right? My bullies tried to push me into the drill press, they got in trouble. After that i was waiting to use the bandsaw and one of the bullies was using it and i saw them put their fingers in the silver circle (basically that's very very close to the blade) multiple times. I took the safety rules and always looked at them, and i accepted them while paying attention because i knew they were important. I yelled at him for "SILVER CIRCLE" and he didn't listen. Teacher saw him and flipped out. I flipped out. He didn't get hurt but jesus christ... he could of lost his finger. I know he's almost injured me in the woodworking class before but seriously. He could of lost his freaking finger. I always listen to safety rules completely by the book, Don't be like him.
@@tailsfan465
Don't be like him.
Oh yeah losing fingers is *Normal* choice for children.
Your story is basically "the floor is made out of floor" meme
The first rule of lab safety is to have fun.
Everybody gangsta until someone says “Oops”
Oof
No one:
uwu, I made an oopsie woopsie, I am sowwy my hands did a slippsies and dwopped the glowwing bawl.
Meanwhile that scientist that was supposed to be watching the degenerate brought back in time to 1945: “Laughs in unrestricted violence”
"we gonna have to work on our communication"
I AM SATAN I MADE LIKES 666 I AM SO FUNNY HAHAHEBBSHDBEBBEIDBS
Here before 696 likes
I’ll never truly understand radioactivity and the science behind these reactions but your explanations are wonderful!
I've always wondered what gave out more radiation, the Demon Core or the Elephants Foot
"this is extremely dangerous and unstable being able to end millions of life If explodes"
*So anyways lets Poke It with something and see what happens*
Every scientist ever
And poke it with a screwdriver perhaps
Nothing ventured nothing gained.
Yeah let’s just have 60 accidents, what could go wrong
@@vijeykumar7429 I get the reference buddy hahah. Rick..
"This radioactive core is extremely dangerous and should be respected!"
*pokes it with a screwdriver*
Steve Irwin, if he had been a nuclear scientist...
What can go wrong?
@@rufodeer5421 I thought it only grows a hand but its looks like it doesn't...
Ur mushrooms are more dangerous than that core.
IT'S ANGREH!!! OH OH IT'S ANGREH!!
This is the definition of fuck around and find out.
I think this shows how professional and thoughtful the initial scientist and test were when they design and build the bombs and what cowboys got attracted after the demonstration of its power and force.
In the comments below, there are quite of few people exclaiming how odd it was that Slotin had all the people in the room come back in and mark exactly where they were at the time of the accident. He had the foresight to know that this was a rare opportunity to understand the effects of radiation by distance on the human body. If you go back to the charts in this video, there is one showing the names of all the people in the room and their distance from the core. You will notice that the closest person to the core besides Slotin is named Young, at 6 feet away. That was my grandfather, Dwight S Young. He was hospitalized for months afterwards, but lived to the ripe age of 83. (although he did eventually contract a rare form of leukemia that is known to occur from radiation exposure)
That was your grandfather?! That's so cool
Seeing as your grandfather must have been a sort of super genius to have been in that room, did you happen to inherit your grandfathers intelligence?
Some people die from radioactive emissions quickly. Some die slowly. That is very convenient for those who say only 28 people died from Chernobyl. There is no known, safe dose for a carcinogen.
@@jackfanning7952 Bruh, you are exposed to background ionizing radiation every second of everyday. Even if you locked yourself in a lead chamber to block it out from elsewhere outside, certain elements and chemicals necessary for your survival, including but certainly not limited to the potassium that causes your heart to beat, give off some amount of ionizing radiation.
@@jackfanning7952 None of that had anything to do with my response to your idiotic claim that there is "There is no known, safe dose for [radiation]". We can't begin to talk about what's safe for waste disposal if we haven't acknowledged that you yourself are radioactive or that radiation is something life is necessarily adapted to for a certain (yes, safe) dosage.
I'm not getting into an argument with you about nuclear energy, you are so far from the mark that I would consider myself lucky if I managed to get through to you even the possibility that your fear even might be the irrational phobia that it is.
She: he is probably thinking about other girls
Him: how close I can get to critical mass before fucking dying?
That was just beautiful, wow
So original 👏
Ffs
Spooder
@@vantablack131 you saying “so original” also isn’t well original
The narration on this is top notch. Well done!
This is the closest to be in a situation where you die and your soul leaves yout body and see the deadth scene. Its crazy to realize after 2 seconds of that light flash that you are just a walking death soul walking arround.
I read this story when I was about 12 years, around 1960, in a 'Reader's Digest' under the title 'The strange death of Louis Slotin'. It made an awfull impression on me, and I remembered the details all my life. I never ever met anyone who knew this story, and I wondered whether I had imagined the details. But a couple of nights ago, just by coincidence, my son sent me this video (62years later) As soon as the video started, I knew immediately what was to come, in the exact details that I had remembered.
Amazing
Wow God bless your son for that
It must have shocked you so much for you to still remember it 62 years later, that’s incredible
Must've been a crazy feelling
Was is this how you remembered it?
Daghlian: I made the worst criticality error in history
Slotin: Hold my screwdriver.
Slotin: Oh shit, wait, give it back
I love you for this
@@ttsmoove :)
@MrsFoxAkimbo You must be fun at parties.
@MrsFoxAkimbo Wow... that was really be best you had, wasn't it? I'll give you a 4/10. You got me to reply at least.
@MrsFoxAkimbo Jew afro? No insult here, I'm genuinely confused what you're referring to.
“The Demon Core was just as scary as cat. Harmless if you leave it alone, but don’t aggravate it. Otherwise you’ll be left with a wound, and guilt.”
- My Great Grandmother, who was 24 at the time of the first incident.
Famous last words:“Check this shit”
it's mindblowing to me that slotin watched daghlian die horribly, literally spending time at his beside, and apparently took no lessons from it...
Can be handsome be handy!
The pursuit of knowledge is a dangerous one.
Minds as bright as theirs know no bounds.
People are dumb =\
-agreed...
What really shocked me is Louis’ response to the situation, wanting to mark everyone’s exact spot. He knew they were all dead and he wanted to mathematically solve just how dead each individual was. Mad lad.
But they weren't dead: several lived into their 80s, none of their eventual deaths can be connected to the accident.
@@maxr.dechantsreiter5226 ahh well that’s on me for assuming, I’ll have to look up what the results of his equations were for my own curiosity
Nonsense, only Slotin died because of his failure.
@@OmmerSyssel yes someone else astutely pointed it out already
I'd actually call it quick thinking. We can gain knowledge from this incident, or we can NOT gain knowledge from this incident. We spent a lot of time in the early nuclear age dancing around how much exposure people would receive, and how much they could tolerate. When the costliest data of all, direct exposure, happened, it seems logical to want to receive something for the cost paid.
you did an o.k. job👏🏻 on video Kyle thank you for historical lab and casualty details.
Very enjoyable, and a nice follow up to watching the Oppenheimer movie.
This was the age of YOLO physics. My undergraduate physics professor (back in the 80s) worked at Los Alamos and told us the story of these incidents. He wasn't actually in the lab when they happened, but obviously knew what happened. This was way before the days of youtube and the internet, and it wasn't widely documented or known at the time. It was pretty fascinating.
Surprisingly, it was mentioned in several science fiction books in the late 50s, early 60s before it made the newspapers. Somebody spilled the beans.
@@haroldwilkes6608 There was an old movie which included in the plot a square wooden box, a cube maybe two feet x two x two. It was deemed valuable.
Near the end of it, on a beach somewhere, somebody opened the box to see an intense white light. No explanations, just suspenseful, scary stuff. Cue credits . . .
@@EllieMaes-Grandad You have officially ruined my day...Now I will spend all night trying to find it because I don't remember it. I do remember a Phil Harris song, "While I was walking down the beach one bright and sunny day,
I saw a great big wooden box a-floating in the bay.
I pulled it in and opened it up and much to my surprise,
Ooh, I discovered a * * * right before my eyes.
Ooh, I discovered a * * * right before my eyes."
When I find the movie, I'm not going to tell you where it is is...suffer with me.
@@haroldwilkes6608 My apologies; I can't remember the name of it either. Set in California I think, with Robt. Mitchum.
My physics professor was there too. I would have stayed on the theoretical side.
"Lets see how close we can get to criticality" --famous last words
Actually, since radiation kills slowly ,it was actually nones last word
the physicist version of hold my beer?
"Don't worry, we're measuring the radiation and we'll move the bricks if it gets too dangerous -- OH, SHIT, MY BUTTERFINGERS!"
It's the nuclear physicist version of playing chicken.
@@IceMetalPunk They melted off...
Just found this channel and I’m hooked! Great videos. Thank you
Correction: Little Buy didn’t use a sphere
Louis Slotin: “My colleague, Harry Daghlian, suffered a slow and agonising death after messing around with the Demon Core. I guess I should carry on his legacy by also suffering from a slow, horrific and agonising death from messing with the Demon Core... but this time, with a twist!”
...a twist of my screwdriver!
Unfortunately, though, he quite literally … screwed up.
What's up guys today my colleague and childhood friend Henry dauglian just died a slow and agonizing death in the hospital just yesterday and I guess I should also die a slow and agonizing death by the demon core too BUT THIS TIME THERE'S A TWIST 🪛
It was fine at first but soon it just spun out of control
It just cranked up to the extreme
"They asked me how well i understood theoretical physics, i said i had a theoretical degree in physics, they said welcome aboard"- one of the engineers
The game was rigged from the start
*Fantastic* logic
Ave
Good reference
I have a Hypothetic Degree in physics
This is one of the best examples of „fuck around and find out“
The photo of the old main gate brings back memories. Up until 1957, when we had out-of-town visitors we would pile in the family car and drive out to the old main gate to pick them up. The mothet of my recently deceased partner was a nurse in attendance at the hospital in Los Alamos for the men that suffered radiation poisoning. I attended high school with one person who was born after her father was deemed to be rendered sterile by exposure during one of these criticality accidents. So, there were things that were still unknown about the specific effects of radiation. The Health Research Laboratory next to the newer Los Alamos Medical Center conducted experiments with rhesus monkeys in efforts to get more specific details on the effects of radiation.
I was a chemistry major in college, and one of my professors absolutely loved talking about stuff like this. His eyes would get big, his voice got louder, and the worse the stories were the more he loved lecturing.
We had to know all this, too.
That’s what alle teachers should do! Having a passion in what you teach
As certain characters in Outlast would say, there is a fine line between science and insanity.
@fairyty1 So, you'd rather follow people like Hitler and Hirohito? Interesting.
@fairyty1 I had an animation teacher who sounded like he was bored out of this world, even though he looked excited in teaching and stuff he just sounded so monotone and making even those willing to listen extremely sleepy... And every lecture he had to slam the table to keep his students awake lol.
His mushrooms had kicked in
Demon core sounds like something you'd try to secure in a first person shooter
Really sound like an item a Boss drops in a MMORPG but of course when it drops you ar not prepared
Doom ???
Shadow of Chernobyl?
I think I've played something that has a demon core but I'm not sure
@@listenhere1623 You've likely played dozens of things with the name "Demon Core" in them.
This one is amazing,, so had was this melt down harmless > curious tia do a part two kyle!
Brilliant explanation for the layman. Thank you
Louis Slotin: "I watched someone slowly die from a dangerous, stupid experiment, and multiple well-known physicists have told us to stop."
7 months later: "LETS DO IT AGAIN!"
In an even dumber way, with more people present
Scientists are a weird breed sometimes
And that is how new things are learned. All true explorers know they might really screw up and may even die. Doesn't stop exploration; never has, never will.
We're monkeys with iPhones and guns
@@PronatorTendon They're mostly peaceful.
Man said “get ya butts back in here! you can’t outrun radiation, what’s happened has happened already now lets see NOT IF but how MUCH cancer you just got” what a terrifyingly calm man. He was fully aware he was dead and possibly everyone in that room but still remained calm enough to diagnose the room.
People surprise you the most when they know they are already dead.
@@acetrigger1337 not expecting the man himself in this kind of video lol
He sounds like he likes torture.
I read that quote in the voice of Cave Johnson AKA JK Simmons.
Did one of the scientists say this? Currently watching at the moment
Wow, it's been a while since I saw such an interesting video, I thank you very much for your work, it was interesting and entertaining, the atmosphere you give with the music, the sfx and the style of narration are excellent. I am from Chile, at the end of the world and I subscribe to your channel, thank you for your content
these people cared more about gaining knowledge and the advancement of science more than their own lives, it’s incredible really
Nuclear core: “you teasing me?? Naughty naughty”
Unfortunately there is no safe word to turn off radiation sickness.
@Donalld Allhands LMFAO EW
😂😂
Oops, right?
🔵
"how many bricks it would take to reflect enough neutrons to cause the core to go critical"
Aka: *death jenga*
Lmao
Spicy lego
Am I a bad person for laughing at this?
What other end could possibly be expected?
Senseless.
I visited the park on Scotia Street and Inkster Boulevard in honor of Dr. Louis Slotin who was born and educated in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦. So eager to find out where Dr. Louis Slotin was interred, I found his resting place and, by tradition placed a marble on his headstone. It was an honor to do so after passing that cemetery on that street over 5 decades and never new the importance an citizen of Winnipeg, Manitoba played in the 'Manhattan Project'. Thanks for posting this video. In the future it would be an honor not only to the citizens of Winnipeg, Manitoba that reference be made of our great city, the citizens of our great city, and the contribution a member of our great city made to science. Thank-you from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦
Based on the sinking feeling I felt when you said he dropped the brick I can’t even begin to imagine how he felt. After the initial panic from the core going critical, the realization and fear of what was going to happen to him must have been horrible. I mean just think of the feelings immediately after your worst oh shit I just majorly fucked up moment and multiply it by ten million. My stomach drops just imagining the feeling
I think if I were him i'd ask the other guy to use that last brick and just bash my skull in and get it over with. I couldn't bare the wait to my death
@@FarmerDingus he wanted to his death to be useful to science tho
I feel like the radiation would be more of a felt affect rather than fear
@@prussiaball1871 yeah but those few days all i would think is "please just get it over with. The wait is unbearable."
“I just died”
Everyone else including expert scientists “Hey your going to die just stop it or find a safer way”
These guys “Ha Ha orb goes blue................uh oh”
Nuclear Physicists being told not to do super-criticality experiments on the demon core by hand: "It'll be fine."
Those nuclear physicists when someone drops a reflector: 👁 👄 👁
Even better. I can come up with a safe way to do it on the top of my head. Fix the damn thing onto a filly threaded rod and use that to very slowly and safely lower it. That way it cannot fall or close unwanted.
@@theexchipmunk Boggles my mind that these scientists couldn't figure something like that out. They knew full well the danger of radiation. They shoulda been behind several inches of lead glass or ideally, operating it with a remote camera.
@@theexchipmunk The video says they had spacers to stop the core from being complete, not sure why they couldn’t just make smaller spacers if they weren’t giving good enough results..
@@ArmourGX Yes, thats also another possibility. But my point stands and this makes it even worse. If a complete layman can come up with a safe solution, it‘s hard to grasp how none of these intelligent people could.
It is sad the smartest of us all are still killed by their own ego.
That blue light is a measure of just how screwed you are...
Demon Core: "I am the most dangerous and most radioactive ticking time bomb in the entire world"
Scientist: "Ok time to take unnecessary risks and be careless about it"
General public: “it’s ok, we blindly trust anyone in a white lab coat”
built different back then.. Can you imagine the first guy had access to go run impromptu experiments at night after some beers at the bar hahahaha
Scientists create things like sharper axes and more fuel efficient engines. Those men made you to believe a lie, they are deceivers and antichrists!! Wake up!! The things you see are temporal, but the things you can't see are eternal
I'm gonna poke it with a stick *in a deep australian accent*
Your reminding me of faucis Lab in Wuhan you know the famous one where they mutate related corona viruses to “save the world” lol Next Minute…
Sooooo many youtubers try to cover this story and what comes out is clearly something they don't understand. Some claim the physicists in the lab were knocked off their feet or burned instantly.
You know exactly what you're talking about. Excellent work.
Well he is an actual scientist
@@prussiaball1871 also the video was based off an essay
@@ryanhernandez8324 that he wrote
@@prussiaball1871 wait, it's the same guy??
@@ryanhernandez8324 Kyle Hill is, in fact, Kyle Hill
What would’ve happened if after the screwdriver slipped, everyone just ran away and left the core there?
It would've began to heat up until the core started to melt, once it starts to melt it would become sub-critical and eventually stop
"The Demon Core" sounds like a struggling band.
Those words give me chills...”Well...that does it...” imagine the rest their lives is decided within .02 seconds and arguably it’s one of the worst ways to die on this earth
@Bill Haggard this seems like a far better way to go tbh
I'm surprised nobody in the lab beat him up after such a fatal mistake.
It would be hard to do it, but I would probably have asked for a gun and prepared my self to end it there. The death by radiation is to cruel for any to suffer
@@combinationova1400 quicker and just a graphic
@@youtubesucks3882 they were nerds. They probably beat themselves up
Probably the most terrifying “Well, that does it” in history
Also the most gangster way of saying "I accept my fate."
I mean, a few months earlier he watched what happened to his friend after the same type event. What else could he do or say?
My thoughts exactly
My Great Grandfather said that when he saw one of the nuclear bombs being dropped. He was way outside the city and the blast radius.
He saw one little dot drop out of a plane and essentially said, "Well. Sh*t." And then went back inside. He couldn't be bothered. He was notorious for being a somewhat emotionless grump.
Back in the 90’s my uncle was put in the hospital for an ailment. He was in his mid 80’s. He was told he was close to the end. His brother came to visit him. The dying brother said to other “well there is a beginning a middle and an end to everything... guess I’m at the end”..that has stuck with me for over 24 years. Seems appropriate to share here. Pretty much the same as “well, that does it”..
I like the extra dramatic “oomph” you put into the words when you were narrating the slotin accident. 😊😊😁❤️
This was really interesting. Thanks!
The fact that the Demon Core was melted back down and redistributed is almost poignant. It's now somewhere, or possibly everywhere, in the US stockpile of plutonium, a reminder that the nature of the core applies to the entire stockpile.
Cool
Or we could take it a step further and say to the very core of man, which collectively means everything we do.
Which means the bible is true.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places Ephesians 6:12
@@larryhoward9559 take your Bible thumping somewhere else.
I’m sorry but “nuclear cowboy” is the coolest title ever
I like Atomic Punk
so fallout cowboy build with the fat man
Sounds like a name for a perk or side quest in F:New Vegas
Wonder if that title spawned the Fallout Atomic Wrangler?
@Darren vermeer reminds me of the end of Dr Strangelove
Just found you TH-cam channel,, Well done,, I was in Germany during Chernobyl & have had a interest in all things