Detroit-area teen builds nuclear fusion reactor
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/nJsm6duw32bIZIGAug98mQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTQ2OQ--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/chq_r0W_3nW9D7n0mzzRnQ--~B/aD0yOTM7dz00NDA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2006/11/nuclear-bilde.jpg)
We've heard of plenty of DIY projects, ranging from an MP3 player to a Wacom tablet, but a kid building a small nuclear fusion device in his parents' basement? That's something special. Thiago Olson, a 17-year-old from Oakland Township, outside Detroit, has just completed a 1,000-hour (that's over 40 days worth, but he spread it out over two years) project to build a small-scale nuclear fusion reactor. How does it work? The short of it is that Olson takes a vacuum chamber, fills it with deuterium gas and then jolts it up with 40,000 volts, which creates a very small amount of nuclear fusion. That sounds easy enough -- but now the question is, can young Dr. Strangelove hook up his reactor to the house so he can pay his parents' electrical bill?
[Via MAKE: Blog, photo courtesy Detroit Free Press]