Ducking demon core.
this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2025
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You know, something I always wondered was what would have happened if the core was allowed to stay in Prompt Critical configuration?
The design provided the extreme rate of fission at T=0, which in a bomb is when it gets compressed (the density increases). But that density is relatively uniform, the demon core didn't change properties.
Normally I'd suspect it would just melt, but since it was in a neutron reflector, it should increase the rate of fission as T>0. Hence the chain reaction.
Jeez. Talk about an area denial weapon. That's horrifying. Just massive deadly glowing sphere of doom that's both too energetic and not energetic enough to stop the chain reaction. That's incredible.
"Try making this situation anything but worse."
I'm surprised they had a robot radiation hardened enough to actually try. I've got to look up what they did. The whole room it was in was a neutron reflector, the robot would be, and the interference would be crazy from the decay products.
Wonder what they would have done if the robot couldn't do it.
I think at that point you have to get someone to volunteer as tribute...
I’m surprised they had a robot radiation hardened enough to actually try.
It's not like this was the first time, such a situation came up. And it's not like we have to guess what plan B looks like.
Fuuuuuuuck yes, a playlist to binge.
You see duck with a demon core, i see duck is frying stuff in its wok.
NO DUCKIE DON'T FRY YOUR YOUNG IN THERE I KNOW WHAT KIND OF DUCK YOU ARE
I see a duck demanding peas. Tasty rolly green peas.
Untitled Demon Core game when?
After reading the wiki, this is sort of macabre:
On the day of the accident, Slotin's screwdriver slipped outward a fraction of an inch while he was lowering the top reflector, allowing the reflector to fall into place around the core.
Slotin received a lethal dose of 1,000 rad (10 Gy) neutron and 114 rad (1.14 Gy) gamma radiation in less than a second, while the position of Slotin's body over the apparatus shielded the others from much of the neutron radiation. Slotin died nine days later from acute radiation poisoning.
But why he no wear lead suit?
Given that it had already tasted human blood.
Why not use the shims designed for this instead of the tip of a screwdriver?
Obviously to tickle the tail of a dragon, duh
Save 30 seconds by not having to find the correct shims and just use your handy screwdriver.
What's the worst that could happen?
a lead suit would have done fuckall in that situation
the amount of lead you can feasibly wear on your body can protect you from, say, dental X-rays, but not from research FAFO-grade gamma radiation
you need several inches of lead and/or tungsten for that kind of shielding. you might also need several feet of concrete if neutron radiation is involved
A human body blocks more than several inches of lead? I need to rethink the design of my bunker.
Doing some quick math and numbers pulled from wikipedia, Lead is about 14-15x as effective by volume compared to water at blocking gamma radiation.
I think far more significant in saving the other scientists was the inverse square law. The radiation energy falls off with the square of distance, so Slotin would have received a significantly higher dose just from being right next to it.
Lead is good for blocking alpha and beta radiation, but does not do that much against gamma, which was the main radiation he received, so yeah. Probably would not have saved him.
the thickness of lead that would have been required would have prevented him from fucking around with the screwdriver in the first place because he wouldn't have been able to reach the thing lol
To be fair, human skin is good for blocking alpha radiation, that's an extremely low bar.
I mean wasn't the lead shell itself enough to stop it? How thick is the candy shell?
mr owl how many licks does it take to get to the center of the demon core??
roll for initiative, ducky
Damage increases exponentially every five feet from radius to source.
Did you mean decrease? Otherwise that whole universe is pretty much completely dead
From radius (of the weapon) back to source. Just a backwards way of saying it the way I read it
Ah thanks for explaining it, I understood it exactly backwards.
Always tickled when I see the Dragon's Tail.