yeah but the first time was a more 'honest' mistake: AFAIK Harry Daghlian was following the rules and they just weren't good enough to prevent "oops i dropped a tungsten carbide block" from being a deadly situation; he wasn't knowingly breaking the rules just to look badass.
from that tiny bit I just read yeah block just slipped his hands, and by himself which was maybe not smart but also minimized exposure to him and a security guard
I'm kind of surprised they weren't using an automated test rig like the godiva device for this kind of experiment from the start, but I guess during and immediately after WW2 everyone was in a rush and willing to take bigger risks? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godiva_device
Reminds me of the version of Harry Daghlian from Manhattan Projects were he becomes a radioactive skeleton instead of dying horribly from exposure to the demon core
The tiny rural village where my usual shooting range is located is currently under don’t-touch-the-water orders because of unsafe levels of radium in the groundwater. Way too close to my own town’s groundwater, and on opposite side of me from a huge radioactive waste dump 🥳
Everyone says there was a flash of blue light but I don't think that's true. Cherenkov radiation isn't usually visible in the atmosphere, but it is in water.
So probably what happened is the water in their eyeballs glowed blue and to them it seemed as if a blinding light filled the room.
no it wasn't cherenkov radiation. cherenkov radiation is the result of electrons (typically) passing through a dielectric past the phase velocity of light in that medium, similar to a sonic boom. this was good 'ole fashioned ionization of the air, the same as lightning strikes.
Slotin spent the last few moments of his life carefully describing exactly where everyone was in the room so they could calculate their radiation exposure. He also heroically pried the two hemispheres apart with his bare hands to save everyone.
i wouldn't call it heroic when his hubris was the sole reason that incident happened anyways. he was already a dead man walking. the least he could do was not kill everyone else
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godiva_device
So probably what happened is the water in their eyeballs glowed blue and to them it seemed as if a blinding light filled the room.
omae wa mou shindeiru
*BZZT*