One person picks up a book from the bookcase by way of a corona hobby, the other opts for a slightly more complicated pastime. And then you still have boss over boss. Like the 12-year-old young man who built a nuclear reactor.
Jackson Oswalt has used his time well in recent months. The new teenager has built a working nuclear reactor and has thus earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records. He is the youngest person to ever achieve this. The reactor was finished just before its thirteenth birthday.
Inspired by previous record holder
Playing football on the street or playing video games for hours is not an option for the young genius, he prefers to spend his time splitting atoms. The boy from Memphis, Tennessee, tells how he started this ambitious project.
He was inspired by none other than Taylor Wilson, who until recently held the title of Youngest Do-It-Yourself Nuclear Reactor Builder. Taylor managed it at the age of 14.
Problems with the seal
Jackson built his reactor from scratch and worked on his physics project for two years. Here and there there were some setbacks, he says. “The hardest part was figuring out how to make the reactor airtight with a special seal,” he explains. “It took me half a year to get the seal in the right place.”
The space in which the atoms are split has to be really tight. In the room it is 100 million degrees Kelvin. Converted that is -183.5 degrees Celsius.
Parents watch
Where many adolescents lose their concentration or interest at some point, this clever head cannot be beat away from his project. Also a little thanks to his parents, who continued to encourage him. As a result, the young brilliant mind has managed to do something that some countries have not yet managed to do to this day.
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12-year-old boy builds nuclear reactor