- On the evening of August 21, 1945, the physicist Harry Daghlian was alone in the lab, building a shield of tungsten carbide bricks around the core. Ping-ponging neutrons back the core, the bricks had brought the plutonium close to the threshold of criticality, when Daghlian dropped a brick on top.www.atlasobscura.com/articles/demon-core-that-killed-two-scientists
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See all on WikipediaDemon core - Wikipedia
The demon core was a sphere of plutonium that was involved in two fatal radiation accidents when scientists tested it as a fissile core of an early atomic bomb. It was manufactured by the Manhattan Project, the U.S. nuclear weapon development effort during World War II. It was a subcritical mass that weighed 6.2 … See more
The demon core (like the core used in the bombing of Nagasaki) was, when assembled, a solid 6.2-kilogram (14 lb) sphere measuring 8.9 centimeters (3.5 in) in diameter. It … See more
On May 21, 1946, physicist Louis Slotin and seven other personnel were in a Los Alamos laboratory conducting another experiment to verify … See more
The demon core was intended for use in the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests, but after the second criticality accident, time was needed for … See more
The core, once assembled, was designed to be at "−6 cents". In this state, there is only a small safety margin against extraneous factors that might increase reactivity, causing the core to become supercritical, and then prompt critical, a brief state of rapid … See more
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Wikipedia text under CC-BY-SA license How a careless slip killed a physicist - BBC
The idea was to bring the core to a stable rate of reactivity and hold it there, rather like starting a car's engine and allowing it to tick over.
The Chilling Story of The 'Demon Core' And The ... - ScienceAlert
Apr 26, 2018 · It was August 13, 1945, and the 'demon core' was poised, waiting to be unleashed onto a stunned Japan still reeling in fresh chaos from the deadliest attacks anyone …
The 'Demon Core' That Killed 2 Manhattan Project …
Jul 29, 2023 · On August 21, 1945 less than two weeks after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 24-year-old physicist Harry Daghlian was conducting a criticality experiment on the demon core at the...
Demon Core: The Strange Death of Louis Slotin - The …
May 21, 2016 · The demonstration began on the afternoon of May 21, 1946, at a secret laboratory tucked into a canyon some three miles from Los Alamos, New Mexico, the birthplace of the atom bomb.
The Demon Core: How One Man Intervened With His …
May 17, 2021 · In 1945, alone in his laboratory, physicist Harry Daghlian was performing a neutron reflector experiment on the demon core when he mistakenly dropped a brick of reflective tungsten carbide...
The 'Demon Core,' The Plutonium Orb That Killed Two …
Dec 10, 2022 · A subcritical mass of plutonium weighing 14 pounds, the radioactive sphere known as the "demon core" killed physicists Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin in 1945 and 1946. The 'demon core' wrought so much death …
The Nuclear ‘Demon Core’ That Killed Two Scientists
Apr 23, 2018 · On the evening of August 21, 1945, the physicist Harry Daghlian was alone in the lab, building a shield of tungsten carbide bricks around the core. Ping-ponging neutrons back the core,...
The Demon Core: A Tale of Atomic Ambition and …
Apr 3, 2024 · The demon core was a plutonium core, originally intended to be the heart of the third atomic bomb developed by the United States during World War II. As the war neared its climax, the United States dropped two nuclear bombs …
May 21, 1946: Louis Slotin Becomes Second Victim of “Demon Core”
Those two people were Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. and Louis Slotin, both of whom died of acute radiation poisoning after accidents that occurred while conducting criticality experiments with …
