Comment on It works better if you put it in your mouth first.
Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
So was the popular conception back then that power was somehow magically transferred directly from uranium to the power grid?
What grid? It looks like the “power box” on the wall is generating power for that house all by itself, no transmission necessary.
Considering that the smallest operating nuclear reactor ever made was this big…
…and that critical mass is a thing, I can only assume the “power box” was some kind of RTG.
Wouldn’t all but the largest RTGs struggle to power more than a few incandescent light bulbs, though? Their output is usually from a few dozen to a few hundred watts, looking at the table on wikipedia.
It was 60 years ago. If they put same effort to it as they put to computers you would have one in your pocket.
Looking at the illustration, it’s hard to figure out year it was drawn. The artist is creating a ‘future house.’ Also, it’s not clear if this is an educational comic, or one for entertainment.
99% of the people today ahve some idea of what ‘gamma rays’ are, but we all accept that they can turn a normal man into The Hulk.
Forester@pawb.social 12 hours ago
Miniature breeder reactor
Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 11 hours ago
The weapons grade stuff is U-235, right? Do conventional nuclear reactors enrich U-238 to U-235?
leftascenter@jlai.lu 9 hours ago
Uranium 235 or plutonium 239, may be completed with Hydrogen for more energy release: deuterium and tritium.
AFIK natural uranium is mainly centrifugated for the heavier 238 and lighter 235 to separate. Enriched uranium is just having a higher percentage of 235.
Plutonium 238 is man made in reactors