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AR15.COM
2/17/2005 10:39:15 AM EDT

Sitting here watching the great 80’s flick on a home made nuclear boom boom and I was curios.

Would it be safe for some one to make one they way he did with out suffering form any radiation sickness?  Or are there more safe guards that Hollywood left out?


The chick is hot by the way.
2/17/2005 10:41:25 AM EDT
[#1]
Lead underware..You cannot have the Jimmy glowing!
2/17/2005 10:46:09 AM EDT
[#2]
Making a homemade implosion weapon would be a little tough, timing has to be exact.   The biggest danger would come from heavy metal poisoning and other nasty metals that make up these "toys" and  if a criticality event happened one would be toast.  Also the danger of a spurious signal setting the device off too would be a bit unpleasant.
2/17/2005 10:47:39 AM EDT
[#3]
Plutonium emits alpha particles, which cant even penetrate your skin.  It's only dangerous if it gets lodged inside your body somehow.
2/17/2005 10:48:49 AM EDT
[#4]

Quoted:
Plutonium emits alpha particles, which cant even penetrate your skin.  It's only dangerous if it gets lodged inside your body somehow.



Its also a poisonous pyrophoric heavy metal too.
2/17/2005 10:57:35 AM EDT
[#5]

Quoted:
Sitting here watching the great 80’s flick on a home made nuclear boom boom and I was curios.

Would it be safe for some one to make one they way he did with out suffering form any radiation sickness?  Or are there more safe guards that Hollywood left out?


The chick is hot by the way.



The red head from Sex in the City?

Plutonium will combust if it is small enough.

That shit "should " have ignited when he had it in flake form.

The rock flats (s?) nuclear weapons plant near Denver, CO had several plutonium fires in the 1950 - 1960s...   luckly nothing "really bad" ever happened.



Poof
2/17/2005 11:00:06 AM EDT
[#6]

Quoted:
Plutonium emits alpha particles, which cant even penetrate your skin.  It's only dangerous if it gets lodged inside your body somehow.



Like breathing it.
2/17/2005 11:02:21 AM EDT
[#7]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Plutonium emits alpha particles, which cant even penetrate your skin.  It's only dangerous if it gets lodged inside your body somehow.



Its also a poisonous pyrophoric heavy metal too.




I think you missed the part about it being inside your body.  Outside your body, plutonium is pretty harmless.





The hardest part about a DIY "toy" would be getting the material.  If you have that, the rest would be tedious and difficult, but not impossible.
2/17/2005 11:08:07 AM EDT
[#8]
plutonium is, by far the most posionoius substance on earth...
2/17/2005 11:15:11 AM EDT
[#9]

Quoted:
Sitting here watching the great 80’s flick on a home made nuclear boom boom and I was curios.

Would it be safe for some one to make one they way he did with out suffering form any radiation sickness?  Or are there more safe guards that Hollywood left out?


The chick is hot by the way.




I suspect you would have a boating accident if you tried to do it in this day and age.
2/17/2005 11:28:59 AM EDT
[#10]
Wikipedia



All isotopes and compounds of plutonium are toxic and radioactive. While plutonium is sometimes described in media reports as "the most toxic substance known to man", there is general agreement among experts in the field that this is incorrect. As of 2003, there has yet to be a single human death officially attributed to plutonium exposure. Naturally-occurring radium is about 200 times more radiotoxic than plutonium, and some organic toxins like botulism toxin are still more toxic. Botulism toxin, in particular, has a lethal dose in the hundreds of pg per kg, far less than the quantity of plutonium that poses a significant cancer risk. In addition, beta and gamma emitters (including the C-14 and K-40 in nearly all food) can cause cancer on casual contact, which alpha emitters cannot.

Orally, plutonium is less toxic than several common substances, including caffeine, acetaminophen, some vitamins, pseudoephedrine, and any number of plants and fungi. It is perhaps somewhat more toxic than pure ethanol, but less so than tobacco and many illegal drugs (some such as LSD and marijuana are negligibly toxic). Considering the pure chemical toxicity it probably ranks with lead and other heavy metals.

That said, there is no doubt that plutonium may be extremely dangerous when handled incorrectly. The alpha radiation it emits does not penetrate the skin, but can irradiate internal organs when plutonium is inhaled or ingested; particularly at risk are the skeleton, which it is liable to be absorbed onto the surface of, and the liver, where it will collect and become concentrated. Extremely small particles of plutonium on the order of micrograms have a (small) chance to cause lung cancer if inhaled into the lungs.

2/17/2005 11:41:26 AM EDT
[#11]
Cigs are obviously a much greater "clear and present danger" than is plutonium.