Fallout's Cold Fusion Problem

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Was #Fallout’s “artifact” really worth transporting a severed head across the wasteland? Could the technology inside really determine the fate of the wilds? Noted Nuclear Zaddy Kyle Hill explains the science of “cold fusion,” and how he would have ended the first season of the new show.
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[@kylehill]

*Thanks for watching!* Yeah, we actually have a radiation detector sponsor lol. Use code "Kyle" for 5% off here: 103.radiacode.com/KyleHill

[@20x20]

you're welcome.

[@raddicalsilly1982]

My Geiger counter is in the shop, that you linked too

[@boogrs55]

i think jinx would make her own cold fusion

[@brodriguez11000]

Would cold fusion be safer than hot fusion in the Fallout TV show? Remember power armor cores can explode.

[@patrickm1533]

Arrgggg!!! I played myself. I thought I’d have a few minutes but no, spoilers right up front. Can’t say you didn’t warn me, should have listened.

[@woodrobin]

"Fusion cores" in Fallout *aren't* fusion. People call them that (because that's what it says on the side, and how it was marketed), but General Atomics explicitly, in the lore, *lied* about what the "fusion cores" were. They were highly radioactive, unstable isotope batteries. Poseidon Energy is well-documented to have lied through their teeth in terms of getting hot fusion to work. The Institute in Fallout 4 took nearly two centuries to get to the point where they were ready to implement it and had therefore been nursing along a fission reactor to get as much use out of scant available uranium as they possibly could (it's one of the major points in their quest line). It's equally possible that the Vault-Tec cold fusion device in the show/lore is *not at all* what Vault-Tec says it is. Because, of course, one of the things we know and see over and over, is that Vault-Tec is deeply, horrifyingly dishonest on virtually every level.

[@AdamTheGuitarist]

This

[@Needler13]

They are 100% fusion. People keep going about mass fusion, not general atomics, said and lied about. Yes, they lied but they did eventually get fusion working and even before that, Wattz emergy already were making fusion based products, hence fusion corea. Wattz energy did have fusion and so did mass fusion eventually.

[@azpont7275]

“Horrifingly dishonest at virtually every level” is a must for every American Big Corp to be successfull. Having some good assassins or a private army/navy is also a plus, if you can’t lobby the US GOV to invade whoever you want for ya.

[@AdamBladeTaylor]

Gary!

[@user-to1su2iy4d]

​@@azpont7275 Your life must suck to pull anti-corpo garbage out of your ass on a video about a video game

[@Chrisis4376]

Kyle hill: *finally gets a single radiation-related sponsor* Everyone: "WOOOOOOOOOOOO, YEAAAAA BABY, THAT'SWHATWE'VEBEENWAITINGFOR"

[@Quasimodo-mq8tw]

Sadly a bit much. But hell am i temped

[@JoshuaPlays99]

@@Quasimodo-mq8tw The 103 has been tempting me for months. Do I need it? No, but its too damn cool to ignore lol.

[@CoolSilver]

I got a 103 a couple months back. It's been an interesting little device.

[@Jakeobfreedman]

Finally get to test out those lumps of uranium I have around the house

[@Kremit_the_Forg]

​@@Quasimodo-mq8tw I like that he has this sponsor. And hell, I know marketing but... The first? Not even close.. There is the GQ GMC line of products that do (depending on the model) many if not all of the things. Except for the Google Maps stuff I guess. And those have been arround for God knows how long. Even the Radex One has been on Amazon for way longer, than this company. Although, the Radex was about 100€ the last time I looked but now these are like 200€?!

[@54GGI]

There is actually a small reference to cold fusion in Fallout 4 where it literally states "Evidence suggests this is, and always will be, a pipe dream"

[@Illuminatisheep]

I was curious about that because in real life, if I am not mistaken, it isn't really possible with our current understanding of the laws of physics but this was years ago when I heard about this so I am unsure if things have changed or what.

[@ErebosGR]

Kyle: "How does cold fusion work in the Fallout TV show?" Todd Howard: "It just works!"

[@hanham963]

The writers of Star Trek were once asked how the transporters Heisenberg Compensator worked. The answer was "Thank you, it works just fine."😅

[@terminator3768]

Pretty sure that's almost every sci-fi answer when it comes to advanced technology, except for warp drive.

[@PlebNC]

Moldaver could stand in front of the reactor because she's flagged as essential until the quest's papyrus script triggers her kill command.

[@TheOJDrinker]

Nah, it's because she was over 200 years old, wasn't a ghoul, was not said to be cryo frozen, and somehow didn't age. She's the avatar of a god or something

[@PlebNC]

@@TheOJDrinker No, no. She's actually the player character. We caught her at the end of her good karma playthrough.

[@monsesh1316]

​​@@PlebNCNothing says "good" karma playthrough better than to hire bandits to fuck over naive vault dwellers.

[@monsesh1316]

Then again, she could've fully gain back her good karma by donating some clean water or caps afterwards.

[@ProfessionalPregumin]

​@@PlebNCthat was supposed to be with good karma?

[@rabidwallaby84]

There's a long-standing argument in Fallout lore that the "Fusion Core" is not actually fusion and is more marketing hype for Fission. It works more like fission, too, when you look at how it's implemented.

[@knighthunter5333]

🤣🤣🤣🤣, that’s hilarious. Would explain why there was a resource war for energy related materials when fusion was already “achieved”.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@knighthunter5333That is actually because the US was the only one with the technology and everyone else was still dependent on fossil fuels. It's why the Chinese invaded Anchorage, Alaska and why Europe and the Middle East went to war.

[@Specialistkay]

Yeah. This is it. Crazy all the effort into this video, and he didn't come across it. He probably just left it out to make this video.

[@b.c.2281]

Mass Fusion in FO4 specifically heavily marketed all its products as "Fusion" based, but never had working fusion tech. They finally had a working prototype/concept but that was shortly before the war began. I always found that bit of lore hilarious and kind of true to life. Just fake it until you can do it for real. Reminds me of Tesla's generously titled "Full self driving".

[@brianmulholland2467]

If this is the case, the TV show should have changed the words and called it fission. You can't expect a general audience to know that you're deliberately misusing words in your lore.

[@ZeonicFenrir]

Actually, Fallout 3 already introduced an underground power grid that is still active 200 years after the Great War. Radking made a video about “where does power come from in Fallout?”. Short version is that aside from generators, some locations have some power boxes that are connected underground and to the side of buildings, which upon destruction reveal copper coils, indicating that they are actually transformers. In the base game a ghoul scientists in one of the SatCom Arrays wrote in a terminal entry that she figured how to draw power from these underground power lines. The metro tunnels, many of which still have power, are supposedly supplied by these underground power lines as well. Lastly, in the Broken Steel DLC we finally get to access one of these underground power plants that are still active, Olney Powerworks, in order to retrieve a Tesla Coil for the Tesla Cannon.

[@klocper]

Yeah and NCR already had Hoover Dam and Helios 1, why the fuck would they need an ENCLAVE MADE Fusion Reactor. Plus the Enclave part... I wouldn't be surprised if the clean energy core turns into the core from Batman: the Dark Knight Rises.

[@jeremiahbennett3004]

​@@klocperthe enclave didn't make the fusion reactor, vault tec did, the enclave was researching the core.

[@FN_Fal-05]

@@klocpernah the courier and yes man destroyed the dam

[@LenKusov]

My headcanon is that most of the things in Fallout labeled "fusion " are kinda-sorta fusion, but it's not the main energy-maker. It makes a lot more sense from both a lore standpoint, and an IRL nuclear physics one, if the fusion in there is just a primitive fusor (something you can make at home outta old TV parts and some Deuterium from United Nuclear) acting as a triggerable, on-demand neutron source to kickstart some kind of nuclear battery to output more juice - probably a direct electrostatic battery, judging by the high voltages on the microfusion cell labels in-game and the kinds of high-voltage low-amperage juice your average directed energy weapon needs to function. It sounds complicated, but really all it is, is a beryllium can filled with ultra-low-pressure deuterium-tritium gas mix, with the target electrodes of the fusor being made of a fissile isotope like uranium 235 or plutonium. It's something you could make using 1950's tech (heck, the fission part was invented in 1912), and explains a lotta the in-game mechanics, including how breeder/recharger type weapons work - soaking up some of the excess neutrons with a fertile isotope like depleted uranium or natural thorium instead of making it purely outta high-test material, and mixing in some regular hydrogen into the D-T gas mix, makes something that can recycle some of its own neutrons into making more juice happen.

[@luzifershadres72]

If i remember correctly, it was a marketing trick and people keep calling it that beccause it stands on the side of the "fusion" stuff and most people in the waste land dont realy care to correct themself.

[@onewithsin]

New blast door graphics, nice.

[@WackoMcGoose]

Ah, I'm not the only one to notice that. Incorporating the logo is a nice touch.

[@PrestonGarhvey]

Infinitie power... that would be great for the common wealth as long as the insitute doesnt get ahold of such things. We need to show the people the minuteman are back, and as per usual, another settlement needs your help, I'll mark it on your map

[@knighthunter5333]

Nate: Yes dear, on my way dear. General my ass, just a glorified hit man. 💀

[@durandol]

Thank you Preston, I don't know what we'd do without you.

[@jameskaazaeros7087]

@@durandol not helping another settlement, that’s where

[@PrestonGarhvey]

@jameskaazaeros7087 don't worry I've marked them on your map

[@PrestonGarhvey]

@@durandol we need to show the people the minuteman are back

[@vsznry]

When I hear Cold Fusion, I always think of the Val Kilmer film, "The Saint."

[@shiftingsphere]

You don't really believe in all that "cold fusion" mumbo jumbo, do you?

[@Texas_Cody]

I watched that for the first time not long ago

[@wynnefox]

Kyle's alternate plot could actually be good to be like having hidden G.E.K.s all over and activating them starts restoring the world.

[@FSAPOJake]

Did Kyle Hill just make me want to spend $300+ on a pocket-sized Geiger counter? I'm so so tempted.

[@Hatchmatter]

Just get yourself a digital pocket dosimeter. That's what I have for industrial radiography. It reads active dose and accumulates until reset. It's also a rate alarm for high dose.

[@yokai64]

Bro's got that uranium fever

[@kylehill]

It’s worth the price if you’re an enthusiast like me! Honestly

[@jhealey48]

bro you got it for free how you gonna tell these peasants its worth the money ​@@kylehill

[@chadwahl9085]

Between Kyle Hill and Radioactive Drew the Radicode 103 looks tempting.

[@KingOfMadCows]

The Fallout franchise has gotten more fantastical over time. When the GECK was originally introduced, it was a miniature power generator, a computer containing useful information on rebuilding civilization, chemicals that can make the soil arable, and seeds for growing food and useful plants. But that was changed in Fallout 3 where they made it like a Star Trek replicator or Genesis Device that can rearrange things on the molecular level and restore the land to pristine condition. Also, the original Fallout had fusion but the problem was that they couldn't make fusion reactors fast enough to meet the energy demands of the world. And there wasn't enough oil or uranium left in the world to keep society functioning long enough to make the transition to fusion.

[@kukipett]

The biggest problem is that people who made that lore have no clue in science and just put together some big words that look like science but don't have any logic. I'm a scientist and i'm a Fallout fan since 20 years but i never try to explain Fallout science because it's useless, the moment you try to dig in and try to explain you realize that you just can't. So you better look at this like some fancy funny mad science. It's like magicians, once you know their tricks it's not funny anymore.

[@resnatachyon]

So..a vault dweller can turn rocks into a Nuka Cola fridge.

[@unarmored9973]

Certainly. I can still hear the lamenting in the No Mutants Allowed forums over Bethesda getting their hands on Fallout 3 like it was yesterday. Of course they were only half wrong at the time FO3 released, only to be fully vindicated decades later.

[@LifelessProjektion_EmptyInside]

i mean to be fair, these are writers not scientists. theyre going to get science wrong alot because they dont study science they just write stories that a large number of people will enjoy despite potentially being wrong on many levels. like this aint futurama levels of writers here ya know.

[@KLGChaos]

​@@kukipett Fallout has never really been based on real science. It leans heavily into the pseudo-science and theories of the 50s on how radiation and the like work.

[@Ak3R0]

In Fallout's lore: Fussion Cores, are only labaled as fusion cores, but use fission instead. Mass Fusion (company responsible for Fallout's Fusion Cores and most of pre-war power grid) used false advertising to lure in investors and shareholders.

[@user-je5do6jn2f]

Brian Fargo at Interplay and later Black Isles Studio was the brains behind the Fallout Universe's retro-futuristic tech. He came up with the power sources, the Pip-Boy, all the energy weapons, and Power Armor back in 1997. Lord, I'm old. I remember playing Fallout 1 and 2 on an old 486DX computer as a teenager...

[@carlstenger5893]

You're old? Where were you when I (and my gang) was playing the original Wasteland game 10 years earlier? Having not seen the Fallout TV show, is the story from Wasteland I canon?

[@user-je5do6jn2f]

@carlstenger5893 Wasteland had better Mutants and factions than FO, amazing for a Commodore 64 floppy game.

[@JonathanRossRogers]

@@carlstenger5893 The Fallout show is about Fallout, not Wasteland. It's odd that this has to be stated.

[@carlstenger5893]

@@JonathanRossRogers Inasmuch as Fallout is the direct descendant of Wasteland I (Brian Fargo having created both), the question is quite reasonable.

[@KaiserNicer]

I think you are confusing Brian with Tim since it was primarily Tim and Leonards's baby. Brian didn't actually do that much work on the original Fallout

[@wagrhodes13]

As I recall, the 'fusion cores' and fusion batteries' that one encounters are revealed to actually be hyper portable fission devices, Mass Fusion was misrepresenting them to the general public, in Fallout cannon.

[@hanzzel6086]

But they did have fusion, they just deemed it too expensive to fully implement (and all the Vaults use fusion as primary/secondary powerplants). Plus, that is F:4 lore, before that it was implied/stated that they simply couldn't build enough of the Fusion reactors before the oil/fission fuel ran out. And the U.S was being greedy and withholding the tech from pretty much everyone else.

[@Jarms48]

That’s only the ones made by Mass Fusion. All the fusion cores you find around FO4. Micro fusion cells are fusion batteries. GECKS are powered by cold fusion.

[@shoazdon7000]

Is this actually canon?

[@hanzzel6086]

@@shoazdon7000 Not really. The only gamee to even hint at what op says is 4 and 76, every other game says/implies that they just couldn't build fusion plants quick enough.

[@kinagrill]

@@Jarms48 That's Bugthesda retcon-canon.

[@michaelhathorus4859]

The Wachowskis said, originally, humans would be stored to run complex calculations since the human brain is more complex than any digital equivalent, when compared for mass & energy needed. A studio exec insisted on the 'battery' idea and thus we have that story beat.

[@wernerviehhauser94]

Using the cerebral cortex for it's computing power would have made SO MUCH MORE sense.....

[@PlebNC]

Executive probably thought using a brain as a computer was to complex for the audience to grasp, in a film about a virtual reality where you can bend spoons by thinking hard enough.

[@PhotonBeast]

I guess the follow up question would be what is being calculated? One could imagine some for the Matrix itself, sure, but the excess might be for basic low level processing of the Machine Cities ie running traffic lights kind of thing. But still, I'd be curious where they would have gone with that story beat. That said, it would have really underscored the idea of how interconnected and interdependent machine and human actually were and how grey the situation is for Neo in the long run.

[@Appletank8]

Of course, the machines needed all that processing power to mine Bitcoin.

[@Orphioux]

@@Appletank8 Biiiiiiiiitconnnnnnnneeeeeeccccctttt!~!!!!

[@StephenDeagle]

Correction: Not every major energy technology is a means of turning water into steam to turn turbines to generate electricity. Hydropower: Uses the flow of water to directly turn turbines without producing steam. Wind Power: Uses wind to turn turbines directly. Solar Photovoltaic (PV): Converts sunlight directly into electricity using semiconductor materials. Tidal Wave Power: Uses the movement of water to drive turbines directly.

[@nlald]

“What is the Photoelectric Effect if not a quantum turbine?” - Einstein, probably.

[@kpulver1992]

I've been watching for a long time. I finally joined The Facility today! Proud to be here with you all! Love your content Kyle. 🎉

[@captslaq]

A Geiger counter sponsor is definitely a chef's kiss for this channel.

[@PlebNC]

Finally an in video sponsor that's both relevant, new and actually interesting enough that I might buy it. And it's buying a product too not a subscription.

[@michaeljamesm]

“here is one example of the stuff you can do at home.. I have a piece of uranium ore” now I want one, I gotta get me some uranium too

[@PlebNC]

@@michaeljamesm The FBI: "OH REALLY? HOW INTERESTING." *sound of every surveillance team turning in your direction*

[@jonathonclary1681]

Not cables, they couldn't guarantee that any infrastructure they created wouldn't be destroyed. Instead they devised a way to provide wireless power over large distance. So all you needed to recieve power is a proprietary power reciever from vault-tec.

[@mrtango1824]

literally covered the inverse square law (tho in the ad).

[@shanent5793]

​@@mrtango1824why should the inverse square law matter?

[@InShortSight]

"why should the inverse square law matter?" because "wireless power over large distance"

[@jonathonclary1681]

@@shanent5793 because when you think about wireless power, people assume radiation, so the further you are from the source of the power, the less power available. But we're discussing science fiction here, you have to decide at what point you draw the line between them. However, Tesla believed that he could create limitless wireless power for all. It's not a stretch that someone could finish his work, or that some greedy corporation would find a way to monitize it. Monetization was the one factor that held Tesla back in the eyes of his investors.

[@awaitingconfirmation8406]

​@@jonathonclary1681Tesla's dream is not achievable, at least not how he envisioned it. Wireless power is very wasteful even at a few centimeters so you would need a way to somehow send the power in a beam to the device you want to power. Powering a whole room or city would waste way to much power to be viable

[@Spoon80085]

If they haven't been using cold fusion already in Fallout, I don't even want to know what's inside of a Fusion Core.

[@TheManadeath]

My exposure to cold fusion prior to this was a cinematic in StarCraft where some marines brought a cold fusion nuclear bomv. Was a ice chest with a timer and the beers they put in it

[@mrtango1824]

tbh, i was half expecting the McGuffin to be another GECK.

[@krithicknaik3106]

There is a theory that the fusion cores in fallout are actually Fission based. Alot of lore specific youtubers have explained it well. The beryllium agitator was Mass Fusion's first attempt on actual fusion power. But wasn't put into production because of the great war.

[@Toadaboticus]

Mass Fusion and its CEO were on the verge of making a breakthrough: The Cleanpower Initiative would finally create the first sustainable, clean fusion reactor. Through the use of a beryllium agitator, this reactor would be able to provide over 22,000 megawatts to Massachusetts and allow the company to finally stop lying.the switch was finally thrown on July 30, 2077. By August 29, the reaction was confirmed as stable

[@Jarms48]

Yeah, that’s fusion cores that were introduced in FO4. Micro fusion cells are hot fusion batteries. GECKs are already powered by cold fusion.

[@Toadaboticus]

​@@Jarms48 actually just the item as a fusion core was. They existed in Fallout lore for 1&2 its just that Bethesda hates to read established canon. In 1&2 cold fusion exists but is only practical for small scale operations like transportation and power armor. While large scale energy production requires hot fusion. Yes, fusion energy exists in the Fallout series. In the game, the United States developed a practical way to use nuclear fusion for energy generation during a global energy crisis in the 21st century. The process uses cold fusion, a nuclear reaction that occurs at or near room temperature and allows for nearly limitless power generation. However, cold fusion has a lower energy density than nuclear fission, so it's not ideal for large scale power plants. Instead, the game uses cold fusion for transportation and weapons, such as power armor

[@MxChloeB42]

@@Toadaboticus Except it's not cold fusion for transportation and weapons because Red Rocket was literally selling coolant (at over $100 a unit) to prevent cars from overheating. Also it's still heavily implied to not even be fusion as the Red Rocket near Sanctuary has a secret dumpsite right behind it full of radioactive waste materials, something fusion doesn't produce. So it's still heavily implied to be fission powered cars.

[@Toadaboticus]

Hahaha ah yes Just cause it's in FO4 means it's absolutely. OK go play the first 4 games and let me know after. I do mean 1, 2, tactics, BoS I never said weapons I said power armor. It as in in game lore and the FoB the cold fusion only worked effectively in small scale operation. That's why microfusion cells exist because they are part of the larger fusion energy programs used by Posidion oil . Heck Necropolis was a Fusion plant

[@ThatKobold1351]

Fun Fact, a Fallout G.E.C.K. has a Cold Fusion reactor in it to power its insane terraforming properties

[@Daaninator]

geiger counter as a sponser is crazy lmao

[@GojiMet86]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="721">12:01</a> "I know I'm being pedantic here" Don't worry, Kyle, we appreciate it! In this world where the fuzziest, pseudoscientific things get the most attention, we need to be as accurate as possible.

[@KeithElliott-zd8cx]

seriously. we were all for the 'overly pedantic take' on stuff, back even to the before science days, it's fine, it's why we watch, if anything.

[@zemerick]

Unfortunately, he wasn't entirely accurate. Yet again, he claims that Cold Fusion ( in general ) has been a hoax, and skips right over Muon-Catalyzed Fusion, which is real. ( However, like hot fusion, it's energy negative. Just for a different reason. ) It's the reason there was real interest for Cold Fusion for so long. After the initial palladium crap, real cold fusion was found and proven. It just had some inefficiencies that needed improvement, and we would be there. ( Which, unfortunately those problems turned out to be very hard, if not impossible, to improve enough to matter. ) Mostly good otherwise, but kinda sad to see him miss this twice now.

[@zemerick]

Oops, almost forgot, he had another major error. He says that fusion directly creating electricity isn't a thing, but it actually is. At least, reasonably direct. There are different types of fusion than the standard Deuterium / Tritium that work, and would not require the whole steam turbine portion. Several different types in fact. Helium3 and Protium + Boron-11 are 2 examples of "Aneutronic Fusion".

[@SweetLittleAki]

I collect uranium glass, and ironically have been looking for a Geiger. For the 1st time EVER, a sponsor is relevant to me! XD

[@WillFuI]

The fallout show was by far the best video game to tv show transition done

[@kalkuttadrop6371]

Also FYI, Cold Fusion DID exist in the games. It's what powers G.E.C.K.'s. (And while what people are saying is mostly true, Fusion WAS discovered, for real, in the Fallout Universe just a year or two before the war broke out. So it did end up in a few high end high importance places, like the 200 Megaton Bomb the Chinese sent to the Capital)

[@samleen]

I thought that the modern hydrogen bomb already uses hot fusion. I see no reason why cold fusion would be better

[@kalkuttadrop6371]

@@samleen They didn't discover fusion period.

[@Snazzydragon]

The "cold fusion" dohicky, if they wanted something more plausible, could have been some theoretical artificial isotope that emits relativistic muons - this would allow for a real type of cold fusion (muon-electron substitution cartelisation fusion) that doesn't have a real world net positive solution. I've always wanted to see it in a sci-fi setting since its such a cool process that involves a) atoms getting smaller due to muon mass and b) muon decay being delayed by relativistic speeds, which are both super cool science-education type things

[@godlygamer911]

I like many others, I'm going to like this comment to pretend that I understand what the fuck you're talking about.

[@2hotflavored666]

Obviously.

[@shanent5793]

Then it's no longer limitless power, only as much power as the available isotope

[@cyborgninjamonkey]

You could do even better by skipping the unobtanium isotope in favor of some system that simply disrupts alpha-sticking losses.

[@kukipett]

Don' t lose time trying to explain Fallout science, it's useless, it's mostly just fancy fantasy science. It's funny and has to be seen as some mad scientist product.

[@user-op8yh6xl6t]

"Combined with a form of fusion" is one of the greatest hand waves in scifi history.

[@ravioli9171]

"Here is something you can do at home." Pulls out uranium

[@procrastinatinggamer]

One of the more interesting takes on fusion power I’ve seen in fiction is in the tabletop RPG “Traveller”. A book that came out a few weeks after the Fallout show aired (the Starship Operator’s Manual) gave a rough overview of how the Fusion+ power systems on the setting’s starships works. Through a combination of artificial gravity technology, nuclear dampeners to stimulate beta decay, and a bunch of other stuff, they take in hydrogen, break it up and let the beta decay set things up to fuse it into deuterium, turn some of the deuterium into tritium the same way, then do it again to make helium which gets vented to help carry heat away from the rest of the ship. Aside from just doing a lot of fusing in ways you need gravitic separation and ramming to achieve, the nuclear dampers allow all of this to happen at lower temperatures than normal while also preventing radiation from getting out into the rest of the ship (alongside more conventional forms of shielding, engineers aren’t gonna rely on just one thing for this after all), wrap it all up and it also means you need less space for things like cooling systems and you don’t need as much physical shielding so the whole thing can be more compact, always a plus aboard a starship.

[@dvssicarius]

Your scenario regarding vault-tec access codes for hardened buried EMP-proof transmission lines vs cold fusion just became canonical in my version of the fallout world for my Fallout TTRPG campaign. Thank you! It just connected all the lines in my head for the overarching plot of the whole thing

[@DarthStuticus]

Technically, it would provide more energy, in theory, because you don't need to use up some of that energy to keep the device hot, it would all go to energy production. It would not be much, as it would only be the temperature difference between the cold and hot temperatures, but it would be more.

[@kinagrill]

Only great value would be the safeness of it perhaps? cuz no meltdown issues?

[@sillyking1991]

that is definitely one of the things that made me eye-roll. I was like "i coulda swore there was already fusion in the fallout world... OTOH i don't really expect hollywood to actually understand, or to even try to understand, how any of that works.

[@hozimina]

I've always been curious about the Rossi E-cat and wanted a formal and thorough examination of how it could/not work.

[@FacterinoCommenterino]

Today's Fact: The strongest animal on Earth, relative to its body size, is the rhinoceros beetle, which can lift objects over 850 times its own weight.

[@JG-yk6ny]

How did a Kripperino poster end up here?

[@WildmanTrading]

I wonder how much weight that would be if we had that strength.

[@VictorPerez-vu1fo]

​@@WildmanTrading 850 times your own weight

[@menotyou8958]

Wrong on 2 parts of what you said. The rhinoceros beetle can PULL 850 times it's body weight. The dung beetle can pull 1141 times it's body weight. You should really do your research before spreading BS.

[@mr.voidroy6869]

​@JG-yk6ny u know he is a user like you and subbed to channels he likes? Needs like nerdy things.

[@MrTrainman96]

My explanation is that Fallout's science fiction in regards to nuclear power has a few conditions: 1) nuclear power is much more inefficient 2) Anything electrical needs a lot of electricity 3) this cold fusion tech is able to convert nuclear reactions directly into electricity effectively infinitely. I think the vat of water in the background is basically the fuel rather than boiling water. Hot fusion and fission being much less efficient with fuel is I think supported by the game. There's tons of nuclear waste everywhere, nuclear fuel is frequently being delivered to both large powerplants and small reactors at industrial sites, fusion batteries don't last all that long (and they don't need boiling water). What this cold fusion tech does is remove the need to constantly feed nuclear fuel in and remove waste from the show's version of nuclear power. Especially in the context of the wasteland where manufacturing more fusion batteries is basically impossible.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

But then how are they able to make it portable without outright killing everyone around them or heating up to the point of setting everything around them on fire? Plus, the lord has these portable fusion batteries lasting centuries, so they're pretty stable.

[@MrTrainman96]

@@Lobsterwithinternet Some kind of tech similar to Beta Voltaic batteries or RTG i think. As for shielding from radiation, Fallout's world is both much more lax with nuclear safety and has thin but very effective radiation shielding available

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@MrTrainman96 But then we’d be seeing a lot of ghouls appearing Pre-War if it was that lax with regulations.

[@MrTrainman96]

@@Lobsterwithinternet Every single game in the series has at least 1 nuclear waste dump where things are disposed of improperly and most have nuclear waste out in open barrels where it's barely shielded at all. I don't understand your point

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@MrTrainman96 My point is we’d see a large bunch of ghouls created before the war if people were that exposed to radiation. But since we don't see large numbers of ghouls who were created before the war, only during or after it, then even the lax nuclear safety would seem to have been enough. But you have a good point.

[@marc21256]

Water chip was a McGuffin (in game, not the show, where it was played for a laugh). platinum chip was s false McGuffin (it did interact with the plot, so wasn't a true McGuffin, but close enough). Cold Fusion was a McGuffin in Fallout (TV). Also, play the games. Read every sign and terminal. The cars had Red Rocket to get coolant, not fuel. So every car was fusion powered, but needed massive coolant requirements to actually run. Cold fusion eliminates all the restrictions on location and use. In game, a fusiion core powering a single light lasts forever. Because the very low draw means it can't overheat. Powering something small for 1,000,000 years, or powering something large for 15 minutes. Because the higher current draw requires more hot fusion, which exceeds the cooling capacity, and it runs out. For safety, when the coolant ends, the core turns off. This may look like the core is running out of fusion, but it's just running out of coolant. Cold fusion would allow an unending fusion core, with a higher current draw, running at 100% capacity indefinitely. Also, the resource wars were deliberately vague. They weren't fought over oil (based on the areas of conflict, aside from Anchorage, if the Chinese were going for oil), but on the rare metals used in hot fusion. If the cold fusion used microscopic amounts of palladium, you might be able to make 10,000 cold fusion cores with the material of a single hot fusion core, and no resource wars need be fought for the power source.

[@beastamer1990s]

"here is something you can do at home." "Aight, so you wanna grab some uranium out the pantry to start-"

[@RedheadJack]

Now THIS is a sponsor I can get behind. Nice job Kyle!

[@jffry890]

He should endorse podiums. That's a product I can stand behind.

[@vaszgul736]

basically they did the science quivalent of if a caveman discovered fire, knew somehow in the future people have lighters, imagined that fire = steam and steam = power then proceeded to make an entire story about trying to obtain a singular cigarette lighter to power all of mankind thats the cutest type of error

[@Skye-xj3bx]

I love that you not only have deep knowledge and love of the science but also a deep knoledge and love for the games :3 LOVE IT

[@saltysalt2093]

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that you made the tv/monitor with the PowerPoint on it visible towards the start of the video, when you zoomed in to it. (it really tickled that part of my brain. iykyk)

[@DanReyesB]

Oh brother, that vault connecting cables plot line would've been awesome! It would also explain how Vault-Tec transmitted instructions to the overseers, and it gives Vault-Tec way more presence in the wasteland than they already have.

[@ilikebeingsmart]

I’ve been going down a Fallout lore rabbit hole as of late, and this is the video that started me on it. I’ll have to watch your play through of the games at some point.

[@GratissTVofficial]

Man your videos are just on another level, amazing

[@Jcewazhere]

It'd be scary if you spoiled season 2 of the Fallout tv show.

[@stinky9067]

Idk what happens in 2 but season 3 is a full Disney animated reboot where bombs get dropped that bring everything to life and changes the world into a lively animated type world, talking flowers the whole deal.

[@Jcewazhere]

@@stinky9067 So like that Star Trek where they found Spock's body alive and well after he sacrificed himself to save the crew mixed with Roger Rabbit? Meh, I'd watch it. Probably make Disney another billion dollars. 'Go woke, go broke" has got to be the most inaccurate statement cuntservatives have ever made.

[@David-jf3uf]

Thanks for being passionate about science communication. You really do make this stuff fun to learn. Thanks Kyle. You’re awesome.

[@IcammyboyI]

The Fallout universe is a split timeline from ours after the war so they've had decades of different research done compared to us so maybe they really did make a really small efficient cold fusion generator in that little pod.

[@NotUlpoadingAnything]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="504">8:24</a> Vault-Tec didn't discover "cold fusion." Lee explains to Cooper at the meeting in the funeral home that Vault-Tec bought out the company she was working for. That's why she needed Hank's password to activate the capsule. He must have had high enough clearance in the company to be envolved in the project.

[@HavocFlux]

Cold fusion has been a staple of the Fallout series for a while. The G.E.C.K.s (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) is powered by cold fusion. It’s a big part of Fallout 1,2,&3.

[@BoxStudioExecutive]

But this also doesn't make any sense. If they had access to cold fusion as an energy source, then what was the point of the resource wars?

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@BoxStudioExecutiveBecause the US was the only one with fusion tech, plus they still needed petroleum for other products like plastics. That's why China invaded Anchorage and Europe invaded the Middle East.

[@BoxStudioExecutive]

@@Lobsterwithinternet 1. You don't need petroleum to make plastics. 2. If you had a bunch of stuff you didn't care much for because you have better stuff, it makes no sense for you to risk war over it. You gain nothing by going to war while risking everything.

[@duckling3615]

@@BoxStudioExecutive The US in Fallout is a chauvinist hardline anti-communist state run by essentially fascists by the start of the Great War. It is a pretty clear satire of the US Cold War politics and culture, done by overexerting the 1950s status quo for another hundred years and with many hyperboles. The US would have never helped its geopolitical rival Communist China

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@BoxStudioExecutive 1. In the Fallout world, no they don't. 2. What better stuff? You still need Rare Earth Elements for electronics and Uranium to fuel a bunch of stuff including cars. Plus, it doesn't matter if you have everything you need if your neighbor doesn't and attacks you for your stuff.

[@SenorGato237]

OR, they could have treated the ability to manufacture micro fusion cells and such as LosTech, and made the macguffin be the plans to do so.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Except it isn't lost as multiple groups can produce them like the Gun Runners in New Vegas and even the player can recycle microfusion cells.

[@Anderson_S17]

Fawks to the entire cast by the fusion generator after asking if they should get away from the prop. "I'm sorry, my companion(s), but no. We all have our own destinies, and yours culminates here."

[@ash-ash-dust-dust]

Honestly, best ad I've ever seen. It also taught me something about the inverse square law

[@AyvonKestrel]

you just made me realize Ella Purnell played Jinx in Arcane. my favorite character from League! i knew there was a reason Lucy sounded so familiar!

[@caru93]

I was so confused about his jinx comment. Thank you. Lol

[@Ixarus6713]

Oh my god, I could swear I'd heard her from somewhere! She's got an impressive vocal range!

[@gregluiz221]

I always wondered about that as well. Too compact...and how would power be regulated?

[@zzyzxgaming24601]

Awesome analysis of both the science behind cold fusion as well as a replacement science McGuffin that would have worked really well!

[@dion8895]

Just remember that the Fallout Universe isn't based on plausible hard-science scifi, or even what we like to think of it. It's meant to be evocative of what futuristic "atomic magic" sci-fi of the 1950's thought nuclear power would give us in the future, except in Fallout that "future" is the past.

[@ultrametric9317]

I have to point out, that superconductivity - current flow without resistance - also seems impossible on the face of it. Nevertheless, it happens, because in a very cold atomic lattice, bound pairs of electrons can form because of their joint quantum interactions with the lattice centers. These pairs disappear when the temperature is high enough to "detune" the lattice. Similarly - it is entirely possible that lattice interactions of hydrogen allows the nuclei to overcome their Coulomb barrier and form new states of matter with a liberation of energy. The theory of the nucleus is extremely complicated and quantum chromodynamics is almost useless as a calculating tool. It is entirely possible that new nuclear phenomena are at hand. For example - you might have two nuclear species oscillating around the maximum binding energy per nucleon, exchanging a proton back and forth, which would show up as heat. Also, it may happen that the palladium lattice has to be doped in just the right way, as with semiconductors, for lattice interactions to manifest. And it may be necessary to stimulate the entire system with applied electrical current.. There is enough positive evidence for a new phenomenon to really look hard at this problem from the standpoint of calorimetry and lattice interaction dynamics. So the word "fusion" is a misnomer, and "cold fusion" moreso - instead, we may be in a regime of "low-energy nuclear reactions".

[@cyborgninjamonkey]

Except we have figured out how to do cold fusion, it just works via μ- particles and no one's figured out how to make it energy efficient. I have a one gram square of palladium on my desk, it can absorb the volume of a grey whale in hydrogen gas before starting to become brittle. That's a lot-but when it comes to fusion ignition, it's nothing. Cooper pairing happens with leptonic point particles and equivalent charge carrying quasiparticles, not composite baryons which have nonzero volumes and still obey the Pauli exclusion principle. Keep in mind that electrons have rest mass, so if the principle here were correct one might expect oxygen-oxygen fusion to spontaneously occur in YBCO superconducting magnets after sufficient charge flux pumping on the transition line. We don't see that, I suspect simply because the quantum lattice interactions you mention-emergent magnon quantization-are governed by the fundamental electromagnetic force and not by chromodynamics.

[@lilpixie25]

God, imagine a world in which Kyle actually becomes a consultant for the writers of sci-fi; how cool would that be, to see the tech we nerd out about being represented properly and teaching kids about them at the same time!

[@kingki1953]

Wait, i thought he already write some books.

[@lilpixie25]

@@kingki1953 I don't know, but consulting is different, no? I'm not sure! XD

[@MstrCorrin]

There were also a lot of examples of things not being what they are advertised even within Vault Tec - the higher ups didn't know Dr. Braun was going to use his vault as a personal godly domain rather than finishing the designated experiment in 112 for example. Maybe cold fusion was just a wow-word... flimflam to get the bosses to invest in some ulterior idea, and they will find out it's snake oil in a future installment.

[@Sly_can_of_cheese]

If there were emp hardened wires connecting all of the vaults, it stands to reason there might be documentation depicting the wires. In case of repair needs, blueprints for instalation, or just to store in your "to cover my tuckus" file. That file would be a literal map to ALL of the vaults. That sounds like an awesome final Fallout game maguffin to me.

[@Sorain1]

It would fit for one stored in the vault from the show as well. Every vault would have a partial/local map of the system after all. But the managers would need one of the entire network, now wouldn't they?

[@aliceholmes4952]

43 seconds and no views? Kyl- gets destroyed by nuclear explosion.

[@OMFGRAZORGATOR]

whats up smoothskin

[@uncleweirdbeard86]

I like that clicking sound too. I like to find places that it clicks like constantly and just hang out there all day so I can hear it click. Sometimes it clicks so much it sounds like is squealing

[@scirrhia_kruden]

I think the more impressive detail is that Los Angeles was STILL fully wired to the grid, with all the internal wiring and lights in working condition. Ghost electricians, must've been.

[@jupitori7310]

FINALLY an ad of something I WANT to BUY

[@unholycrusader69]

43 seconds and no views? Kyl- _gets destroyed by nuclear explosion_

[@SindariGreymoon]

Thank you for producing these videos.

[@jw1548]

I love you Kyle Hill. Keep it up! So good hearing you, seeing you.

[@natalie022]

New blast door! 😮

[@handimanjay6642]

The really amazing part of the show is how wires, circuits, and light bulbs still work after 200 years.

[@sierra1513]

the boneyard wasn't uninhabited for 200 years though, it was an important part of the NCR and they had Power coming from Hoover Dam

[@AbeDillon]

Great video! I didn't know about the Paladium-based cold fusion theory, but I wish you had covered Muon-Catalyzed cold fusion which was demonstrated at Berkeley in 1965. Obviously, the experiments didn't come anywhere close to break-even, but they were able to demonstrate cold-fusion.

[@acecope1731]

Your Arcane reference STUNNED me!! I was seeing tweety birds.

[@Staleyisnowinchains]

I love science, your channel, the Fallout series and videos about fusion and false cold fusion. 10/10

[@brianmulholland2467]

I'm so glad I wasn't the only one irritated by the fact that the MacGuffin was cold fusion when hot fusion was shown in use by multiple characters. Just make more of those! The MacGuffin perhaps could have been the schematics for how to make more, or a way to make hot fusion from MacGuyver like materials that would be plentiful in the wasteland like bottlecaps and bullets.

[@Dirtynapkin]

Much love homie, I give you props for your aspect and knowledge of this. I hope "they" bring you in because you could take this to new levels..

[@waywardgun]

I have low INT so I'm glad Kyle is here to explain this to us wasteland luddites

[@Klinkiwinki]

Kyle Hill as a Fact checker in my FAVOURITE franchise?? Heck yeeeeh...

[@ACGreviews]

Lets do this. As always Kyle is one of the best on the YT. I also assume his hair alone can fuel an entire planet with its power for a couple years.

[@sstankfish]

So glad you made a video about this. Cold fusion being the crux of the season felt... Weird to say the least, so I'm glad there's at least discussion about it.

[@FruitSnackHorse]

Looking back, Kyle definitely looks like he grew up more than when I saw him in his bowcaster video 7 years ago. Love your content man

[@obvioululante2183]

Don't worry, guys. For season 2 they will retcon the hell out of it. You know, just like the games did.

[@HarrisonCoe]

@@D2.159seems to be a trend with everything nowadays, if something doesn’t perfectly align with an individuals head canon, they bitch and moan

[@Danfail100]

Not a problem. They use a Plotdevice. simple.

[@Ferrochrome12]

counterpoint: it looks just like something you'd see in a crunchy 90s CRPG cutscene, which is everything it needs to be.

[@GuntherRommel]

I appreciate your content every time it drops.

[@Arejen03]

Tony Stark was able to build it in a cave i guess hes was made from palladium

[@Wurtoz9643]

If I remember correctly the arc reactor he made in the cave actually needed palladium.

[@ShiaraPhoenixfire]

The whole second movie was him overcoming palladium poisoning from the reactor so that's correct

[@ChristophBrinkmann]

His arc reactor is made from the script creating it.

[@scottn322]

I felt like the show did a fantastic job at having something for every type of Fallout fan. But as someone who started with the first two way back in the day, and who loves NV, just... wow. They did such a brilliant job.

[@mikegLXIVMM]

"Just repeat to yourself it's just a show. I should really just relax" - Mystery Science Theater 3000

[@raweon_path_of_exile1263]

A portion of the energy output of the hot fusion plant is needed to keep the fusion (containment and/or providing/keeping the required conditions) going. So even if energy densitiy is the same, you can keep a larger portion of the yield with cold fusion.

[@RichardBaran]

Pons and Fleischmann = Elon Musk

[@stephanwister537]

That would imply that Musk is actually smart instead of the son of a racist Emerald baron who used money to buy companies

[@annocraft]

What if it's not Fusion but just the Principle of E=mc2. So that ALL the mass of the Water is getting converted into Energy. <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="793">13:13</a> But than the Story with Vault 4 wouldn't worked.

[@Nakata2021]

In the series the shiny object itself discharges electricity (she get shocked when touches it in the head). So it in itself is a cold fusion electricity generator and the machine is just to extract the electrical power from it.

[@georges2842]

THANK YOU! This has been my biggest gripe about the show!