Fat Man and Little Boy (6/9) Movie CLIP - I'm Dead (1989) HD

Fat Man and Little Boy movie clips: j.mp/1JboFHm
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CLIP DESCRIPTION:
Michael (John Cusack) leads the team in assembling the core when something goes terribly wrong.
FILM DESCRIPTION:
"Fat Man" and "Little Boy" were the nicknames given the atomic bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the waning days of World War II. This elaborately assembled film is the story of the events leading up to the dawn of the atomic age. Paul Newman plays General Leslie Groves, a hard-nosed career soldier who in 1942 finds himself the reluctant "nursemaid" to a group of idealistic scientists in Los Alamos, New Mexico. As the military head of the top-secret Manhattan Project, Groves intends to have the operation run by the book--and failing that, to have things his way at all costs. The film's storyline narrows down to a battle of egos between Groves and atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Dwight Schultz), in his own way as contentious and childishly single-purposed as the general.
CREDITS:
TM & © Paramount (1989)
Cast: John Cusack
Director: Roland Joffé
Producers: John Calley, Tony Garnett
Screenwriters: Roland Joffé, Bruce Robinson
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[@RichSmithson]

The smashing cup was added in. In reality Slotin was paying attention, it just slipped off the screwdriver.

[@fatetestarossa2774]

INDEED

[@EvyWuf2016]

Should've had another screwdriver as a stopper.

[@operator8014]

@@EvyWuf2016 Probably shouldn't have been using a screwdriver...

[@Justowner]

@@EvyWuf2016 They had stoppers, he just chose to remove them.

[@mariosebastiani3214]

About Slotin, Fermi said that with his attitude and lack of safety measures, it was only a matter of time for a deadly accident to happen. and this was a couple years BEFORE.

[@xaiano794]

Officially his words were 'Well, that does it" and he wasn't holding it with 2 screwdrivers, he was holding it with 1 screwdriver and his bare hand placed atop the top half. There was only limited radiation until they passed the point of criticality, then after that point it unleashed a massive wave of radiation. They got the colour of the light right though.

[@joeygill2616]

What is criticality?

[@xaiano794]

@@joeygill2616 ok so imagine you have some uranium. occasionally one of the atoms will split, releasing neutrons. If those neutrons strike another uranium nucleus they will cause that other atom to split and release neutrons too. If, more neutrons escape the material than interact with other atoms (like they fly out the sides) then you'll get fewer and fewer uranium atoms splitting until it reaches a background level. If you kept them all in, then they would exponentially increase - like one would split to make 2 neutrons, 2 would split new atoms to make 4, then 8 etc. Criticality is the point at which you switch over from decreasing over time to increasing over time - like the exact point at which 1 atom will create neutrons to split exactly 1 more indefinitely. any point above this will be a chain reaction (supercritical) and any point below will die out over time (subcritical) To achieve criticality you can do one of 3 things, have more material to increase the chance of neutrons hitting other atoms before they go out the sides, make it more dense to increase the chance neutrons will hit something and use neutron reflectors to bounce neutrons that would get out, back in.

[@BedsitBob]

Indeed, there was a hole in the top, in which he had his thumb, enabling him to flick the top hemisphere off, in about a second, but even that wasn't fast enough.

[@tamahagane1700]

Afaik blue light was never captured on a surveillance camera and excursions happened around the world with such equipment installed.

[@dylanhughes8457]

@@xaiano794 if I'm not mistaken, they only do that since they're under water due to what's called Cherenkov radiation. It's basically electrons moving faster than the phase velocity of light in water, making a "light boom" of blue light (much akin to the sonic boom you get when you break the sound barrier). So with this core being out of water I don't believe it would shine blue

[@coleparker5179]

Scientist: *can tell if everyone is going to survive based on how far away they are from the fission core* also scientist: ScReWdRiVeR

[@tylerchambers6246]

the duality of man, genius and stupidity, angel and animal. "Man is a god in ruins", according to Emerson. According to Shelley: "Against stupidity even the gods contend in vain." rlly makes ya think

[@damshek]

The experiment was designed to be done with safety precautions, but the scientist opted for the screwdriver method because it looked cooler. He killed himself and severely damaged the health of several other people because of that bit of bravado...

[@willannells6988]

Have you met a real leading scientist? Because that sounds about right to me

[@kmarasin]

The intelligence of many smart people is exceeded only by their arrogance. A lack of proper "Safety Culture" has caused many, many fatal accidents because large numbers of smart people underestimated their own fallibility. It keeps happening. I can pretty much predict that within the next five years or so, there is going to be a major accident, likely with fatalities, involving American space flight (public or private), simply because it's about that time; they happen in every space-faring nation approximately every twenty years, and the last big American one was 2003. It could be either SLS/Artemis or one of the private U.S.-based companies.

[@timesnewlogan2032]

“Science isn’t about ‘why’, it’s about ‘why not’!” -Cave Johnson

[@hmmok7680]

irl his first words after taking the top off were “Well, that does it.” Haunting.

[@tommurphy2836]

Depends on what his tone was really

[@ausinasmith96]

When you're a scientist and you know exactly why you're going to die and how for the mistake just made Damn that sucks

[@logicplague]

This is after watching another collegue go through the same thing months before, and Enrico Fermi telling him he'd be dead within a year doing the experiment the way he did.

[@RichSmithson]

@@logicplague also the same group of scientists were doing the experiment too much. As many as 9 times and they were doing it for journalists who wanted to witness the experiment too. Fermi said they would be dead within a year and told them to use something better then a screwdriver which they ignored. Instead the screwdriver slipped and some of them were dead within 2 weeks.

[@codyeakinsbradley]

@@tommurphy2836 most likely stoic

[@momo-dm3rw]

He knows is dead man. Immediately starts to calculate the level of exposure of the team.

[@lewisner]

Should have taken a couple of packs of Radaway.

[@aidanhancock2117]

@@lewisner should of used some rad X or mysterious syrum befor hand too.

[@Kilo416]

I mean, may as well

[@brettbaxter7882]

@@aidanhancock2117 Maybe this is where the timeline splits and he's given some Forced Evolution Virus to save his life and hilarity ensues.

[@aidanhancock2117]

@@brettbaxter7882 thank heavens im in one of the vaukts that has no experiment. Guessim good

[@balint6873]

Moral of the story: dont use screwdrivers for lifting beryllium shells

[@cairnex4473]

That really is one of those things that goes without saying.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Slotin: "Wuddum I sposeda do, invent a beryllium shell lifter?" Team: "Well, er, YES."

[@kratty]

The radiation gifted him the power of knowing exactly when he was going to die.

[@CanceriousIG]

Yeah, early

[@Ezio-Auditore94]

A clear example of an underrated comment

[@veczz2509]

Well, you aren’t wrong

[@yumyumwhatzohai]

And they said radioactive superpowers where fiction ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@theduke7539]

Well math did really. Irl, he did less than 2 hours off of his calculations. Considering biology wasn't his specialty. I'd say that's pretty good

[@FirstLast-cg2nk]

This wasn't the first time that Slotin had done this experiment, by the way: He'd done it several times without incident, but all parties involved knew exactly how dangerous this was. The core had killed someone just 9 months prior. Rufus, the Demon Core, was dangerous, and could easily go supercritical if mishandled. Fermi actually told Slotin that if he kept doing this experiment, he'd be dead within the year. *He was right.*

[@coreymunroe8073]

@jeff nomad They actually melted it down and distributed it through the rest of the nuclear arsenal. They did not detonate it.

[@coreymunroe8073]

@jeff nomad You're welcome.

[@ericfermin8347]

Best Fermi story is of him dropping pieces of paper to the ground during Trinity, noticing the displacement of the paper in the air as the shockwave passed, and calculating the yield.

[@ericfermin8347]

@Ban this youtube I thought that was Szilard.

[@jimland4359]

I had an uncle who was a pilot in WWII. At one point he split an apartment with a handful of other pilots who gave him a hard time for "flying like an old lady." This uncle had flown under the rim of the Grand Canyon and under the Golden Gate Bridge. Uncle told him, "I might fly like an old lady, but I'll still be here while you guys are pushing up daisies." and he was right.

[@diegomo1413]

This is like something straight out of high fantasy. A dangerous artifact known as the Demon Core consists of two halves. In the right hands, it is a source of a vast wealth of knowledge and power the closer you put the halves together. But in the hands of the greedily foolish, if you let the two halves meet, it curses anyone nearby with a slow and painful death.

[@mochalatte4901]

This is actually a pretty cool idea

[@me8042]

Or short and really painful death.

[@thenumbah1birdman]

@@me8042 too slow a death if you're the one liquefying in a hospital bed

[@aao331]

The two half-spheres were a beryllium neutron reflector, not the core. The demon core was a perfect sphere located in the center.

[@user-gn6jj8qh1w]

You forgot one thing: But either way, you need a screwdriver to manipulate reflector halves.

[@ravenwda007]

He suffered for nine days so doctors could document radiation sickness. He was a strong man.

[@abs5721]

Yeah, how unfortunate for Hasashi Ouchi though. They kept him alive for 83 days so they could experiment on him.

[@boltreaverastalos8310]

@@abs5721 No the reason why ouchi have to suffer for 83 day is because his family will. they can't accept the true that he already dead

[@MAXIMUM646]

@@boltreaverastalos8310 If I recall right, it was also cuz the hospital he was at had an oath all doctors had to follow that they must do everything they can to save someone's life, even if the method had less than a 1% chance of success, so long as it wasn't 0%, they had to try

[@boneor...7022]

@@abs5721 why bring him into this?

[@SergyMilitaryRankings]

@@boneor...7022 Because it's a conversation about radiation sickness

[@angryox3102]

This scene caused me to have an irrational fear of radiation as a child. I felt like I was going to come across enriched uranium or plutonium at some point in the future.

[@largol33t1]

It's not the radiation that scares me. It's the arrogant fools who keep playing around with it. And these guys were faaaarrrrrr from the last to play around with something like it was a toy...

[@N0M4dIC1RST]

Me too... And you know what? I did come across such things in my life. But I wasn't affraid anymore, I was fascinated. I am a physics technologist, currently well on my way to becoming a physicist. I've manipulated radioactive materials and machines emitting X-rays and gamma rays. I literally have a small amount of very radioactive polonium a few feets from me right now. Fear is a strange thing. It can keep you in the dark, or it can motivate you to understand and vanquish it.

[@N0M4dIC1RST]

@@largol33t1 I'm one of those "arrogant fools" that dabbles into the dark and arcane arts of physics. Ask me anything. What are you affraid of?

[@tacit9873]

@@N0M4dIC1RST they fear you might throw radioactive material at them lol

[@Keithjustkeithwastaken]

@@largol33t1 yep thank god for them aswell the leaps they have made are spectacular

[@joeyblaze2509]

The radiation levels 1000 meters away from ground zero of Hisorshima was nearly half of what he received standing that close to the demon core.

[@JohnBender1313]

Can't people enter the elephants foot room at Chernobyl for like a minute and only have mild damage? One of the most radioactive places on the planet. But a second and a half around this thing kills you in a week or so. Wild.

[@LinenAssociate]

@@JohnBender1313 When the foot was discovered a few months after the Chernobyl disaster it was 5 minutes for a lethal dose. Almost 40 years later and it produces much less radiation, still highly unsafe levels, but it won't kill you nearly as fast due to the highest radioactive elements degrading (aka half-life) into other elements.

[@jonahfalcon1970]

@@LinenAssociate You still can't stay in there even with a rad suit.

[@BurgerGrabber]

From what I can tell the real problem here was that there were not enough screwdrivers involved.

[@lewisner]

They should have used a 50 foot screwdriver.

[@danschneider8453]

siR miLLs Or possible lack of hamner

[@g00gleminus96]

STOP! Hammer time!

[@smartfrenandromax6651]

siR miLLs | The problem seems to be either the lack of proper story script writing or the lack of safety protocols. I mean, people just go back and forth as if they're working on a junior high school science project. They even drink on the job! I mean, there is a reason on why some offices banned drinking and working together in the same area. It's as if in the original script, someone spilled something, then the whole thing short circuited. But… they need to edit that script, because there is no electricity involved here.

[@blueskyatfero]

@@smartfrenandromax6651 this is a dramatization of the fact that this technology was so unknown and new that yes in fact there were no safety protocols. How do you think we came to understand the dangers of radiation? It's no coincidence that many of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan project died of cancer.

[@mannyzx1]

From the start of this scene, I knew it was critical to the Plot. But by the end, I realized it was supercritical.

[@Boultbeeable]

badum-tsss

[@misterschubert3242]

You're just fission for likes...

[@Boultbeeable]

@@misterschubert3242 BADUM TSSS

[@johnleeson6946]

kEFF>>>>> 1 8205, S8G

[@jetaddicted]

You’ve made my day radiant.

[@JohnJ469]

"If these two halves come together we will all die. I'll hold them apart with a screwdriver as making proper equipment is for wimps." This is exactly why there are so many movies about really smart scientists doing incredibly stupid things.

[@squiggles9612]

There auctally was equipment, but the guy used scewdrivers so he could get closer to super-criticality

[@neutronalchemist3241]

The safety procedures were to use shims, but to insert and extract them required time, so Slotin used the screwdriver as a shortcut. Like many workers, he felt too confident, (he had done that experiment many times, and was already disaffectioned with the kind of work he was doing at Los Alamos) and ignored the safety precautions to spare time. Fermi (among the other things, a leading statistic expert) actually told Slotin that, had he kept doing the experiment that way, he would have been dead within a year.

[@OnceShy_TwiceBitten]

@foxfireman188 Yeah, I have no sympathy here tbh. He personally is why he killed himself, AND those other people near by. Complacent arrogance.

[@Cockalicious]

​@@OnceShy_TwiceBitten the other people also knew what they were getting into

[@Geheimnis-c2e]

@@OnceShy_TwiceBitten You have to understand the context of the situation here. It was barely just after WW2 where urgency took priority in place of safety and preservation. That and the fact that Slotin had done this multiple times already. His final words came out like he's already accepted his fate when it happened. Not saying it's his own fault, but it doesn't make it any less tragic.

[@jonmar4683]

got to say, his screwdriver literally screwed him.

[@CygnusLaboratorys2056]

WHAT? A RAPIST SCREWDRIVER???

[@jeffreycollins7297]

That's a flathead for ya, always slippin on ya when you need em.

[@velocity9OOOYT]

Screweddriver

[@exoplanet4905]

No pum intended

[@stray_cat87]

Aged like fine wine

[@MrJustonemorevoice]

Human : *Slaps a nuclear fission core* Fission core : "I am impressed, but you're still going to die"

[@Slappap]

Car sales man slaps core: this baby will kill me in 9 days...

[@verifieduser6781]

Hands down one of the funniest comments I've read in a while lmao.

[@spacetechempire510]

So you have chosen death

[@bluegrassdroneservice8669]

American: slaps nuclear fission core, this baby right here will get you at least a million kills Japan: 🧐

[@MrJustonemorevoice]

@@bluegrassdroneservice8669 It didn't just kill them. Trash Anime was apparently created in the nuclear fission and released upon the world.

[@kuribayashi84]

"There is one terrifying word in the world of radiation." *"Oops."*

[@phaub]

Same a surgery.

[@jonahfalcon1970]

Thank you, Monster a-go-go.

[@Artecus]

There's a bit missing from reality. The film doesn't show you that his idiot stunt nearly sent Alvin Graves (who stood behind him) to the Grave. Luckily, Graves survived, but spent one excruciating year ridden in an infirmary, hard recovery. Louis Slotin (Mr. Screwdriver) correctly calculated that he had only nine days to live, and indeed he died on day nine.

[@MilesBellas]

The situation is inaccurate in many ways.

[@dragonridley]

Slightly ironic that the guy named Graves survived.

[@Audfile]

@@dragonridley no he didn't.

[@baloog8]

There were permanent disabilities for survivors.. in ways

[@pseudotasuki]

@@dragonridley Graves survived the radiation sickness, but damage from the accident likely contributed to his death from a heart attack two decades later. Though even then his hypertension was also a major factor.

[@hellboy6507]

Who the hell thought it was a good idea to control the criticality with two loose screwdrivers?

[@MrSingularity44]

Worse, it was one screwdrive in real life and he held up the top of the neurton shield with his other hand.

[@nuclearthreat545]

Got a better idea?

[@VallornDeathblade]

The scientist himself. It was a completely non-standard procedure he came up with himself and which horrified several other people who knew about it.

[@ramagefreak]

It was called "tickling the dragons tail" and they all knew it was dangerous. But the was showboating... And paid the price..

[@JanBruunAndersen]

Ever watched any of the many Fail of the Week videos here on KZbin? Who thought that was a good idea?

[@Rogerv1032]

For anyone curious, the reason why Slotin told everyone to remove anything metal and mark their location was so that he can calculate the level of radiation they all took and all the years that were taken from that burst of radiation. Solving that the other should survive except him since he was received the highest dose.

[@nicholaspoulos7694]

the metal part was because the metal components could have become radioactive from neutron bombardment.

[@devilwarr1or]

​@@nicholaspoulos7694so the more metal they might have on them at the time it went critical would have increased their exposure to radiation?

[@nicholaspoulos7694]

@@devilwarr1or more like it’s contaminated because the neutrons embedded themselves into the metal items and made them partially radioactive.

[@03chrisv]

This is a perfect example of someone who is highly intelligent but lacks common sense. I know someone like this. Sometimes they amaze you with their brilliance, and other times you just want to face palm.

[@gavaldi4361]

Had a company commander like that when I was in the National Guard. Guy had like four degrees. Book smart as hell, but for the life of him couldn't figure out how to drive a car. His wife drove him everywhere when he was off duty.

[@junlee3515]

If he didn’t do that everyone in that building would have died

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

thin line between genius and nuts. it all goes full circle.

[@razorfett147]

Lack of common sense is lack of intelligence. Also known as the difference between educated...and intelligent. I believe in this case, it was less about lack of common sense, and more about cavalier recklessness

[@03chrisv]

@@razorfett147 Recklessness can definitely overlap with the lack of common sense. The way that I understand the term "lack of common sense" is basically the lack of sound judgment in matters that can otherwise be recognized by most people. I think most people can recognize that handling something so dangerous with a screw driver and makeshift shield was the lack of sound judgment, but you can also throw in being reckless.

[@thenewguyinred]

The Demon Core glowed blue when at critical mass, so it’s basically the closest we can get to a real life Godzilla atomic breath

[@lemono1664]

is there anyway to recreate this and video tape it? i would like to see that glow

[@adamnouiguer3430]

It didn't glow blue itself,it irradiated the air with invisible radiation,and since everything wants to get to a lower energy state and more stable,the air emitted blue light to get rid of the energy the demon core gave it

[@gaecynt4687]

So what happen if they let the core for atleast 1 minutes? Will it explode?

[@adamnouiguer3430]

@@gaecynt4687 probably not,unlike the forced criticality of nukes this one is more tame but the radiation would be absurd.If you could acquire a demon core or something bigger,as long as it doesn't have supercritical mass you could induce criticality in a very crowded place to kill hundreds,so the fact that it's tame doesn't mean you can't make gredades/rad bombs out of it even though neutrino bombs are even more radioactive.

[@nycholaus]

That blue glow is energy emitted when particles pass through a medium faster than the velocity lf light in that medium. Before it comes up, light slows down when going through matter. This is what allows lenses to work. it is the velocity that light travels IN A VACCUUM that cannot be exceeded.

[@chicagomike4587]

He ended up suffering what they call "3D sunburn" - like internal radiation burns which I don't wanna even guess about how that must feel. He was a tough dude and acted to save the others. 9 days later he was dead and that had turned blue and wax-like before his death. Horrible story.

[@demonofelru3214]

Yup and he touched it for half a second. Pretty terrifying really.

[@faolan1686]

His words at the time were apparently "Well, that does it". He knew he was dead the second it dropped.

[@malkavianstr450]

Disregard for one's life with necessity is heroism, disregard for one's life without necessity is stupidity, and one often necessitates the other.

[@GHound420]

Ok there Shakespeare

[@nenabunena]

@@GHound420 it's a great quote actually, your comment was unnecessary

[@doolittlegeorge]

This incident did result in a dramatic improvement of actual safety features created by none other than one of the survivors. Would have been a better Movie if that was the subject. This was a really bad Movie period sadly. Worth reading about tho..

[@BB-ce5ev]

@@GHound420 wow it doesnt take much for you to think something is being too smart for your tastes eh?

[@jimmytumbles9640]

@@GHound420 I wonder what dullards used to say to Shakespeare when/if he came out with profound and concise characterisations of our life and times. "Okay Chaucer" maybe....

[@jimmywrangles]

Enrico Fermi told him, Richard Feynman told him, and he refused to listen. The guy was a coyboy when he needed to be a surgeon.

[@MrCrackerJack420]

If I remember correctly, Slotin had been warned multiple times the experiment was stupid and unnecessary but went ahead anyway.

[@toomanyaccounts]

his friend had died from the same experiment. he was at his friend's deathbed. he still continued the experiments without any safeguards.

[@jimland4359]

Enrico Fermi if I remember correctly

[@AB-80X]

@@toomanyaccounts Daghlian did not perform this experiment. It was doing research on using Tungsten bricks as a neutron reflector. It was Fermi who about 9 months prior told Slotin that he'd be dead within a year if he kept doing things in such an unsafe manner.

[@toomanyaccounts]

@@AB-80X yes Daghlian died the chasing the dragon's tail same as Slotin. it was also using the same core hence why it was called the demon's core

[@dovbarleib3256]

Both Enrico Fermi and Richard Feynman tried to dissuade Slotin. Fermi said he would be dead within a year, and Feynman said he was tickling a sleeping dragon's tail. And only someone with a death wish would do that. The bigger issue is that he endangered others in the room with his reckless behavior. 3 of them would die from radiation induced diseases within 20 years. 2 of them had radiation induced health problems for the rest of their shortened lives.

[@Spartan536]

I think this is part of the "demon core's" legacy if I remember correctly...

[@VallornDeathblade]

Correct, that tiny sphere within the larger shell is the core itself, it's plutonium. The outer shell they are manipulating (with a damn screwdriver), is Tungsten Carbide which reflects neutrons.

[@MisatoEnjoyer]

Spartan0536 yea

[@MyGamer125]

Yeah. Enrico Fermi himself told the scientist in this scene he’d be dead within a year if he kept messing with the core like that.

[@christopherdurham1999]

@@VallornDeathblade This is based on the incident with Louis Slotin, in which the spheres were beryllium. And his experimental protocol was even worse than depicted here - he was doing gross manipulation of the upper sphere with his thumb through a hole in the top. The incident with tungsten reflectors was bricks, and Harry Daghlian

[@VallornDeathblade]

@@christopherdurham1999 Ahhhh thank you! I got them mixed up. And yes, the idea of having your hand on top of the sphere like that is terrifying, I do remember it specifically being a protocol which Slotin himself came up with. Why anyone would do that is beyond me.

[@HMan2828]

Honestly don't know why he even bothered with keeping on keeping on at the hospital after his exposure... If it was me I would have put my affairs in order and blown my brains out. Better than literally melting on a hospital bed for a few agonizing days.

[@aschulte7502]

they should have administered a lethal dose of morphine

[@ryabow]

I mean, that's my plan (I'm a first responder in the event of nuclear accidents). But Slotin was a scientist. He probably wanted them to learn as much as possible from him.

[@bornonthebattlefront4883]

@@ryabow that was exactly what it was He wanted the doctors to document the effects and to learn from it, hoping there would be something to learn that could help others in the future We did learn something That a bullet would have been preferable…

[@BDNeon]

I really honestly don't know why in the few unfortunate times people have been put in the situation of an impossibly lethal radiation dose that they didn't opt for that option. It does seem like the right call when it's literally no chance of anything other then a horrifyingly painful death. I mean if you get like a life threatening dose but there's a chance you could pull through and live and recover, sure, screw the bullet, but when there's no chance...

[@swisscheeseplease97]

Because they’re letting the universe take them out. Not themselves. Some people believe suicide can’t get you into heaven.

[@AudioAndroid]

True story, I recently read a article about this event, now I'm not sure how close to accuratcy this scene was but I do know that the guy did use a flathead screw driver instead of blocks to navigate the sphere. This was beyond crazy and even back then other scientist called his method "Tickling the dragon’s tail"

[@O.Reagano]

One of them used bricks and then after his death they used the spheres and screwdriver

[@AudioAndroid]

@@O.Reagano Yes you are correct he was a College Student I believe. I think they would just pass that Sphere around from College to College along with the attitude "Here see what you can do with it"

[@AB-80X]

@@O.Reagano The experiment Daghlian did wit bricks was quite different. The brick experiment was still done after. Slotin was simply showing a fellow scientist the experiment with the beryllium spheres - it was his last day. Slotin had made it a point of pride to perform it in this dangerous manner, and even Fermi had told him a year prior, that he'd be dead within a year if he kept doing it like that.

[@O.Reagano]

@@AB-80X Not sure what you mean, but what you said is correct and I’m not arguing against that…

[@earnestsexton8869]

Actually, I believe the "tickling the dragon's tale" was another experiment using U235 and a sliding rod to calculate critical mass.

[@HayastAnFedayi]

Ruptured condenser line and mildly contaminated feedwater...don’t worry he’ll be fine I’ve seen worse...

[@becomematrix]

ComradeDyatlov I need water in my reactor.

[@piedpiper1697]

3.6 rotgeon not good not bad ....

[@eamonwright7488]

I...I walked around the exterior of Building 4. I think there's graphite on the ground, in the rubble.

[@HayastAnFedayi]

Eamon Wright you didn’t see graphite...

[@eamonwright7488]

ComradeDyatlov I did...

[@playgroundchooser]

I've been told Slotin received 3.6 Rontgen. Not great, not terrible.

[@stipuledorange4]

Not sure who's telling you that, but it's completely wrong. He easily got over 1000 Roentgen, 3.6 is very unlikely to be lethal.

[@playgroundchooser]

@@stipuledorange4 It's from the TV show Chernobyl.

[@raphael8951]

@@stipuledorange4 its a meme

[@paulwalker5225]

@@stipuledorange4 your delusional.

[@playgroundchooser]

@@paulwalker5225 Get him to the infirmary.

[@Lex5576]

One of the first things many of the Chernobyl liquidators noticed was a metallic taste in their mouth after taking in too much ionizing radiation. Many of them were out on the roof adjacent to the reactor, shoveling off graphite and fuel fragments that burned like Hell with radioactivity. Their shoes and suits weren't suitable for walking around on radioactive materials, so their feet started to feel like they were being stung repeatedly by bees. The pain and nausea would only get worse. Dying slowly by radiation must be awful beyond words.

[@JoshSweetvale]

Aaaaand HBO series.

[@jackkraken3888]

Oh you have no idea. The Chernobyl deaths were horrible but the death of Hisachi Ouchi in the tokaimura disaster in 1999 was even worse. There's a video of it in KZbin and it's terrifying.

[@blackhawks81H]

That was the firefighters. Like Ignatenko. The liquidators came later, the radiation, while still dangerous was much lower. The disaster was over 30 years ago and a lot of liquidators are still living today.... The HBO series was.... A bit dramatic... That is, if "a bit" means "a giant fuckton" still, good acting though.

[@CrashB111]

@Stephen The men that went to drain the water tanks survived because water is a really good absorber of radiation. They had sealed protective suits on to keep the radioactive water / dust particles off of their bodies. And the freestanding water was itself absorbing most of the radiation around them.

[@00177454419]

@@CrashB111 What does that have to do with anything ? The water was below them. A melting nuclear reactor core was above them. Apparently it was to their good fortune that the radioactivity near those water tanks was far less than what was estimated.

[@blingVolcano]

you know when you're building a nuke and you use a screwdriver and a jenga tower of lead to protect yourself?

[@eaglevision993]

The bricks are tungsten, not lead.

[@Ivan_Berni]

Those bricks saved everyone else from being poisoned the same way.

[@adonisparts1343]

The idea of knowing you're going to die painfully soon and not being able to do anything about it is terrifying

[@mark2220]

You can choose to die even sooner, painlessly... Not a bad option considering. Just sayin

[@darthwader4472]

Made by the elves™. The ball glows blue whenever orcs are close.

[@logicplague]

LMAO, underrated af

[@ChipLinck]

It's time like that, that you have to be extra careful.

[@hardware199]

One of the persons in the room, Raemer Schreiber, "became an exponent of remote handling of dangerous substances, and designed remote-control machines to perform such experiments with all personnel at a quarter-mile distance." Wikipedia

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

You mean a PROPONENT, not an "exponent"? Or do you mean EXPERT?

[@vacciniumaugustifolium1420]

Satellite you again ! GG again for your "tactical nuke meteor" joke : D

[@DeNieuweBeelding]

"Exponent" is a synonym of "proponent," not just a mathematical term.

[@GepropCommentaar]

This scene shows that intelligence and wisdom are seperate stats

[@NeoRipshaft]

That's what we call a "whoopsee-doodle" in science.

[@okhstorm]

Omg lol!

[@duanscott2490]

Oh ho he di'int!

[@DrCruel]

Goodbye Dr Doodle.

[@MastaSmack]

"Whoopsie Daisy"

[@judgeboony2695]

Big ol' oopsy-doodly-doo

[@jeffreyveradt891]

This is a re-creation of the Louis Slotin incident. The movie has it happening in wartime but it actually happened after the war was over. The events were pretty much the same but Slotin suffered a long, agonizing death.

[@isaacbruner65]

Also, he was sick of working at Los Alamos and was supposed to go back to teaching. He was training his replacement when the incident occured, Alvin Graves, who got a severe dose of radiation but survived.

[@jeffreyveradt891]

@@isaacbruner65 watch Operation Ivy Nuclear Test. Alvin Graves was the scientific head on that 10 megaton test and he is featured prominently in that fim.

[@isaacbruner65]

@@jeffreyveradt891 interesting

[@KGhaleon]

I think at that point I'd just continue the experiments, knowing my life is ending anyway. Then when its time just have a gun with a single bullet nearby so I don't have to suffer too much.

[@chakatfirepaw]

It's actually a mix of the two Demon Core incidents: The stacked blocks were from the Daghlian experiment, which used tungsten carbine blocks as a neutron reflector. Harry Daghlian noticed as he was placing the final block that the core was about to go supercritical but he dropped the block as he was jerking his hand back. The screwdriver being used to control the distance between two beryllium half-spheres was from the Slotin incident, and he was actually being even more sloppy than is being portrayed here. In reality, there was no wall of metal blocks and he was partly controlling the upper sphere with his bare hand, (a recently published paper even identifies the position of his hand as what pushed the core over the line, the slip alone wasn't quite enough).

[@KurtIsFat]

"Curiosity is stronger than safety" - Human motto

[@graydanerasmussen4071]

"Oops!" -Dead humans' motto.

[@jonahfalcon1970]

Also, Daghlian was 24.

[@videowilliams]

John Cusack's subplot was by far the most phobic one in the film for me. The way he looked that final time to nurse and girlfriend Laura Dern as he got wheeled into intensive care with blood-filled eyes wide open in stark terror was horrifying enough to burn into my brain for life, it seems, on a single viewing.

[@Celeon999A]

Los Alamos had a sad history of critically accidents like the two depicted in this movie. Mostly due to lack of expertise and lax security measures. There were three other accidents beside the two involving the demon core while one of them caused yet another fatality. In 1958, chemical operator Cecil Kelley recieved a humongous dosis from an accidental critically inside a plutonium purification mixing tank. The criticality lasted for just 200 microseconds but in that time he recieved a fully body exposure dosis of around 5000 Rads and died within just 35 hours after the accident. The radiation pulse was so energetic that he must have felt like being on fire. People who rushed to help reported that he was screaming : "Im burning up ! Im burning up !"

[@theymusthatetesla3186]

Wasn't that the guy who threw himself in the snow outside? Seriously.

[@Celeon999A]

theymusthatetesla Yes thats right. When the accident happened, he fell from the ladder he was standing on. He was propably unconscious for a moment, then stood up again and switched the mixer tank off just to switch it back on again a moment later. He was clearly under shock and not fully aware of his surroundings. He stumbled towards the exit of the hall and collapsed outside in the snow where he was found shortly after.

[@theymusthatetesla3186]

Celeon999A ...then the SL1 debacle. I was told by one of our Health Physicists, once, that (and I'm sure you know about the SL1 after what you told me) the guy pulled the rod out with subsequent impalation, deliberately, because of some sort of love-triangle with one of his co-workers (suicide?). He was an intelligent bloke, the HP guy, and not prone to idle chit chat....just for your information, it MAY be apocryphal. See if you can get hold of Leuren Moret's talk about when she went to Fukishima. She described a crane derrick, collapsing into the 'mess' as due to 'wignerization' of the steel. What LEVEL of bloody doserate can do THAT?! In such a short time, at least. Also, reports of blue 'lines' going up into the sky at night. Not cherenkov radiation, but apparently radiation interacting with the nitrogen in the air. I dunno....maybe I've picked it up wrong. Before I go, if you haven't already seen it (it's on YT) watch 'Surviving Disaster' Chernobyl, with Ade Edmonson, who plays, I believe Valery Legasov. It is EXCELLENT. And there is a bit on it where, if you don't have tears in your eyes when you see it....well, watch it if you can. Ooh!...I'm all depressed, now! ;)

[@vacciniumaugustifolium1420]

I kall it "karma"

[@jasonpoole2093]

@CaptHawkeye Not so the Russians. They didn't care who they killed in their sadistic quest to make "the bomb." Workers, soldiers, whole villages..no one was safe.

[@Elthenar]

This a composite character based on two men who died doing virtually the same thing. When I was watching Chernobyl, this scene kept going through my head.

[@TBone-bz9mp]

Fun fact: This core here, was actually meant to be the core for the planned third nuclear strike on Japan.

[@davidford3115]

Luck of Kokura. Ironically, Kokura was suppose to be the FIRST place bombed and ended up being the tertiary target should a third bomb have been delivered to Tinian. Ted Fujita who developed the tornado damage scale was in Kokura on the days BOTH bombs were dropped. And he put his first hand observations of nuclear blast damage in developing that tornadic damage scale.

[@ШевкуновКирилл]

Fun fact: americans can call genocide a "fun fact"

[@TBone-bz9mp]

@@ШевкуновКирилл Japan had it coming

[@jonahfalcon1970]

@@ШевкуновКирилл I think you need to look up "genocide" in the dictionary.

[@jasonpoole2093]

If you look really close, you can see the sticker that says, "This product is known to the State of California..."

[@somethingik9]

So whay

[@somethingik9]

What*

[@trevorwhittlinger6932]

Yes it's the demon core this actually happened here he died.

[@JoeBlac]

@@somethingik9 1986 California Proposition 65 warning label

[@chadherron5740]

I won't buy something without that sticker. It's the only way I know its going to work

[@Ama-hi5kn]

Equally horrible was what happened in Japan at the Tokaimura nuclear facility. A worker was irradiated, and suffered much the same fate as Slotin (and Daghlian). But there, doctors and nurses kept the poor man alive for an excruciating 83 days. He was doomed from the moment of the accident, but his family would not let him go.

[@davidford3115]

Poor Oishi was a Guinea pig for the macabre scientists. Even his nurses begged for him to be put out of his misery. His DNA literally melted! His bone marrow was basically salt water and nothing else. The photos of his slowly dying body are an exercise in sadomasochism and NOT for the faint of heart. Nightmare Fuel indeed.

[@Hoshimaru57]

Hisashi Ooichi the living corpse. Yeah. What happened to him is probably nothing short of the most horrific thing that can happen to a human. Death by radiation is awful, but because they wouldn’t let him go he died the slowest most excruciating death ever.

[@MightyInHiding]

I think that’s a fairly reductive telling of why he was kept alive and the man’s own involvement in said status

[@lazarusboi6289]

It's sickening to see people blame the doctors or the family for Ouchi's suffering, when it was the company's fault

[@lanestone7093]

​@@lazarusboi6289 this exactly

[@TheNightWatcher1385]

Death is so abstract until it’s your turn.

[@anaixtar6793]

This incident was detailed in the book "The Accident" by Dexter Masters, The movie places it out of proper time sequence- this misadventure happened after the war- but this scene captures all the essence of things gone very very bad.

[@kentvesser9484]

Yeah, it was inserted for dramatic effect and for some moralizing about the nascent effect of radiation on people that were just beginning to be understood. This wasn't just a bomb that made a big explosion and fireball, it had other effects that were lethal in another way and in many ways worse that dying quickly in the blast.

[@dasking2120]

Slotin: *slips with screwdrivers* Demon Core: "Uh oh, that's a serious fucky wucky, now you have to get into the forever box"

[@CramcrumBrewbringer]

Somebody watches donut operator

[@JCarey1988]

Actually made me LOL

[@thejohhny2943]

@@CramcrumBrewbringer yeah its cringe

[@kwirkLA]

"I'm dead" "Not great, not terrible"

[@hafidbagaskara8109]

Sent him to the infirmary

[@hycron1234]

_He must be delusional_

[@Coyote0874]

Take him to the infirmary

[@AdhamOhm]

It's another faulty meter, you're just wasting our time.

[@rimrunz1795]

Yah. Now THAT character should have been beamed with gamma rays

[@phillipdavies1081]

No engraved warning on the screwdriver like you get on the Snap-On stuff not to use as an atomic pry-bar...that's the problem here.

[@whackyjinak4978]

Indeed

[@ericsmith8373]

Did he have any kids (before his nads were sterilized)? They could sue.

[@isaned]

Should say "DO NOT USE FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTING!!"

[@brettbaxter7882]

This is why we have warning labels now.

[@hycron1234]

All fun and games until the Cherenkov effect kicks in.

[@wanderinghistorian]

I FOUND IT! I have been looking for this movie for YEARS. I saw it decades ago and was too young to bother remembering the title or anything but I remembered this scene and how it started my fascination with radiation and its deadly power. Thanks KZbin algorithms!

[@thereisnosanctuary6184]

I always upvote Jason's. ( I am one)

[@AdrianaGodoi369]

Qual o nome do filme??

[@baloog8]

When dealing with such tremendous forces unseen, it is difficult to translate old levels of precaution to new ones. That little sphere contained as much energy as a screwdriver balancing hundreds of thousands tons of rocks above all their heads about to avalanche. If they could visually see the danger, I doubt a screwdriver would be used. At least someone would glue on a criticality stopper like a small piece of wood to prevent to 2 halves from closing. So simple to harness the power of entire mountain sides!

[@hunbenny]

"criticality stopper" They couldn't glue a thing like that there. That is the point. They were searching fot the critical point.

[@ramagefreak]

They had proper methods. He wasnt using them. He was showboating and screwed up

[@Shendue]

There were security protocols, but he ignored them.

[@baloog8]

@@hunbenny something right beyond what they are looking for but before disaster.

[@baloog8]

@@ramagefreak i just learned that the idea I gave for keeping the two halves separate was quite similar to the safe guards that were proposed but not used.

[@hybridbranch6778]

In the Marvel Universe, he would take a smoke and then fly into the sky.

[@noobednatherium4082]

in dc woud've begun to eat car parts

[@dirkdiggler2430]

He did.

[@leerman22]

Who thought this was a good idea? Kerbals?

[@bfahren]

Louis Slotin.

[@JETZcorp]

Ohhhh, I would love a Kerbal Atomic Program game! And it would teach more people about radiation and nuclear technology than anything in history.

[@fatetestarossa2774]

@@JETZcorp aGREE : )))))))))))

[@capthitmarkah4902]

Kyle Hill sent me...

[@iLikeTheUDK]

Me too!

[@tonyennis1787]

Science Thor is pretty good.

[@TheSports50]

So many folks that were apart of the Manhattan Project were exposed to harmful amounts of radiation which led to so many cases of cancer. They were heroes. Everyone of them risking there lives to end the war.

[@dirtyblond2332]

Everybody knows you should never use Husky brand screwdrivers for critical jobs...

[@ericsmith8373]

They must have gotten their screwdrivers at Harbor Freight.

[@SergeantExtreme]

@@ericsmith8373 *Horror Freight

[@nuclearTANK]

@@SergeantExtreme Hobo freight

[@JohnDoe-on6ru]

"Critical" jobs, I see what you did there

[@thereisnosanctuary6184]

I'm a Craftsman man, myself.

[@CameronMcCracken_Art]

0:01 - What’s 9+10?

[@Gecko69420]

Real

[@MightyJackTea]

"You stupid" "No am not"

[@ItsYaBoyYogi]

the moment the blue flashed, we were watching a dead man walk

[@degov5]

Crazy and terrifying how such a brief exposure to what seems like just a blue glow is enough to assure one of the worst ways to die.

[@Glockmog2007]

Anyone else come here after expecting oppenheimer to show scenes like this and it just didnt?

[@ohyeahwhat5387]

Because the accident happened in 1946 the year after the gadget was detonated. It was BS to add it to the movie.

[@jimbugorca7968]

That blue light (forgot the real name) is so creepy. It's been described as a heavenly blue. It's like you see a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel even before you feel anything is wrong physically.

[@starguy2718]

Cherenkov radiation

[@jimbugorca7968]

@@starguy2718 thanks!

[@adventuressurvivalinthailand]

He even took out the little separators that would prevent the lid closing tightly even if he dropped it. Gross negligence

[@MySerpentine]

In real life his first words were 'well that does it,' I believe. A slight understatement, but otherwise accurate.

[@soarinskies1105]

This was known as the Pajarito Incident, but this didn’t occur until 1 year after World War 2 had ended in 1946. Still really cool that they included this event in the movie though.

[@pirobot668beta]

Engineering has often had moments where the great surge ahead was all that mattered. Taking the time to ask "Is this really safe? What could go wrong?" was seen obstructing progress. The idea of 'fail-safe' engineering is pretty dang new.

[@orangejoe204]

Shoulda used the shims like Fermi and Feynman told you to, Louie.

[@snowwhite7677]

Yea, why does "Mickey Mouse" come to mind when watching how they carried out this procedure?

[@vacciniumaugustifolium1420]

A poor canadian

[@NathanStar-vw3dm]

One of those people with a death wish - just a shame they involve others in it

[@Cybrsk8r]

"Dammit!" There's the understatement of all time.

[@ryelor123]

@@snowwhite7677 There was a war going on and every hour longer it took to build the bomb would cost the lives of soldiers. In fact, had they not built the bomb in time, Operation Downfall would've had to start which would've cost hundreds of thousands of lives if not millions. In fact, my grandfather was slated to be part of Operation Downfall and he likely survived the war because these heroes were willing to do this reckless stuff. Supposedly all the Purple Heart medals that have been given out since WW2 were made right before Operation Downfall because the military assumed that they'd need millions of them just for that invasion. In other words, if you're in the military today and Daesh shoots you in the arm, the medal you'll get for that was originally intended to be given to a soldier in 1945 or 1946 during the invasion of Japan.

[@margaritar.6907]

This scene is haunting to me, it actually happened. Cusack perfectly captured the despair one would feel

[@JonathanAGarrett]

Tickling the dragon's tail...

[@aryanson]

more like jackass tickles the dragon's tail. Wonder if he glowed in the dark

[@chriseffpunkt4333]

@@aryanson the procedure was called "tickling the dragons tail", thats what he meant...

[@aryanson]

@@chriseffpunkt4333 I know that, Slotin was warned many times he would die if he continued to do it.

[@jonahfalcon1970]

@@aryanson The character is a composite of Daghlian and Slotin. Daghlian was 24, so... you know.

[@jamescollinson2179]

This scene is based on two similar accidents at the Los Alamos Laboratory involving a plutonium bomb core that accidentally went to critical state and released a lethal amount of radiation. The first accident was on August 21, 1945 resulting in the death of Harry Daghlian from radiation sickness 25 days later. The second accident on May 21, 1946 involving the same bomb core resulted in the death of Louis Slotin 9 days later.

[@KittyNoodlesPPC]

Slotin was known to have performed this same demonstration dozens of times before, usually while wearing jeans and with a noted lack of gloves. If I recall correctly, on the day of the incident, he was using only one screwdriver as a stopper, and manipulating the top half of the orb with his bare hand - when it slipped he was able to flip the top half to the floor almost immediately as a result. He was also noted to be very brazen about this experiment and the safety measures involved - which is rather damning, considering he was there at the bedside of the first scientist the demon core killed and knew precisely the risks involved. EDIT: According to reports, Slotin was disoriented by the blast of radiation he received, and in addition to making everybody mark down where they were standing he had one of his colleagues gather everyone's badges - a completely unnecessary extra measure that caused that colleague to be further exposed, and something Slotin likely wouldn't have done were he not disoriented from the blast. That said, his position at the time of the blast meant that his body was able to partially shield the colleague standing just behind him from the worst of the radiation. As an aside, this experiment was NEVER considered a good idea, with critics referring to it as "tickling the dragon's tail" after one man said playing with the criticality point of plutonium was like tickling the tail of a sleeping dragon.

[@Takeshi357]

Wasn't that "one man" Oppenheimer?

[@if6was929]

@@Takeshi357 Richard Feynman coined the phrase, "tickling a dragon's tail"

[@AB-80X]

@@Takeshi357 No. Oppenheimer never did this experiment, and he most certainly would not have done what Slotin did.

[@Takeshi357]

@@AB-80X That's not even remotely what I was implying

[@isaacschmitt4803]

"I'm dead." Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Almost like it was against protocol to use screwdrivers instead of wooden shims. . .

[@UnknownUzer]

Wow, it's been over 20 years since I last watched this movie. I just watched this clip and I am struck by how much young John Cusack looks like Shia LaBeouf

[@davidford3115]

I made the same mistake when I first saw this clip.

[@alecboi777]

“ay bro check this out” *clang* “oh shi-“

[@tnerbtnerb5136]

While incredibly stupid in that moment, at least Slotin proved himself worthy of his station to some degree in his actions immediately before and after the accident: he had had the rest of the staff take far more adequate precautions prior to the disaster and his first thought after the disaster was to save THEM from his fuckup; tossing any potentially irratiated metal objects and vacating the building.

[@AndreNitroX]

He made a mistake and he paid for it with his life

[@lewisner]

I thought the idea of dropping the metal objects was to measure how much radiation they had absorbed at various distances ?

[@joeschmo8755]

Monster movies don’t give me chills anymore. This scene is bone chilling.

[@DaemonWulf7]

funny part being one of the most famous monster movies - Godzilla - was actually a metaphor for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that's why the original was so popular in post-war Japan... it tapped into a very real fear everyone there had.

[@skip741x3]

Me too! that scene stayed in my memory...terrifying!

[@jonahfalcon1970]

Maybe because this is real and monster movies aren't?

[@JGott0001]

"Give your bodies to Atom, my friends. Release yourself to his power, feel his Glow and be Divided."

[@a64738]

The accident this scene is based on happened in 1946 and it was and unapproved protocol (fine word for stupid dangerous way of doing it). From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core "Enrico Fermi reportedly told Slotin and others they would be "dead within a year" if they continued performing it." "After Slotin's accident, hands-on criticality experiments were stopped, and remote-control machines were designed by Schreiber, one of the survivors, to perform such experiments with all personnel at a quarter mile distance.[12]"

[@seikibrian8641]

Although the screwdriver bit was from Slotin's accident, it was Harry Daghlian who was killed (by the same core, incidentally) in August of 1945, when he dropped a reflector brick onto the core, causing it to go critical. He, too, used his bare hand to break up the critical mass. He allowed his death to be documented on film in hopes of helping doctors treat radiation sickness in the future. He died a little over three weeks after the accident, and Slotin died just nine days after his. John Cusack's character in the film was an amalgam of those two men.

[@DvuxNocti]

remember louis slotin.

[@tonystephenson4842]

That's why it was called tickling the dragon .. got tickled too much and he lost

[@scottmatheson3346]

"what a cool innovator, i want to be just like him!" - stockton rush imagine what social media would do with this guy today.

[@CPRailRTC]

A composite character between Daglihan and Louis Slotin

[@isaned]

Daghlian was using tungsten carbide bricks to make a neutron reflector and he dropped one on the core, causing it to go critical, and no screwdrivers were harmed in that experiment

[@jonahfalcon1970]

@@isaned Yes, but also Daghlian was 24, the age the character is here. Daghlian died in 1945, while Slotin died after the war in 1946.

[@LMau-t9r]

In reality, the scientists ran out of the room the second the core went critical, he called them back inside to calculate how long they each have to live.

[@thereisnosanctuary6184]

I hate when they alter history for dramatic effect.

[@d.olivergutierrez8690]

ironically it would have been more dramatic if they had shown everyone leaving the room in panic

[@thereisnosanctuary6184]

@@d.olivergutierrez8690 We need history accurate, not dramatized,

[@d.olivergutierrez8690]

@@thereisnosanctuary6184 Well, at least it has helped the general audience to know about the incident and, in my case and that of other people, to search for themselves the details of the real incident.

[@Shetyre]

people:scientists are smart, you should listen to them also scientists:

[@Ivan_1791]

The blue radiation is due mainly to the ionization of air and in water due to Cherenkov effect.

[@Baghuul]

Álex the Benighted You're delusional!

[@Ivan_1791]

@@Baghuul What?

[@Dimetor7937]

You did not see the grafite because it wasn't there!

[@ericsmith8373]

@@Dimetor7937 Have you puked yet?

[@chrisg5219]

@@Ivan_1791 hes making a Chernobyl Reference.

[@theclockworksolution8521]

“Demon Core? More like *Darwin* Core, *A m I r i T e*?” ~slaps knee~

[@qasimmir7117]

😂😂

[@imonlyamanandiwilldiesomed4406]

yup.

[@JohnDoe-on6ru]

OP was never heard from again, the knee slap killed him, f.

[@ayojay7112]

Aaaa-cchhaaaaaaaa! ~Slaps core~

[@ayojay7112]

Well that does it.

[@AM-wk9od]

I know what he did was idiotic and preventable which makes most people angry, but the raw emotion and regret he must have felt in that fraction of a second must’ve been devastating. He didn’t even have to do any calculations to know if he’d die.

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

I wonder if this accident will be in the Openheimer movie I guess not since its in this movie already. They will prob. depict some other radiation accident to show the danger of the research

[@tomservo5347]

Some great acting by Cusack.

[@yallowrosa]

This accident happened on 21 May 1946 well far the end of the war

[@jonahfalcon1970]

They combined the two. The first accident was August 21, 1945. The second accident happened in 1946.

[@hurricanerising3465]

"The True Story of the Demon Core" - Kyle Hill

[@snowwhite7677]

Yea, why does "Mickey Mouse" come to mind when watching how they carried out this procedure?

[@Shanethefilmmaker]

Because his Wartime Cartoons were playing while this was going on.

[@ericsmith8373]

Actually, I hear Moe saying, "Are you sure this is safe?" And Curly says, "Coweytainly!".

[@christosvoskresye]

@@ericsmith8373 Or maybe Sledge Hammer: "Trust me. I know what I'm doing." END OF SEASON ONE.

[@Shendue]

Mickey Mouse is actually pretty capable. This is more like Goofy learns radiations.

[@aryanson]

@@Shendue Actually the term afro-engineering comes to mind

[@TomFynn]

The worst of it was that all the data they got out of it was garbage, since "at this point I twisted the screwdriver just a bit" is maddeningly unhelpful.

[@bfyrth]

never bring cup of coffee into criticality experiment, i shall learn from this

[@jarskil8862]

I rather wouldnt do criticality experiments with a screwdriver.

[@BladeOfLight16]

Never _go_ to a criticality experiment that isn't done remotely. And especially one that's set up this poorly.

[@RaptorCakes]

Amazing how as a kid, the scariest things to me were the non existent monsters under my bed and the dark. As a teen, that became guns, heights, drugs, strangers, etc... But overall, as an adult, Id take it all over radiation and knowing how a blink of an eye like this means a slow unnatural death of fantasy level suffering and limbo, all over the following week and no time to prepare or accept your fate.

[@rfmerrill]

Radiation poisoning sucks, but look up Dr. Karen Wetterhahn. Chemical poisoning can be incredibly scary.

[@ebinshumate3132]

not so fun fact: the "demon core" was originally going to be used in a third atomic bomb that was to be dropped on Japan a few days after fat man was dropped on Nagasaki, the core; along with it's shell: were in the process being transported to the site when Japan's surrender was announced

[@konnorkuznetsov1035]

Totally could have said "I'm screwed" but noooooo

[@michaelt.5672]

Because the scene isn't supposed to be funny. You can bet that the writers had that idea too, but deliberately did not go with it.

[@BoonesFarm50]

If only he had been wearing his PT Belt. #PTbelt

[@DillaWorld]

time to fill out an incident report...

[@mrbuck5059]

Drink more water.

[@brettbaxter7882]

Rub some Motrin on it.

[@TiNg-nk7zt]

Agreed.. NJP!