On: “I built a fusion reactor in my bedroom – AMA”

[stevecalifornia]

If they weren't doing this in a suburb I'd say 'Congrats'-- but to knowingly be generating x-rays in a residential neighborhood is really, really selfish and disrespectful to neighbors.

[gnoway → stevecalifornia]

I think this is overstating the risk a little bit.

Looking at the video linked elsewhere, this was run in a bedroom on the second or even third floor of a single-family residence. He mentions not being able to detect x-rays more than 35ft from the device. I think a neighbor would have to be trying to get in range to be affected.

Here's the video again, queued up to the view out the bedroom window: https://youtu.be/92M5qcjDkaU?t=1m5s

[zamalek → gnoway]

One of the the few times where the inverse square law is helpful.

[hexane360 → zamalek]

Reminds me of this: https://what-if.xkcd.com/29/

What's lethal at 3 inches probably isn't measurable at 50 feet.

[drjesusphd → zamalek]

It's helpful all the time, since it allows stable orbits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand%27s_theorem

[enraged_camel → gnoway]

On the other hand, if the neighbor's cat starts growing a third ear, they know who to blame! ;-)

[ams6110 → stevecalifornia]

They had measurements showing that outside the room there was nothing above background counts.

Still, I think if it had been me I'd have some lead shielding around it.