The Radioactive Boy Scout Book Report
Katie Jones
Mr. Sanders
Chemistry
8 November, 2015
“The Radioactive Boy Scout”
Introduction
“The Radioactive Boy Scout” by Ken Silverstein is a true story about a man named David Hahn. The story starts out in Michigan when David still attended high school. His goal was to create a “fast breeder reactor” in the shed out behind his house. David's whole reason for his backyard experiment was to earn a badge for his boy scout organization. However, later in his life, he became very intrigued with science and chemistry and later became somewhat obsessed with creating and destroying chemical reactions. As recorded in the book, in 1995, people in big white protective suites(the environmental protection agency)came to the neighborhood …show more content…
This was a hobby that David decided to take up and began finding tons of information relating to this topic. David found out different elements that are characterized further by the protons that are in their nuclei. Some examples of the way these elements are characterized are Carbon, Neon, and Sodium. Carbon contains six protons, therefore, the atomic number is six. Same with Neon and Sodium; Neon has ten protons and Sodium has eleven. Furthermore, Neon's atomic number is ten and Sodium's atomic number is eleven. He furthered in his research on this topic and learned that the atomic weight(atomic mass) is calculated by knowing the number of protons and neutrons put together. The grouping of elements typically form when one finds how many neutron's fill up an element's nucleus. One other topic David taught himself the concept of was half-time. Half-time is defined as that totaled time of the intensity of radiation is divided by half(radioactive elements and isotopes have this).
Key Idea …show more content…
Different experiments such as the noise from generators and strange smells earned David a room down in the basement. When David finally moved out, signs of him and his experiments still remained in the basement.
Key Idea 5 David collected much various information from the Golden Book along with the Department of Energy's handouts. David finally came to the conclusion that what was needed to make a model breeder reactor was available to happen. Having the thorium, all David had to do was get the neutrons which go into the thorium. The neutrons could more that likely be found if he would be able to pull off enough cranium. He decided that even if there were problems in his way, there was no way they would get him down, he would keep pushing through.
Conclusion
After reading the story “The Radioactive Boy scout”, one could conclude that David Hahn messed with science an extraordinarily long amount of time and did not do so carefully. This action can and will lead to problems down the road. A young boy's love for science eventually turned into a dangerous set back in the life, restricting anything else to be allowed in it. This just proves to show, everything(especially radioactive activities and nuclear power) should be taken seriously and handled with
Mr. Sanders
Chemistry
8 November, 2015
“The Radioactive Boy Scout”
Introduction
“The Radioactive Boy Scout” by Ken Silverstein is a true story about a man named David Hahn. The story starts out in Michigan when David still attended high school. His goal was to create a “fast breeder reactor” in the shed out behind his house. David's whole reason for his backyard experiment was to earn a badge for his boy scout organization. However, later in his life, he became very intrigued with science and chemistry and later became somewhat obsessed with creating and destroying chemical reactions. As recorded in the book, in 1995, people in big white protective suites(the environmental protection agency)came to the neighborhood …show more content…
This was a hobby that David decided to take up and began finding tons of information relating to this topic. David found out different elements that are characterized further by the protons that are in their nuclei. Some examples of the way these elements are characterized are Carbon, Neon, and Sodium. Carbon contains six protons, therefore, the atomic number is six. Same with Neon and Sodium; Neon has ten protons and Sodium has eleven. Furthermore, Neon's atomic number is ten and Sodium's atomic number is eleven. He furthered in his research on this topic and learned that the atomic weight(atomic mass) is calculated by knowing the number of protons and neutrons put together. The grouping of elements typically form when one finds how many neutron's fill up an element's nucleus. One other topic David taught himself the concept of was half-time. Half-time is defined as that totaled time of the intensity of radiation is divided by half(radioactive elements and isotopes have this).
Key Idea …show more content…
Different experiments such as the noise from generators and strange smells earned David a room down in the basement. When David finally moved out, signs of him and his experiments still remained in the basement.
Key Idea 5 David collected much various information from the Golden Book along with the Department of Energy's handouts. David finally came to the conclusion that what was needed to make a model breeder reactor was available to happen. Having the thorium, all David had to do was get the neutrons which go into the thorium. The neutrons could more that likely be found if he would be able to pull off enough cranium. He decided that even if there were problems in his way, there was no way they would get him down, he would keep pushing through.
Conclusion
After reading the story “The Radioactive Boy scout”, one could conclude that David Hahn messed with science an extraordinarily long amount of time and did not do so carefully. This action can and will lead to problems down the road. A young boy's love for science eventually turned into a dangerous set back in the life, restricting anything else to be allowed in it. This just proves to show, everything(especially radioactive activities and nuclear power) should be taken seriously and handled with