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

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  • Опубліковано 1 бер 2012
  • 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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  • Фільми й анімація

КОМЕНТАРІ • 3,6 тис.

  • @RichSmithson
    @RichSmithson 3 роки тому +7329

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

    • @fatetestarossa2774
      @fatetestarossa2774 3 роки тому +119

      INDEED

    • @EvelynTheVixen2016
      @EvelynTheVixen2016 3 роки тому +188

      Should've had another screwdriver as a stopper.

    • @operator8014
      @operator8014 3 роки тому +890

      @@EvelynTheVixen2016 Probably shouldn't have been using a screwdriver...

    • @Justowner
      @Justowner 3 роки тому +485

      @@EvelynTheVixen2016 They had stoppers, he just chose to remove them.

    • @mariosebastiani3214
      @mariosebastiani3214 3 роки тому +448

      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.

  • @kratty
    @kratty 3 роки тому +6661

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

    • @CanceriousIG
      @CanceriousIG 3 роки тому +187

      Yeah, early

    • @Ezio-Auditore94
      @Ezio-Auditore94 3 роки тому +106

      A clear example of an underrated comment

    • @veczz2509
      @veczz2509 3 роки тому +52

      Well, you aren’t wrong

    • @yumyumwhatzohai
      @yumyumwhatzohai 3 роки тому +14

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

    • @theduke7539
      @theduke7539 3 роки тому +73

      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

  • @coleparker5179
    @coleparker5179 3 роки тому +3425

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

    • @tylerchambers6246
      @tylerchambers6246 3 роки тому +222

      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
      @damshek 2 роки тому +116

      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
      @willannells6988 2 роки тому +31

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

    • @kmarasin
      @kmarasin 2 роки тому +62

      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
      @timesnewlogan2032 2 роки тому +36

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

  • @diegomo1413
    @diegomo1413 3 роки тому +1258

    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
      @mochalatte4901 3 роки тому +65

      This is actually a pretty cool idea

    • @me8042
      @me8042 3 роки тому +10

      Or short and really painful death.

    • @thenumbah1birdman
      @thenumbah1birdman 2 роки тому +36

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

    • @aao331
      @aao331 2 роки тому +80

      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
      @user-gn6jj8qh1w 2 роки тому +5

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

  • @hmmok7680
    @hmmok7680 3 роки тому +8100

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

    • @tommurphy2836
      @tommurphy2836 3 роки тому +90

      Depends on what his tone was really

    • @ausinasmith96
      @ausinasmith96 3 роки тому +629

      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

    • @logicplague2077
      @logicplague2077 3 роки тому +469

      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
      @RichSmithson 3 роки тому +233

      @@logicplague2077 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
      @codyeakinsbradley 3 роки тому +18

      @@tommurphy2836 most likely stoic

  • @momo-dm3rw
    @momo-dm3rw 5 років тому +4583

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

    • @lewisner
      @lewisner 4 роки тому +318

      Should have taken a couple of packs of Radaway.

    • @aidanhancock2117
      @aidanhancock2117 3 роки тому +114

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

    • @Kilo416
      @Kilo416 3 роки тому +16

      I mean, may as well

    • @brettbaxter7882
      @brettbaxter7882 3 роки тому +41

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

    • @aidanhancock2117
      @aidanhancock2117 3 роки тому +12

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

  • @JohnJ469
    @JohnJ469 2 роки тому +716

    "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
      @squiggles9612 2 роки тому +49

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

    • @neutronalchemist3241
      @neutronalchemist3241 Рік тому +51

      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
      @OnceShy_TwiceBitten Рік тому +11

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

    • @Cockalicious
      @Cockalicious Рік тому +1

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

    • @Valigarmanda
      @Valigarmanda 10 місяців тому +7

      @@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.

  • @kuribayashi84
    @kuribayashi84 2 роки тому +193

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

    • @phaub
      @phaub 29 днів тому +1

      Same a surgery.

    • @captainwasabi
      @captainwasabi 19 годин тому

      @@phaub and circumcision.

  • @xaiano794
    @xaiano794 3 роки тому +5618

    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
      @joeygill2616 2 роки тому +58

      What is criticality?

    • @xaiano794
      @xaiano794 2 роки тому +425

      @@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
      @BedsitBob 2 роки тому +110

      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
      @tamahagane1700 2 роки тому +11

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

    • @dylanhughes8457
      @dylanhughes8457 2 роки тому +39

      @@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

  • @MrJustonemorevoice
    @MrJustonemorevoice 3 роки тому +7392

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

    • @Slappap
      @Slappap 3 роки тому +458

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

    • @verifieduser6781
      @verifieduser6781 3 роки тому +55

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

    • @spacetechempire510
      @spacetechempire510 3 роки тому +25

      So you have chosen death

    • @bluegrassdroneservice8669
      @bluegrassdroneservice8669 3 роки тому +41

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

    • @MrJustonemorevoice
      @MrJustonemorevoice 3 роки тому +26

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

  • @balint6873
    @balint6873 3 роки тому +132

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

    • @cairnex4473
      @cairnex4473 2 роки тому +8

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

  • @playgroundchooser
    @playgroundchooser 3 роки тому +453

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

    • @stipuledorange4
      @stipuledorange4 2 роки тому +21

      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
      @playgroundchooser 2 роки тому +62

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

    • @raphael8951
      @raphael8951 2 роки тому +29

      @@stipuledorange4 its a meme

    • @paulwalker5225
      @paulwalker5225 2 роки тому +30

      @@stipuledorange4 your delusional.

    • @playgroundchooser
      @playgroundchooser 2 роки тому +49

      @@paulwalker5225 Get him to the infirmary.

  • @angryox3102
    @angryox3102 3 роки тому +4470

    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
      @largol33t1 3 роки тому +170

      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
      @N0M4dIC1RST 3 роки тому +76

      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
      @N0M4dIC1RST 3 роки тому +31

      @@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
      @tacit9873 3 роки тому +50

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

    • @Keithjustkeithwastaken
      @Keithjustkeithwastaken 3 роки тому +5

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

  • @FirstLast-cg2nk
    @FirstLast-cg2nk 4 роки тому +4198

    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
      @coreymunroe8073 3 роки тому +44

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

    • @coreymunroe8073
      @coreymunroe8073 3 роки тому +2

      @jeff nomad You're welcome.

    • @ericfermin8347
      @ericfermin8347 3 роки тому +65

      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
      @ericfermin8347 2 роки тому

      @Ban this youtube I thought that was Szilard.

    • @jimland4359
      @jimland4359 2 роки тому +52

      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.

  • @joeyblaze2509
    @joeyblaze2509 3 роки тому +63

    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
      @JohnBender1313 21 день тому

      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
      @LinenAssociate 12 днів тому

      @@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.

  • @HMan2828
    @HMan2828 3 роки тому +54

    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
      @aschulte7502 3 роки тому +7

      they should have administered a lethal dose of morphine

    • @ryabow
      @ryabow 2 роки тому +21

      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
      @bornonthebattlefront4883 12 днів тому +2

      @@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
      @BDNeon 8 днів тому +1

      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...

  • @jonmar4683
    @jonmar4683 7 років тому +2728

    got to say, his screwdriver literally screwed him.

  • @ravenwda007
    @ravenwda007 3 роки тому +3918

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

    • @abs5721
      @abs5721 3 роки тому +272

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

    • @boltreaverastalos8310
      @boltreaverastalos8310 2 роки тому +230

      @@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
      @MAXIMUM646 2 роки тому +119

      @@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
      @boneor...7022 Рік тому +10

      @@abs5721 why bring him into this?

    • @SergyMilitaryRankings
      @SergyMilitaryRankings Рік тому +122

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

  • @hybridbranch6778
    @hybridbranch6778 3 роки тому +45

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

  • @KurtIsFat
    @KurtIsFat Рік тому +22

    "Curiosity is stronger than safety" - Human motto

  • @BurgerGrabber
    @BurgerGrabber 7 років тому +2829

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

    • @lewisner
      @lewisner 6 років тому +82

      They should have used a 50 foot screwdriver.

    • @danschneider8453
      @danschneider8453 6 років тому +14

      siR miLLs
      Or possible lack of hamner

    • @g00gleminus96
      @g00gleminus96 5 років тому +18

      STOP! Hammer time!

    • @smartfrenandromax6651
      @smartfrenandromax6651 5 років тому +6

      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
      @blueskyatfero 5 років тому +21

      @@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.

  • @Artecus
    @Artecus 7 років тому +5210

    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
      @MilesBellas 6 років тому +141

      The situation is inaccurate in many ways.

    • @dragonridley
      @dragonridley 5 років тому +359

      Slightly ironic that the guy named Graves survived.

    • @Audfile
      @Audfile 5 років тому +11

      @@dragonridley no he didn't.

    • @baloog8
      @baloog8 5 років тому +80

      There were permanent disabilities for survivors.. in ways

    • @pseudotasuki
      @pseudotasuki 5 років тому +235

      @@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.

  • @Glockmog2007
    @Glockmog2007 11 місяців тому +42

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

    • @ohyeahwhat5387
      @ohyeahwhat5387 4 місяці тому +13

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

  • @Ama-hi5kn
    @Ama-hi5kn 3 роки тому +86

    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
      @davidford3115 3 роки тому +1

      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
      @Hoshimaru57 Рік тому +16

      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.

    • @mightycat866
      @mightycat866 Рік тому +4

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

    • @lazarusboi6289
      @lazarusboi6289 Рік тому +7

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

    • @lanestone7093
      @lanestone7093 Рік тому +4

      ​@@lazarusboi6289 this exactly

  • @mannyzx1
    @mannyzx1 3 роки тому +4710

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

  • @thenewguyinred
    @thenewguyinred 4 роки тому +1438

    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
      @lemono1664 4 роки тому +10

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

    • @adamnouiguer3430
      @adamnouiguer3430 3 роки тому +113

      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
      @gaecynt4687 3 роки тому +6

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

    • @adamnouiguer3430
      @adamnouiguer3430 3 роки тому +40

      @@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
      @nycholaus 3 роки тому +11

      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.

  • @jimmywrangles
    @jimmywrangles Рік тому +6

    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.

  • @adonisparts1343
    @adonisparts1343 Рік тому +7

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

  • @hellboy6507
    @hellboy6507 5 років тому +4601

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

    • @MrSingularity44
      @MrSingularity44 5 років тому +1262

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

    • @nuclearthreat545
      @nuclearthreat545 5 років тому +110

      Got a better idea?

    • @VallornDeathblade
      @VallornDeathblade 5 років тому +1166

      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
      @ramagefreak 5 років тому +802

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

    • @JanBruunAndersen
      @JanBruunAndersen 5 років тому +76

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

  • @03chrisv
    @03chrisv 4 роки тому +1245

    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
      @gavaldi4361 4 роки тому +98

      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
      @junlee3515 4 роки тому +11

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

    • @paulmichaelfreedman8334
      @paulmichaelfreedman8334 4 роки тому +17

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

    • @razorfett147
      @razorfett147 4 роки тому +29

      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
      @03chrisv 4 роки тому +19

      @@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.

  • @West_Coast_Gang
    @West_Coast_Gang Рік тому +3

    “Well that does it” -Slotin

  • @GepropCommentaar
    @GepropCommentaar 3 роки тому +12

    This scene shows that intelligence and wisdom are seperate stats

  • @NeoRipshaft
    @NeoRipshaft 5 років тому +1083

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

  • @Spartan536
    @Spartan536 5 років тому +1768

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

    • @VallornDeathblade
      @VallornDeathblade 5 років тому +164

      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
      @MisatoEnjoyer 5 років тому +3

      Spartan0536 yea

    • @MyGamer125
      @MyGamer125 5 років тому +96

      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
      @christopherdurham1999 5 років тому +69

      @@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
      @VallornDeathblade 5 років тому +18

      @@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.

  • @Rogerv1032
    @Rogerv1032 2 роки тому +28

    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
      @nicholaspoulos7694 11 місяців тому +15

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

    • @devilwarr1or
      @devilwarr1or 6 місяців тому +2

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

    • @nicholaspoulos7694
      @nicholaspoulos7694 6 місяців тому +2

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

  • @ItsYaBoyYogi
    @ItsYaBoyYogi 2 роки тому +5

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

  • @faolan1686
    @faolan1686 3 роки тому +160

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

  • @jasonpoole2093
    @jasonpoole2093 4 роки тому +1049

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

    • @abhinnahlawat9048
      @abhinnahlawat9048 4 роки тому

      So whay

    • @abhinnahlawat9048
      @abhinnahlawat9048 4 роки тому

      What*

    • @trevorwhittlinger6932
      @trevorwhittlinger6932 4 роки тому +10

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

    • @JoeBlac
      @JoeBlac 4 роки тому +24

      @@abhinnahlawat9048 1986 California Proposition 65 warning label

    • @chadherron5740
      @chadherron5740 4 роки тому +17

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

  • @chicagomike4587
    @chicagomike4587 2 роки тому +17

    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
      @demonofelru3214 2 роки тому +4

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

  • @Elthenar
    @Elthenar 3 роки тому +23

    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.

  • @malkavianstr450
    @malkavianstr450 6 років тому +587

    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
      @GHound420 5 років тому +17

      Ok there Shakespeare

    • @nenabunena
      @nenabunena 5 років тому +52

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

    • @doolittlegeorge
      @doolittlegeorge 5 років тому +7

      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
      @BB-ce5ev 4 роки тому +8

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

    • @jimmytumbles9640
      @jimmytumbles9640 4 роки тому +11

      @@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....

  • @blingVolcano
    @blingVolcano 4 роки тому +140

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

    • @eaglevision993
      @eaglevision993 2 роки тому +9

      The bricks are tungsten, not lead.

    • @Ivan_Berni
      @Ivan_Berni Рік тому +2

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

  • @joeschmo8755
    @joeschmo8755 3 роки тому +29

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

    • @DaemonWulf7
      @DaemonWulf7 3 роки тому +2

      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
      @skip741x3 2 роки тому

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

  • @degov5
    @degov5 3 роки тому +27

    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.

  • @kwirkLA
    @kwirkLA 4 роки тому +239

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

    • @hafidbagaskara8109
      @hafidbagaskara8109 3 роки тому +9

      Sent him to the infirmary

    • @hycron1234
      @hycron1234 3 роки тому +7

      _He must be delusional_

    • @Coyote0874
      @Coyote0874 2 роки тому +2

      Take him to the infirmary

    • @Felamine
      @Felamine Рік тому +3

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

    • @rimrunz1795
      @rimrunz1795 Рік тому +1

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

  • @MrCrackerJack420
    @MrCrackerJack420 3 роки тому +80

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

    • @toomanyaccounts
      @toomanyaccounts 2 роки тому +10

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

    • @jimland4359
      @jimland4359 2 роки тому +4

      Enrico Fermi if I remember correctly

    • @AB-80X
      @AB-80X Рік тому

      @@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
      @toomanyaccounts Рік тому

      @@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
      @dovbarleib3256 Рік тому +4

      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.

  • @hycron1234
    @hycron1234 3 роки тому +7

    All fun and games until the Cherenkov effect kicks in.

  • @alecboi777
    @alecboi777 2 роки тому +8

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

  • @HayastAnFedayi
    @HayastAnFedayi 5 років тому +709

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

    • @becomematrix
      @becomematrix 5 років тому +42

      ComradeDyatlov I need water in my reactor.

    • @piedpiper1697
      @piedpiper1697 4 роки тому +35

      3.6 rotgeon not good not bad ....

    • @eamonwright7488
      @eamonwright7488 4 роки тому +23

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

    • @HayastAnFedayi
      @HayastAnFedayi 4 роки тому +29

      Eamon Wright you didn’t see graphite...

    • @eamonwright7488
      @eamonwright7488 4 роки тому +14

      ComradeDyatlov I did...

  • @darthwader4472
    @darthwader4472 3 роки тому +65

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

  • @dasking2120
    @dasking2120 2 роки тому +8

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

  • @KittyNoodlesPPC
    @KittyNoodlesPPC 2 роки тому +59

    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
      @Takeshi357 2 роки тому +1

      Wasn't that "one man" Oppenheimer?

    • @if6was929
      @if6was929 2 роки тому +4

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

    • @AB-80X
      @AB-80X Рік тому +1

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

    • @Takeshi357
      @Takeshi357 Рік тому +3

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

  • @Lex5576
    @Lex5576 5 років тому +258

    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
      @JoshSweetvale 4 роки тому +7

      Aaaaand HBO series.

    • @jackkraken3888
      @jackkraken3888 4 роки тому +30

      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 UA-cam and it's terrifying.

    • @blackhawks81H
      @blackhawks81H 4 роки тому +19

      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
      @CrashB111 2 роки тому +10

      @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
      @00177454419 Рік тому +1

      @@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.

  • @TheNightWatcher1385
    @TheNightWatcher1385 3 роки тому +23

    Death is so abstract until it’s your turn.

  • @JGott0001
    @JGott0001 3 роки тому +12

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

  • @margaritar.6907
    @margaritar.6907 3 роки тому +62

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

  • @Celeon999A
    @Celeon999A 9 років тому +507

    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
      @theymusthatetesla3186 7 років тому +40

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

    • @Celeon999A
      @Celeon999A 7 років тому +63

      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
      @theymusthatetesla3186 7 років тому +22

      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
      @vacciniumaugustifolium1420 6 років тому +1

      I kall it "karma"

    • @jasonpoole2093
      @jasonpoole2093 4 роки тому +11

      @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.

  • @capthitmarkah4902
    @capthitmarkah4902 3 роки тому +159

    Kyle Hill sent me...

  • @danthegooberman15
    @danthegooberman15 2 роки тому +2

    i cant believe he did not even say "well that does it"

  • @Shetyre
    @Shetyre 10 місяців тому +5

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

  • @TBone-bz9mp
    @TBone-bz9mp 3 роки тому +49

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

    • @davidford3115
      @davidford3115 3 роки тому +8

      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.

    • @user-ek5uv9dv2q
      @user-ek5uv9dv2q Місяць тому +1

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

    • @TBone-bz9mp
      @TBone-bz9mp Місяць тому

      @@user-ek5uv9dv2q
      Japan had it coming

  • @AudioAndroid
    @AudioAndroid 4 роки тому +185

    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
      @O.Reagano 2 роки тому +4

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

    • @AudioAndroid
      @AudioAndroid 2 роки тому +3

      @@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
      @AB-80X Рік тому +6

      @@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
      @O.Reagano Рік тому

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

    • @earnestsexton8869
      @earnestsexton8869 Рік тому

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

  • @soarinskies1105
    @soarinskies1105 3 роки тому +6

    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.

  • @TomFynn
    @TomFynn Рік тому +1

    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.

  • @hardware199
    @hardware199 7 років тому +159

    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

  • @videowilliams
    @videowilliams 3 роки тому +58

    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.

  • @jimbugorca7968
    @jimbugorca7968 3 роки тому +5

    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.

  • @ElephantRage
    @ElephantRage 2 роки тому +1

    I had been looking for this for more than 30 years. I saw this movie as a kid with mom and dad but could not remember anything except this scene. What a weird feeling now.

  • @leerman22
    @leerman22 7 років тому +161

    Who thought this was a good idea? Kerbals?

    • @bfahren
      @bfahren 6 років тому +11

      Louis Slotin.

    • @JETZcorp
      @JETZcorp 3 роки тому +13

      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
      @fatetestarossa2774 3 роки тому +1

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

  • @jeffreyveradt891
    @jeffreyveradt891 3 роки тому +38

    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
      @isaacbruner65 3 роки тому +2

      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
      @jeffreyveradt891 3 роки тому +1

      @@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
      @isaacbruner65 3 роки тому

      @@jeffreyveradt891 interesting

    • @KGhaleon
      @KGhaleon 3 роки тому +1

      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
      @chakatfirepaw 3 роки тому +4

      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).

  • @hurricanerising3465
    @hurricanerising3465 3 роки тому +13

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

  • @scottmatheson3346
    @scottmatheson3346 11 місяців тому +3

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

  • @JonathanAGarrett
    @JonathanAGarrett 5 років тому +147

    Tickling the dragon's tail...

    • @aryanson
      @aryanson 4 роки тому +4

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

    • @chriseffpunkt4333
      @chriseffpunkt4333 3 роки тому

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

    • @aryanson
      @aryanson 3 роки тому

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

  • @phillipdavies1081
    @phillipdavies1081 6 років тому +158

    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
      @whackyjinak4978 6 років тому +5

      Indeed

    • @ericsmith8373
      @ericsmith8373 5 років тому +1

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

    • @isaned
      @isaned 4 роки тому +1

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

    • @brettbaxter7882
      @brettbaxter7882 3 роки тому

      This is why we have warning labels now.

  • @bequietandrive222
    @bequietandrive222 Рік тому +2

    I cannot let you escape squidward

  • @cupcake_toucher445
    @cupcake_toucher445 Рік тому +1

    Imagine putting radioactive ball in mifdle of your office so anybody can touch it

  • @anaixtar6793
    @anaixtar6793 5 років тому +40

    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
      @kentvesser9484 Рік тому +2

      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.

  • @dirtyblond2332
    @dirtyblond2332 5 років тому +87

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

  • @jensdavidsen4557
    @jensdavidsen4557 2 роки тому +4

    I work as an Analytical Chemist for a radioactive pharmaceutical isotope company...this clip was part of everyone's training in radiation worker safety.

  • @jakebaker4066
    @jakebaker4066 11 місяців тому +2

    Blame it on the supposed (didn’t happen) coffee slip… but It was his own hubris using a flat head screwdriver. He still literally embodied a informative experiment.

  • @adventuressurvivalinthailand
    @adventuressurvivalinthailand 3 роки тому +8

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

  • @MySerpentine
    @MySerpentine 4 роки тому +20

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

  • @canadabisi7857
    @canadabisi7857 2 роки тому +1

    Mistakes here are ALWAYS unforgivable

  • @STVODVIL
    @STVODVIL 10 місяців тому +4

    Historical Fact: The character is Michael Merriman and is based upon Louis Slotin.

  • @wanderinghistorian
    @wanderinghistorian 5 років тому +60

    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 UA-cam algorithms!

  • @tnerbtnerb5136
    @tnerbtnerb5136 5 років тому +22

    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
      @AndreNitroX 5 років тому +6

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

    • @lewisner
      @lewisner 4 роки тому +5

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

  • @NinoNiemanThe1st
    @NinoNiemanThe1st 2 роки тому +36

    Most amazing thing in this scene was was that everybody caught the chalk without dropping it as it was thrown at them after a criticality incident! And that the chalk floor drawings are so accurate and precise after just a few seconds.

    • @Battlefresh
      @Battlefresh 11 місяців тому +2

      No he asked them to quickly scribe where they stood then leave immediately. Later they came back to fill out the foot profiles and distances clearly.

  • @AM-wk9od
    @AM-wk9od Рік тому +20

    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
      @worsethanhitlerpt.2539 11 місяців тому +1

      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

  • @orangejoe204
    @orangejoe204 8 років тому +409

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

    • @snowwhite7677
      @snowwhite7677 6 років тому +28

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

    • @vacciniumaugustifolium1420
      @vacciniumaugustifolium1420 6 років тому +4

      A poor canadian

    • @NathanStar-vw3dm
      @NathanStar-vw3dm 6 років тому +2

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

    • @Cybrsk8r
      @Cybrsk8r 5 років тому +4

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

    • @ryelor123
      @ryelor123 5 років тому +7

      @@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.

  • @UnknownUzer
    @UnknownUzer 3 роки тому +23

    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
      @davidford3115 3 роки тому +1

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

  • @ebinshumate3132
    @ebinshumate3132 Рік тому +2

    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

  • @hayssd
    @hayssd Рік тому +2

    It's interesting that his real life reaction was even calmer and more matter of fact

  • @isaacschmitt4803
    @isaacschmitt4803 3 роки тому +20

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

  • @theclockworksolution8521
    @theclockworksolution8521 4 роки тому +171

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

  • @ReveredDead
    @ReveredDead Рік тому +1

    The little basketball sized nuclear core: "So you have chosen death".

  • @yallowrosa
    @yallowrosa 11 місяців тому +3

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

  • @pirobot668beta
    @pirobot668beta 4 роки тому +5

    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.

  • @baloog8
    @baloog8 5 років тому +53

    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
      @hunbenny 5 років тому

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

    • @ramagefreak
      @ramagefreak 5 років тому +22

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

    • @Shendue
      @Shendue 5 років тому +9

      There were security protocols, but he ignored them.

    • @baloog8
      @baloog8 5 років тому

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

    • @baloog8
      @baloog8 5 років тому +1

      @@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.

  • @PuffleFuzz
    @PuffleFuzz 9 місяців тому +1

    Slotin, you’re not just dead, you’re fired too

    • @pro-socialsociopath769
      @pro-socialsociopath769 5 місяців тому

      Nah he just got written up and they expected him to be back to work the next day

  • @tonyennis1787
    @tonyennis1787 Рік тому +3

    There were machinists on base. They could have made him a completely safe fixture in a few hours. Slotin was a risk-taker and his death had been predicted.