Physics In Ken Silverstein's 'Radioactive Boy Scout'

Landon Hattaway
Mr. Sanders
Physics
6 November 2015

Introduction
In The Radioactive Boy Scout by Ken Silverstein, the story focuses on the early years of David Hahn and the reasons for his scientific interest. He shows that with reluctance anyone can become great at a task if their mind is focused on it. It all started as just a small interest as a young child but eventually science became an obsession for him. He saw it as a way to escape his unordinary and tough life at home. His mom was a schizophrenic and eventually committed suicide, while his dad was never around very much nor supportive of the things he did. David’s dad did influence him to become a boy scout. The boy scouts altered his life greatly and he became more engulfed in

his studies. He was a science genius before he was even an adult. While he was a teenager he experimented with nuclear power and wanted to create a reactor of his own. He built a breeder reactor in his mom’s potting shed that gained attention nationwide. As this attention grew his strange story and hobby grew as well.
Key Idea 1
Many things influenced David Hahn into the scientific field in his early years.

It was not just these influences but he also had a deep interest in science and chemicals. He was alone for the early part of his child hood because of his father’s work habits and his mother’s illnesses. This being the case, David found it easy to become engulfed in books but more specifically The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments. The Golden Book was a large factor in most of his early experiments, and even played a part in some of his experiments in the later years. This book contained many science experiments and different types of chemical reactions. He used this book as a guide to learn how different experiments work, and also showed David how he could create his own tests. Although his mother and father were not very supportive he did have one family member that was. His grandfather always backed him up and realized he had a love for science. Then, the boy scouts came along. His father saw this as a way to get David out of the house and create more of a social life. What he did not know is that David was using the perks of being a boy scout to obtain more chemical to further the needs for his

projects.
Key Idea 2
David Hahn had very much success but this also came along with failure. He knew that every experiment was not going to be a success and that the results would most of the time be much unexpected. People that knew David were always unsure what to expect when they saw him. He would dye his hair or show up with pimples all over his face resulting from his experiments with chemicals. This sometimes drove away his opportunities he would have to make friends. The Fourth of July was always his favorite time of year. David would make homemade fireworks every year and impress everyone in the neighborhood. By the young age of fourteen David had learned to make thou powerful explosive nitroglycerin. One night David was brought into the hospital by Ken and Kathy because he caused an explosion by tampering a substance with a screw driver (Silverstein, page 138) He and his family never knew what to expect from his tests and experiments.
Key Idea 3
Many substances were needed for David to complete his projects. He would find any way possible to obtain the things he needed even if it was illegal. He would create a different identity just so he could obtain materials that were not able to be bought by every day civilians. He bought a large amount of smoke detectors after finding out that they contained thorium-232. He wanted to create uranium with this but he was not successful. He also bought about $1,000 of batteries so he could get the lithium out of them. Although some materials would be almost impossible to obtain, he would find a way to possess them anyways.
Key Idea 4
The idea then hit David Hahn to create a model breeder reactor.

A breeder reactor is used to create fuel or generate electricity from the neutrons that are given off. This intrigued David because it was the largest project he had to that date. He created this in his mother’s potting shed. This idea came from one of his father’s old books that he had borrowed. This potting shed was eventually discovered by the U.S. government and was seen as a huge health risk due to the amount of radiation emitted. The EPA then evacuated his town and buried this potting shed so no radiation could seep out.
Key Idea 5
This book ties into our first semester of learning about chemistry. Learning how things react with each other played a huge role in his experiment. Learning the charges and what each type of atom does is very important when working in this field. Being able to do the equations of heat transfer and how the heat transfers connects to the type of things David had to know and what he encountered. Many concepts that were learned by David were also learned by our class this year. A large amount of the things we did tie into this book but David did it in a larger scale and took it a little bit further.

Conclusion
This book shows how interesting it can be to learn about chemicals and the things they do. We use them in everyday life and even when we do not realize it. David also showed that with creativity and a strong drive that anything can be done and anything can be learned if someone is devoted enough. Although David Hahn got in trouble for many of the things he did, he will be remembered as a true scientific genius and will leave a legacy. David displayed the interest that every human has and needs. If it were not for people like David, many of the inventions that people use every day would not exist.