this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2025
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Me at the 19thC Royal Society, all cocky like: Matter is energy, E=mc^2
Michael Faraday: interesting, how would I go about proving that?
Me: no fucking clue. Something to do with spaceships, or massive bombs?
Go take a piece of uranium ore (they knew what uranium is), spin it up real fast, and collect separate fractions depending on how close they were to the wall.
Now, accumulate plenty of that lighter thing far from the wall, something like 50 kg, bake it in a sphere, and throw it in the water somewhere far from other people. Water will start boiling - this is energy released. After it stops boiling (this will take quite a while) measure the weight of the sample - it will be lighter.
The energy released is directly related to the mass lost, and they relate to one another through this equation. If you manage to condense steam back to water and analyze it through any means available at the specific point of 19th century, you'll be able to show that the mass lost is greatly higher than the mass of uranium dispersed in steam. Through this, you can prove it is the mass that converts to energy. The results may not be accurate to ascertain the dependence is exactly speed of light squared, but you'll make a point for further research.
I’m fairly sure that “spin up a piece of uranium ore” is covering a ton of stuff that you’d have to Google (and possibly get put on a list for).
Sure enough, that would help to make it much better and more reliable, but overall, this is really all you need. Centrifuge that thing, try not to die, and you'll have a basic nuclear fuel.
Now, to make a good nuclear fuel in large quantity, let alone make weapon-grade uranium most folks are actually concerned about, you need a much better machinery, and this is what three-letter agencies are on the lookout for.
To put into perspective how easy it is to start a "just to make a point" nuclear fission if you have uranium available: there are signs that some natural uranium deposits effectively served as nuclear reactors, generating up to 100kW of heat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor
See that just makes me think you're imagining tossing a rock into a spinny thing, which I'm fairly sure isn't right. You need to do something to make it gaseous first, but I've no idea what.
No, obviously it's not THAT easy. But, again, can be done.
Gaseous uranium hexafluoride is obtained through sublimation at conditions that are reachable with old tech.
And overall, even natural uranium can be used, you'll just need a lot of it and it won't cause a chain reaction, but rather a set of small individual reactions. But the water will heat up somewhat. Also, you don't necessarily have to go with uranium specifically if you're not sure you'll make it work.
btw don't die of fluorine poisoning. Also build hundreds of high-speed centrifuges that are resistant to UF6.
Gears + a lot of slaves = there you go.
Cruel, but you gotta use what you have to make it all work.
No slavery in England in the 19th century. You’d have to go to a colony or the US.
Fair, forgot a bit of context. Then you already have steam-powered machines all over the place, these will suffice!