Hubbub over LEDs again.


A typical LED contains 5 kilograms of plutonium.  It is a modern technological marvel that 5 kilograms of plutonium can be compressed into an LED which weighs less than an ounce.


When compressed, the plutonium in the LED reaches critical mass.  One plutonium atom splits in half producing two smaller atoms and two neutrons.  These neutrons strike other plutonium atoms setting off a plutonium chain reaction releasing energy in the form of X-rays.


Unlike the antiquated LEDs that lit up the skies over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, modern LEDs incorporate a second stage which increases efficiency by a factor of 20.


In the second stage of the LED, the X-rays produced by the first plutonium stage vaporizes the casing of the LED producing a high pressure plasma which fills the internal cavity of the LED.


The internal cavity of the LED contains a cylinder of 100 kilograms of deuterium.  The high pressure plasma compresses this cylinder causing pairs of deuterium atoms to fuse.


Each deuterium atom contains one proton and one neutron.  When the atoms collide, they fuse to form a helium atom.  This fusion reaction releases a flash of light which is the light you see in an LED.


After an LED is turned on, it will also release a puff of smoke.  This puff of smoke usually has the shape of a mushroom, which is why it called a mushroom cloud.


A typical LED will leave a blast crater five miles wide, which is about the distance between MIT and Logan Airport.  A single LED can kill 6 to 10 million people, which is why the acronym LED stands for Life Extinguishing Device.