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Beryllium Spheres

Beryllium Sphere (by DougQ) I'm sitting here at home watching The Shadow, easily one of the best movies made based on one of the best old time radio shows.  I hadn't picked up on this earlier, but the weapon used to destroy the city is none other than the same power source used to power the NSEA Protector in Galaxy Quest.

I never knew Beryllium was so cool.  Now I want a sphere of my own.

Anyone know of other places Beryllium Spheres are mentioned?

Peace,
+Tom

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Comments

Tony said…
I was watching 'The Middleman' (ABC Family) tonight (it was from a few weeks ago, on my DVR) when they mention a Beryllium Sphere, which made me think it had been mentioned elsewhere. Of course, after googling it, that's how I was able to find your blog post about the subject. I was thinking Star Trek, not Galaxy Quest or The Shadow, but I was wrong. Any way you put it, the beryllium sphere is purely a work of science fiction.
September 16, 2008 at 10:17:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said…
I'm watching "The Shadow" on TV right now. Geek that I am, I remembered the Beryllium Sphere from "Galaxy Quest." For it to be mentioned in two unrelated movies made me wonder whether it was: a) something real or theoretically real or b) a convenient science fiction device. Like yourself, I figured Google would answer the question for me. It seems unlikely that "Galaxy Quest" (1999) got the term from "The Shadow" (1994), so I'm wondering what the common root, fictional or otherwise, is. Maybe I should Ask Jeeves. Damn, I thought Google could answer anything.
April 12, 2009 at 6:46:00 PM EDT
ekks7410 said…
Star Trek TNG touched on a Dyson Sphere which was built around a sun.
January 13, 2012 at 1:42:00 PM EST
Onijitsu said…
Heh, I just came here after making the same connection.
July 25, 2012 at 9:13:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said…
I found it is real, see link below

the only commercial source of beryllium ore (bertrandite) is located in the Spor Mts. of western Utah and partially refined at the Brush Engineered Materials concentration plant near Delta.

http://elementsunearthed.com/2010/01/07/a-beryllium-sphere/
July 27, 2013 at 11:39:00 AM EDT
Anonymous said…
Beryllium spheres are used in implosion plutonium cores. Beryllium is a neutron reflector. When the imploding cores reach critical mass, beryllium reflectors increase the neutron flow through the plutonium. It basically increases the yield of the bomb. I believe beryllium reflectors are used in fusion bombs for the neutron enriched flow also.
August 26, 2013 at 4:16:00 PM EDT
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