[secretagent]

Or if you don't care about this life, you could just slap the two sub-critical masses together with your hands, I guess.

A different kind of thunderclap.

[stylin_geek]

I read an article about the early days of research in to the characteristics of uranium, and evidently there was a teacher who would take two sub-critical masses of uranium, (he had them on the end of long poles, and, mind you, he did this in class) and bring them together to demonstrate what would happen. From what I understand, you do not get a boom, but you do get some fireworks. Whether or not the tale is true, I have no idea. However, Madam Curie did shorten her lifespan because she did not take proper precautionary measures during her research. However, she demanded her students take precautions. Even so, she died in her late 60's.