Channel: Dark5

Category: Education

Tags: techancient mysterytop10out of placeancient discoveriestop 10technologytechnologiesunexplainedmysterytop5mysterioustop 5

Description: The idea of a nuclear fission reaction hadn’t even been theorized until the early 20th century. Furthermore, the first successful controlled fission reaction occurred as late as 1942. Being such a recent and intricate development, scientists were in shock when in 1976, they discovered an ancient nuclear reactor buried deep below the land of what today is the country of Gabon. The most incredible aspect of the unearthing was that the fission reaction that took place there was dated as far back as 2 billion years ago. Due to the volatile materials and the precise conditions needed for fission to occur, the scientific community firmly held that such a reaction had never happened on the face of the Earth until 1942. Physicists calculated that the odds of a nuclear event occurring naturally on Earth were near impossible. The natural reactor site had to possess an extremely high uranium volume, and the width of the mineral had to surpass the typical distance that neutrons travel. There also had to be an arbitrator material able to decelerate the neutrons formed after the uranium reacted. The chances of such astonishingly precise circumstances occurring were so astronomical that many people began to make wild speculations to explain the evidence. Ancient extraterrestrial nuclear test sites and pre-human civilizations with exceptionally advanced technologies were among the prevalent theories thrown around at the time. However, further examinations determined that the specific zone in Gabon where the reaction had taken place had been even richer in uranium millions of years ago. So much so that uniquely thick slabs of the ore could have formed. Scientists also discovered trace amounts of other elements entrenched in the uranium, with a percentage resembling those found in waste material generated by nuclear power plants. Researchers concluded that even if it was highly improbable, the underground site had been the center of an unprompted natural nuclear fission reaction sometimes millions of years ago. Many skeptics still cling to the idea that the reaction had to be caused by a long-lost intelligent life form even when the science community has determined otherwise.