A viral post on social media claims a 14-year-old student created an atomic bomb as her science project and was awarded a blue ribbon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“14-year old student builds an atomic bomb as a science project,” reads a March 28 Facebook post, with over 800 shares and almost 400 reactions, by the page Tech, Science & Innovation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Below the text is an image of a\u00a0girl holding a blue ribbon and posing in front of her purported science project. The post also includes\u00a0a\u00a0meme of a disappointed man with the text, “that boy who got arrested for making a clock that his school thought was a bomb.”<\/p>\n
The same meme was shared on March 28 to the Facebook group Zoom Meme for Self Quaranteens. Similar versions of the claim have been previously shared to Reddit and iFunny.co.<\/p>\n
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook page and\u00a0user for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fact check:<\/strong>Claims of a conviction-free ‘zone of death’ in Yellowstone National Park need context<\/span><\/p>\n The claim that a 14-year-old created an atomic bomb as her science project first appeared on the satirical site World News Daily Report\u00a0in an article with 358,000 Facebook shares. The text and image seen in the Facebook meme\u00a0matches the one included in the\u00a0article.<\/p>\n A disclaimer at the bottom of the site states that World News Daily Report “assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content.”<\/p>\n It adds that any characters included in the articles on\u00a0the site “are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle.” A headline at the top of the site also reads, “Where facts don’t matter.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The image used in the article was edited using a photo from April 2014 of students at a science and engineering fair at Washington State University.<\/p>\n The students won first place for their project that reduced gluten strength in bread, according to an article from Washington State.\u00a0<\/p>\n The photo\u00a0of the girl holding the ribbon was combined with an image of a\u00a0deaerator system, which dissolves gases such as oxygen in the boiler feedwater, according to Novatherm.\u00a0<\/p>\n USA TODAY has previously debunked false claims that originate from the World News Daily Report.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fact check: <\/strong>Story about bull sharks in Arkansas river started as satire<\/span><\/p>\n The claim that a 14-year-old built an atomic bomb as a science project is FALSE, based on our research. The screenshot comes from a satirical website and the image included in the post has been altered\u00a0from a 2014 photo of students at the Science and Engineering Fair at Washington State University.<\/p>\nClaim started as satire<\/h2>\n
Our rating: False<\/h2>\n
Our fact-check sources:<\/h2>\n