Radium Watch

[atvrider312]

Wrong dude, alpha is the most dangerous,"inside the body that is" alpha radiation can't penetrate the skin however when in the body it can be very bad, gamma radiation can go right through the body and can split cells etc... Beta can penetrate the skin but can't penatrate clothing or a piece of foil

[Allexxx96Reloaded]

That is pretty dangorous, how long do you think it will continue to radiate?

Does the tritium on newer watches radiate as dangerous as radium?

[urmo345]

@Allexxx96Reloaded tritium is weaker than radium and they encapsulate it before placing it on dials or so.

[Ch3mG33k]

@98Kestral No, actually you're wrong. Gamma is way more dangerous than alpha and beta because it penetrates much more deeply. Furthermore, x-rays actually have more energy than alpha or beta so it's not because they're safer.

[cassiavc]

It would be awesome if you could show us all the alpha radiation as well.

[MrAaRdVaRkEr]

shit, i used to have a radium watch which my dad gave me plus i had a radium alarm clock, i suspect i have'nt got cancer from those as if you think about the amount was minute but maybe i don't have to worry about how many fags i smoke, also i think the particles aren't thrown out that far so you'd be safe from just a few inches away

[alancj05]

The only people that got cancer from these were the dial painters. They would actually lick their radium paint covered brushes to get a nice fine point on their brush to paint the dials!

[carcano38]

How many people own a radiation meter? If they do -- why? Chicken littles running around telling us the sky is fall, or rather mankind is coming to an end because a few 50 year old watchs have radium on the faces.

[carpetmonk]

@carcano38 i think you got a point.. lets throw away all geiger counters.. ignorance is bliss right? i own one, and its for fun and expiriments.. if it played played music i suppose id show THAT to people. and mSv's are based on human dosage, so theres no avoiding adding the human factor.. ill figure that your here for the same reason as i am, in scientific interest.. unless your here to be an, anti-alarmist? (thats as annoying as the freakin alarmist are.. just an outside opinion man..)

[Digimon575]

the highest was 60.66

[lumabi25]

I knew radium on old watch dials were radioactive but I didn't know the dose was that high. Thank goodness for Superluminova and other variants of UV-charged paints for watches.

[xoio]

That watch should be kept in a lead lined box surely?? LOL

Chernobyl watch

[Ch3mG33k]

@xoio That would be a horrible idea. The watch is releasing a large amount of beta radiation. Beta particles + lead = x-rays which is not good.

[xoio]

Ahh... getting my Beta & Gamma confused....

[wacko506]

Is it not true that, the dials on aircraft in the World War was painted with the same kind of paint, more people got injured via radiation that getting shot down?

i could be wrong :P

[Ch3mG33k]

@wacko506 That is incredibly incorrect.

[Doppelbuckel]

@Ch3mG33k

Yeah thats not true, but there was a case when they used such radars in the German army (1950-1980) which didnt just create non-harmful radar rays, but also xrays. The radar workers had to work in areas where they received a full-body dose as high as 0,4 Sv PER HOUR(!!!).

If there are any Germans reading this, check that Wiki site: Gesundheitsschäden durch militärische Radaranlagen

[carpetmonk]

@Doppelbuckel 400 mSv's/hr would have put them in the hospital well before they could train a replacement. lets say the radar tech works an 8/hr shift.. giving him 3.6 Sv's.. 1 Sv/hr gives all Rad sickness indicators, and and a 5 Sv dose is "recognized" as killing 50% of those exposed within a month. so, if that site is correct, those men were exposed to fukushima level radiation, and wouldve been incapacitated within 1/2 work days. sure it wasnt uSv/hr? (sorry for not reading the site)

[Doppelbuckel]

@carpetmonk

I can just tell you what Wikipedia told me, dunno if its correct. The source is an expert team which got the task to analyse those cases. But I should mention that they had such high readings only with some radars,

Ill translate ya what Wiki says: In some cases, especially with the radar SGR103 of the navy, the exposure was up to 400 mSv/h. This was so high, that the limit per year was reached in just 3 minutes.

[carpetmonk]

@Doppelbuckel most scales are based within an hour exposure rate, how many times the set was cycled on and off could reduce exposure as well.. and i doubt the men were in front of the emitter. i wonder if the radar was wide band. i like wikipedia, but i can see how Sv, mSv and uSv could be easily missplaced. i wonder if the apparatus was fired constantly, or quick cycled 24 hours straight.. one answer, opens up 10 questions. but a 3 min exposure yeilding annaul dose.. is freakin high.

[carpetmonk]

@Doppelbuckel see, a 3min exposure at 400 millisieverts obtaining full annual dose is about right. i just recalled that latter war naval radar could also be frozen in its arc, or maybe they are talking about precision directed radar for turret ranging, although i thought that was optical. a wide band, or particularly hot emitter like that spinning for an entire atlantic mission would definently be a horrible exposure, who knows what they did do men in uniform, what they still do..

[hartiganutube]

I have read a lot of stuff recently about radium paint and it seems that the amount of radioactive material on a watch or a compass is hazardous only if you ingest or inhale a lot of it (like if you eat all the dials or brush them really good and inhale the dust). A small dose does not seem to be enough (even if inhaled) to induce any significant health problem. Now radium girls inhaled and ingested A LOT of this stuff so eventually most of them became sick.

[polonium9]

is that a benrus watch? i have one that looks just like that!

[imnotfrommilkyway]

Is that what one of those "Radium Girls" made?

[Ch3mG33k]

@imnotfrommilkyway Yes indeed.

[nepssis]

It is so hot! I have some radium school sample and it's "only" 30 uSv/h.

[peaky1988]

Nice to see a DRSB-88! I bought one for about £8 from eBay a while ago! Did you put holes in the plastic on the side by the tube yourself or was it like that when you got it?

[Ch3mG33k]

I added the holes in the side myself to make it more sensitive.

[AScannerClearly]

Nevermind my last comment from 9 months ago, I can now see on this new computer monitor that it's in uSv/hr, so the actual calculation is 9099 cpm at it's highest number... I shouldn't realized it wasn't hotter than Cs-137, that source makes a gamma scout squeal. (1 uSv/hr = 150 cpm for Gamma Scout)

[Napalmdeath420]

no wonder why so many people have cancer.

[polonium9]

the way this worked was buy alpha emissions hitting a thin layer of zinc sulphide which created light

[klutz22]

Does the gamma scout measure in mr/hr?

[Ch3mG33k]

It measures in both µSv/hr and mrem/hr.

[BillNyeSciGuyChannel]

ill buy your old DSRB-88!

[sciencoking]

i wish i had a gamma scout but they are way to expensive

[rico199400]

ich habe eine um 350 euro echt geiles gerät

[sciencoking]

RRRRRRR!!!pass auf sonst hol ich ihn in deinen träumen! und wenn du nicht aufpasst ist er dann für immer verschwunden! hahahaaaaa scherz

ich komm mit nam RKSB 104 voll krass klar. ich hab ihn auch schon gepimpt siehe vid

[rico199400]

ja voll geil mit dem licht und den lautsprecher klinken stecker 6,3mm der gamma scout hat vilele coole funktionen aber leider teuer stimmt habe auch lange warten müssen 4 monate

[JeremyBechen]

That IS quite hot. Especially with the clicks given by the DRSB-88, what with it being non-sensitive to alpha emissions.

[Ch3mG33k]

Ain't it the truth. I actually opened up the DRSB-88 and exposed the watch directly to the GM-Tube and it shorted out the counter.

[AScannerClearly]

Yeah I'll say that's hot! Did a quick calculation; if your unit is set to mrem/hr (I can't really tell), then your maximum measurement was around 90,990 cpm (conversion: 1 mrem/hr = 1500 cpm for GammaScout). That's about 16 times hotter than my hottest source (10uCi of Cs-137)! Onto a totally unrelated topic, I need to look into getting myself a nice antique watch... ^_^

[Masamunecb]

Me too, I need to get a nice test source, and certainly an old wrist watch looks a lot nicer than a piece of Cesium.

[officerspot]

Real cool geiger counters you have and nice ammout of radiation coming out of that watch.

[Ch3mG33k]

Thanks. I love my Gamma Scout.

[conrad2468]

"hey check out my new watch" he gloated!

"guess what?!?!?"

"what"

"you have bone cancer"

[Ch3mG33k]

That's mean =P

[conrad2468]

Whats that called? oh yeah CARMA!

[Ch3mG33k]

...You mean karma?

[conrad2468]

yeah i feel like david ?han? he is smarter than hell but cant spell worth a crap..

[JeremyBechen]

Hah! "Please tell me if you get any more luminus(sic) clocks. I will pay any some(sic) of money to obtain one." -Note David left at an antique store.

"CAUSHION!(sic)AM-241 AND TH-232!" -Warning on David's potting-shed laboratory wall.

[Ch3mG33k]

Hey, how did you know I had a potting-shed laboratory?

[conrad2468]

if i had the book with me i would add another quote....

[Ch3mG33k]

Hehe.

[nitrex]

Hmm, the Radon decaying from Radium isn't enough to hurt you, you will need more then grams of Radium to decay enough Radon to cause you severe problems in the future. But whenever you deal with products that release radon, my advise is to keep ventilation.

[Ch3mG33k]

Yeah that is why if I take it apart, I will keep it in a bag, containing the radon. The radon being produced right now is stuck in the watch face. No way it can escape.

[nitrex]

Did you know in France there is spa where people would breath 45 to 70% Radon gas mixed with oxygen in a tube, they believe that it keeps sickness away and keeps them healthy

[Ch3mG33k]

Silly French people.

[bionerd23]

yay! now remove the watchglass, see what reading you get. radium decays by emitting alpha rays, which are completely shielded by the glass (so the reading you are getting must be from gamma rays emitted by excited atoms and further elements down the uranium-radium decay chain, such as lead and bismuth, which decay by emitting beta rays).

[Ch3mG33k]

Haha yeah. That watch is old so it isn't shocking to find that most of the radium has decayed. I'm a bit leery towards removing the glass. The radiation levels in my room have already increased by about .05uSi/hr (though that really isn't that bad). I think I'm fine with how hot it is with glass on lol.

[bionerd23]

nah, radium has a half time of ~1500 years, and that watch was produced <100 years ago - there will be plenty of radium left. also, there are more alpha decaying elements in the decay chain after radium, such as polonium... but, alpha rays have a very short range, so you wont irradiate your room any further by removing the watchglass!

(yes, i am trying to talk you into removing the watchglass indeed, not mentioning radon gas at all. ^_^)

[Ch3mG33k]

Haha yeah. I would like to avoid radon. Although, if I were to remove it and keep it in a ziplock, that would keep the radon in no?

[bionerd23]

yeah, that should work fine - or anything else that closes shut. do it, do it! \o/

[Ch3mG33k]

Alright alright I'll think about it. Expect a video if I do.

[nitrex]

It isn't the Radium that would glow, the radium was mixed with Zinc sulfide and some other chemical, when ever a alpha particle would hit that chemical it would release light. The main reason why they stopped making the Radium watches was due to the painters who were in risk of cancer and other diseases. Of course many died, most of them who did were known as the Radium girls who were the ones painting.

[darappah]

I have never seen drsb-88 go that crazy :D

[Ch3mG33k]

Haha, neither have I.