Radium watch makes Geiger counter go nuts

[MrGameBomber]

wat the hell? i typed in alex rider: skeleton key, hit im feeling lucky and it bought me to this!

[Milesprower1100]

Its a good thing it was ONLY made in the 1800s

[ggabe005]

Test mayonnaise and pepto bismol with your giger counter!!!!

[Imperiusbadischl]

Hi, you can make it with a counter like i !

[atthespeckofdawn]

wait, what the HELL is Radium doing in a watch?

is that put in every watch? D:

*now paranoid*

[bf2lover42]

@atthespeckofdawn when radioactivity was first discovered, people weren't fully aware of the danger because it still required studies to be made, so they made stupid products with radioactive isotopes. they even made radioactive chocolate.

[Grapefruit2000]

@bf2lover42 radioactive chocolate ? holy fuck..

[Celeon999A]

@atthespeckofdawn

It makes the hands and numbers glow in the dark so one can read the dial at nightime. Back in the days, people had no fear of radiation as almost nothing was known about its health effects.

Many people working with radium in old clock factories paid for that with their health.

The radioactivity from that watch is rather low, but yet higher than anything that is allowed by modern standards. So i would say its better to refrain from wearing it on your wrist for years. ;-)

[HaydenHatTrick]

you call that going nuts???

[DicS0upcan]

Microwaves actually create nonionizing radiation, so I don't think geiger counters react to them.

[pivotsreborn]

Microwaves make yo food radioactive!

[ScoperTheCat]

i just got mine today its awesome when you put it to a running microwave

[DidntKnowWhatToPut1]

Awesome in a running microwave you say? aha what an expensive mistake

[Akhiloth]

To think that was meant to be put directly on someone's skin.

[ButterflyNM14]

o_O

[hezabimu]

i heard that cell phones emit radiation , would this be able to detect it? i want to know how much it emits.

[nsawilla]

its a very different kind of radiation.. far not as harmful as this

[Xenitic]

geiger counters detect ionizing radiation you donk... otherwise it would obviously go nuts when u are everywhere coz of other people using mobile phones, radio traffic etc.

[imanerd36]

Cellphone emit a very low amount of radiation that is very weak(weaker than light.) This is the same kind of radiation that TVs, and radio stations use, so if a ginger counter picked up these it would be useless science it would constantly go off. Geiger counter pick up gamma radiation. Google "electromagnetic spectrum" for more info.

[lebensraummetal]

@imanerd36 not weaker, just lower frequency. radio waves are so powerful that they can be detected from across the universe.

[spadamon]

@hezabimu Radiation as waves that radiate from it not radiation as in alpha beta and gamma, althought if this was gamma you'd either be dead or fine, as it would fry you or go through you.

[fuuturist]

@hezabimu, you can't detect low energy electromagnetic radiation with geiger tube :)

[Jyiannaros]

god that reminds me,

id hate to think what that gold watch did to christopher walken while he hid it up his ass for a decade

[JoeyRamone442]

@Jyiannaros haha pulp fiction

[mommasboy168]

@Jyiannaros lols at the pulp fiction refference

[intercomsec]

During WWII they made aircraft instruments with luminous dials about 2 miles from where I live in the UK. When they tried to clear the site prior to re-development a few years back they found a number of hotspots by the boundary fence due to dumped radium based paint! Actually a lot of the women who did the painting ingested significant amounts of radium, being an alpha-emmitter it caused a significant increase in cancer.

[aapinator]

It's the paint right? Glow it glows in the dark.. They used to just put that paint on there, because they didn't know it was radioactive yet.. The story goes that all the people who used to paint these watches have deformed hands (or something, my teacher talked about this a year ago)

[hendrikhelweg]

its just alha radiation, thats not dangerous at all

[conrad2468]

no, alpha can b stopped by paper, these instruments have a solid plastic case.

[MrFlandie]

Wrong, alpha radiation can very extremely dangerous if alpha emitting particles are ingested or inhaled

[mythalienfan]

fallout 3

[thenewbydude2009]

just thinking the same thing lol

[tvvinho]

Your camera also did the counter bip!!!

[GingleGangle1]

How much cost these Geiger counters?

[mmoche]

It was very inexpensive, under $50 USD as I recall.

[GingleGangle1]

and what is the radiation on the other side of the watch?

[Ballpythondude420]

where did you purchase it? I WANT ONE :)

[mmoche]

You can find them on eBay pretty regularly.

[ForcedChaos]

@mmoche i betcha that radium wasnt inexpensive

[xboxaddict1125]

@mmoche Not anymore!

[TehSmexican]

I found one that is $145 and has an actual dial that shows you the amount of particles. I want to buy it soon, perhaps for my birthday.

[SelenyumSe34]

Judging by the short distance at which the Geiger counter starts clicking franctically, the watch probably just emits alpha particles, which have a very short reach. You wouldn't need a lead casing. Although I guess it makes radon after a while...

[darappah]

That geiger counter is unable to detect alpha particles. If it could it would click much more than that..

[SelenyumSe34]

You're right, I read about it some time after my comment. Oops. I didn't get why people would say a single element would emit all 3 kinds of radiation, unless it was a bunch of isotopes, but the alpha emitting one seemed the most common occuring. The other particles are probably due to its daughter products, but not radium itself. Anyway thanks for the correction, I had pretty much forgotten about this.

[ralliartfanevoix]

Radiation Is Nasty stuff... those radium stuff is best kept somewhere lined with lead, i feel sorry for the poor sods who kept licking the radioactive brushes, and the buggers who died due to radiation exposure... nice sound, although the clicking makes me feel like i need to "get out, ASAP!"

[lepimachor]

Radium watch?! I don't understand!

[Ex0th3rm1c]

they used radium because if you encased it in phosphorous it would glow. Since the radioactivity doesnt just go away, it would glow for a LONG LONG time.

[tproduction1]

nope the phosperous decays in a few years.

kev

[lepimachor]

Radium watch?! I don't understand!

[lightsuit]

i want a geiger i realy want one!!!!!

[SCR0ALL]

i wouldnt use that watch again u might get radiation poisoning

[soylentgreenb]

"i wouldnt use that watch again u might get radiation poisoning"

You're hit by thousands of cosmic rays every second of your life, from womb to tomb. What does a few more counts per second matter?

[UltimateEnd0]

Well it depends on whether they are gamma particles or alpha particles :P

[broklynite]

That's the thing- Radium emits alpha, beta, AND gamma.

[gronster911]

HA back in the day people though radium would cure them of ailments and such.

[broklynite]

It did. Permanantly.

[taliban0king]

the russian drsb geiger counters have a nice sound and are more sensitive while the amarican gigercounters give acurat readings and go BEEEEEPP SCREEEEEEEEP DANGER DANGER!!

[aerospace82]

coolest sound!!!

[TeamSTALKERS]

yes i love that sound i hate the beeping ones.

[grovestreetthug]

where do i get a gieger?

[taliban0king]

how do i get one iv been getting head aces and rinnging in my ears like iv been talking on a cell phone for days or like staring at a computer screen i think my house is under or around some radioactive stuff!(thoes hedaces hurt by the way!)

[JingleJoe]

I'd seriously keep that watch in something lined with lead O.o

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Hey... I have one of those Kvartz DRSB-01 doohickeys... (well, more than one actually).

They're cheap and cheerful and quite robust although not strictly a "geiger-counter", more accurately, a "dosimeter" because they don't register a count, they only give audible (and visual) indication of detection.

[Diamonddavej]

The workers who painted the watch/clock dials used to lick the ends of their paint brushes to make a sharp point - they had no idea of the danger.

[AllStarActinger]

My school did a play about it,

it's so devastating just to think about the horrors that they didn't even KNOW it was bringing.

It's so sad, but it definitely makes you wonder what common objects we use now could be radioactive or something...

[therandomexample]

@Diamonddavej and they painted their fingernails with it to give them a "healthy green glow". Needless to say, they're dead.

[xXJeeXTeeXAyeXmanXx]

@Diamonddavej the biggest company was called Radium Girls and they were told it was completley safe - they even painted their nails with radium paint!

[Ricky32908]

@Diamonddavej yea , i watch discovery channel too

[Ricky32908]

@Diamonddavej more correctly, my mistake, 1000 ways to die

[chester73]

lmfao pwnt

[qwertylex]

Run!!

[123010]

overload it!

[nitrex]

i have a Much Sensitive Geiger Counter and i also have Some Source of Radium. Old Watches have Radium hands.

[phboba]

you gonna die!