Radium Watch

Holy cow, this thing is hot! I found this watch face in an antique shop. The drawer was full of watches and it was a game of hot and cold with my gamma scout.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• radiation
• gamma
• scout
• radium
• watch
• Geiger
• counter

[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.

[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.

[imnotfrommilkyway]

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

[Ch3mG33k]

@imnotfrommilkyway Yes indeed.

[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.

[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

[urmo345]

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

[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?

[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..

[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.

[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 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)

[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..)

[cassiavc]

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