Tritium - in glow key-rings

Tritium glow keyrings, testing with Radex GM counter and its radioluminescence.

TRITIUM - brief info.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of 12.32 years. Its nucleus contains 1 proton and 2 neutrons, whereas the nucleus of protium (the most abundant hydrogen isotope) contains only 1 proton. It is a colorless, extremely flammable gas with no smell or taste. Tritium emits low energy negatively charged beta particles (electrons) and decays into a stable (and uncommon) isotope, helium 3, which contains 2 protons and 1 neutron. The beta particles causes the phosphor coating inside a tiny glass vial inside a plastic key-ring to radioluminesce, emitting visible light. The low energy beta particles has only little penetrating power; it is readily absorbed by the phosphor, the glass vial, plus the plastic, and so giving no response with my Geiger counter.

The bleeps heard on my Geiger counter is due to background radiation that consists of cosmic rays and radiation from traces of radioactive substances, such as potassium 40, in the surrounding environment (including me!).

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• tritium
• radioactivity
• beta
• radiation
• radioluminescence
• key-ring
• glow-in-dark

[evansp12]

Depends on the colored key-ring. The green key-ring can be used to read maps and books, especially when your eyes are accustomed to darkness, but it's not particularly bright. The blue key-ring can just about be used with the eyes accustomed to darkness but with difficulty. The red key-ring is not bright enough to be used for reading in the dark.

Hope this helps. Thanks for your comments.

[apitei]

very nice stuff! could you tell me what brand it is, and what is the brightest (in keychain size) brand/model?

thanks

[evansp12]

Thanks for the comment. I think the brand is "nite". I'm not sure which brand is the brightest but the green keyring is usually the brightest.

[rhyehn]

how bright is it really?

[evansp12]

It's as bright as standard 'glow in the dark' products (like watch dials, gun-sights, etc), but not as bright as glow-sticks. It clearly visible in proper darkness but not in proper daylight.

[warut822]

Just bought 2 nite GlowRing, and I can now confirm that no radiation from them can be detected with RADEX 1503.

[sxdemon]

How do I get Cancer Stick?!

[Zippy0223]

Where can you buy these in a keychain. I have been looking

[thiagosats]

its dangerous ?

[greerwk]

I'd not cary them around next to my balls.

[cortexedge]

@majorkev Tritium decays into helium and giving of beta radiation, aka electrons. Phosphorus usualy gets excited by electrons, and never by alpha particles, which are 2 neutrons+2protons.

[Marcoshary]

Isn´t this harmful to health at all? Thanks.

[ChristianSoldier76]

Great vid.

With the small glow do you think you could read a page or map if you had to?

Thank you for any help.

[RoC1909]

@lollazers "That said, tritium isn't especially dangerous."

You couldn't be MOAR WRONG!!! Have you ever watched Spider Man 2 and saw what "Doc Ock" did with Tritium?!?!...................­......I am just playing with you ;)

[lollazers]

@warut822 Of course a GM tube can't detect a soft beta particle... they can't detect alpha radiation, or neutron radiation (the deadliest kind) either. GM tubes are not very accurate. You need a liquid scintillation counter to detect tritium's radioactivity. The danger from most isotopes isn't the particles they emit, but the recoil, which rips them from the molecule they are bound. You could walk into lethal levels of neutron radiation and your geiger counter would never even click.

[lollazers]

@majorkev No, tritium is a beta emitter.  Most of its decay energy is emitted as an electron antineutrino, and the remainder is a beta particle (aka electron). The beta particle cannot penetrate much, but the electron antineutrino certainly will, as it interacts very weakly with matter. Further, hydrogen gas, including tritium, slowly leaches out of any container that holds it, even glass, as hydrogen atoms are quite small. That said, tritium isn't especially dangerous.