Spinthariscopes are very nice!
You can still buy them!
http://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=index=2_12
About the danger:
There is literally no danger about the scope, because the particles you see
are mostly alpha-radiation that do not pass through the looking glass.
Alphas rarely
.
/Magnus
From: gregebert
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2018 6:11 PM
To: neonixie-l
Subject: [neonixie-l] Re: OT: Radioactive clock
And just because it no longer glows, does NOT mean it's no longer radioactive.
Radium half-lifes in 1600 years; the 'glow agents' deplete after a few years.
I dont know how
On Friday, March 16, 2018 at 9:48:20 AM UTC-4, Paul Andrews wrote:
>
> I thought you all might find this amusing. I while back there was a thread
> about tubes with radon in them. That set me off on a little side-quest
> where I ended building a Geiger counter using an old Russian Geiger-mueller
>
> Yes, none of them glow in the dark any more. Is there something I could
> get that would light up under the bombardment? Like some glow-in-the-dark
> paint? It would be fun to mess with this a little.
>
You could try with UV light, even the UV LED from a cheap "magic ink" toy
pen could do.
Nice to see other people with interest in radiation :)
The clocks are probably radioactive because of their paint on the watch
hands. In the 1930's they used radium paint to make night glowing watch
hands. Radium contains radioactive isotopes (Ra-226)
Before people got silly about radiation,
And just because it no longer glows, does NOT mean it's no longer
radioactive. Radium half-lifes in 1600 years; the 'glow agents' deplete
after a few years.
I dont know how dangerous these items are, though. Radium undergoes alpha
particle decay, and those particles are easily stopped. Even a
