The stuff that turns color is the dial paint. The numbers are painted on top. When the hands move, they expose the underlying paint to view.
-John ============= > I wonder what that is? How come the digits don't show the same burn that > the > hands do? They certainly remained in the same position for longer than the > hands. > > Hmmm? > > Tom > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Chuck Harris" <[email protected]> > To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 3:41 PM > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] How dangerous if a Rb lamp broken? > > >> The dials of most of the old "radium" dial watches have burns in them >> caused by the hands being parked for long periods of time as the watch >> invariably failed and stopped. The crystals are similarly "etched" >> from their exposure. The gamma photons did the deed... >> >> I have one such watch that was given to me by an uncle who was a >> physicist >> and was part of the Marshal Island H-Bomb tests. He was given the watch >> by >> the US Army, and wore it daily until it set off the alarms on one of the >> experiments he was working on.... After that, it sat on a shelf for 20 >> years >> before being given to me. No burns when it was put away, and a very >> distinct burn after sitting 20 years. >> >> So, yes, it would burn you, but at the rate that gamma comes off of a >> watch dial, it would take a long time, and your body would have >> naturally >> replaced the cells many times over the duration of the burn. >> >> -Chuck Harris >> >> >> >> Poul-Henning Kamp wrote: >>> In message <5DEED07BE9DE486C9E668636A2949A62@BACKROOM>, "Max Robinson" >>> writes: >>> >>>> I once read that if you were to wear a radium dial watch face down you >>>> would >>>> get a radiation burn on your arm. I wonder who would do such a thing. >>>> I >>>> also wonder if the writer knew what he was writing about or if he was >>>> just >>>> speculating. >>> >>> You would. >>> >>> He did. >>> >>> >> >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
