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Radioactivity in Antiques
- vharuck 6y agoWomen who painted the watches and other things with radium to make them glow in the dark became known as "radium girls." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls They were told it was safe, so some even intentionally painted their teeth.
- serf 6y agoVaseline/uranium glass is cool looking. I have a few display pieces. Another source of radioactive antiques are things made of jadeite. safe bet that anything older then 40 years old, glass or glass-like, and florescent is probably doped with something unsafe -- but they still make wonderful trophies. Sadly my military USSR watch with radium painted arms has faded away and no longer glows. The machined trefoil on the back lid of it is still pretty cool, though. Also, the article mentions it briefly, but radiation is one of the things to worry about least when using vintage ceramic goods. Those glazes are jam-packed with metals that are well known to be carcinogenic now-a-days.
- perl4ever 6y agoThere's a classic science fiction story called "The Potters of Firsk" that I think involves uranium glass or glaze although I can't remember the details.
- adammunich 6y agoIt's still very radioactive and putting new silver-activated zinc sulphide phosphor on the dials (a risky proposition) will make it glow again.
- dhosek 6y agoEven more widespread and arguably of greater risk is the widespread use of lead. I'd assumed that anything produced in the last twenty years or so would be lead-free and it turns out I'd assumed wrong. Garden hose fixtures often contain lead [1], and there are recalls of popular toys with red or yellow paint [2]. And this is just going through what's still in my browser history. [1] https://ideas.time.com/2012/08/02/is-your-garden-hose-toxic/ https://ideas.time.com/2012/08/02/is-your-garden-hose-toxic/ [2] https://tamararubin.com/2018/09/reminder-june-2007-thomas-the-tank-engine-wooden-toy-recall/ https://tamararubin.com/2018/09/reminder-june-2007-thomas-th...
- chrisseaton 6y ago> I'd assumed that anything produced in the last twenty years or so would be lead-free Lead is still used in huge quantities to make domestic roofs. You may have many kg of lead over your head right now!
- dhosek 6y agoI'm not completely paranoid about lead exposure. I used to hand-set lead type and donated my last case of type to the program where I learned letterpress about ten years ago. But it seems ridiculous that things like toys, artificial Christmas trees and conveyances for food and drink would still have lead in the twenty-first century.
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoLead that is alloyed to other metals for ease of machining isn't going to get into anyone in meaningful quantity since it's alloyed into something strong and wear resistant. Even lead in potable water plumbing is a non-issue so long as you don't pull a Flint and let it dissolve. Paint is a far bigger issue since it wears much faster releasing much more lead. But as long as you weren't raised in house full of it you're probably fine. Modern plastics of various varieties contain far more suspicious molecules IMO.
- dhosek 6y ago
- sixstringtheory 6y agoHeard about Radithor, and old energy drink containing radium, on a podcast a while back: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor > Eben Byers, a wealthy American socialite, athlete, industrialist and Yale College graduate, died from Radithor radium poisoning in 1932. Byers was buried in a lead-lined coffin; when exhumed in 1965 for study, his remains were still highly radioactive. Apparently the bottles are still collectors' items.
- 01100011 6y agoThe danger from radiation in these products is so low it shouldn't be a problem unless you ingest or inhale it.
- timw4mail 6y agoSome photographic lenses have throrium[1] glass. Even though it is mildly radioactive, it's pretty safe to use. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoriated_glass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoriated_glass
- lm28469 6y agoSome viewfinder are made with thoriated glass too, which is much more problematic because they blast alpha rays straight to your eye while in use. Lenses, as you pointed, are safe: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:652338/FULLTEXT01.pdf http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:652338/FULLTEXT01... I'd avoid dropping/breaking one indoor though.
- timw4mail 6y agoWhich cameras had thoriated glass for their viewfinders?
- rwhitman 6y agoMy parents were antique collectors. They were very proud of a glow-in-the-dark fireman's helmet circa 1940's that my dad bought. They told me it was radium paint and to keep away from it. I will say it does it's job. That helmet was still glowing in the dark just fine
- adammunich 6y agoRadium paint was very very expensive, I'd wager it's just a regular phosphorescent paint.
- blendergeek 6y agoDid it glow continuously or only for a few minutes after exposure to light? A sibling comment has suggested that it wasn't actually radium paint.
- gammarator 6y agoI once had my home swept for radioactive materials (long story). After the inspectors finished a few hours of trying to distinguish a few Geiger counter clicks from the natural background, the lead tech pulled a small orange Fiestaware bowl out of his bag. "Did you know these are hot?" he asked, and put it up next to the wand. The Geiger counter just screamed, which was both alarming and reassuring given the context.
- eindiran 6y agoOlder Fiesta dinnerware (especially in red) is quite famous for having Uranium in the glaze prior to World War 2, which was then confiscated for the war effort. I believe they then returned to using Uranium in the glaze after the war for a few years. You can see one being checked with a geiger counter here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmDKbVUbsnk&t=394s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmDKbVUbsnk&t=394s [EDIT] This is covered in some detail on the wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiesta_(dinnerware)#Radioactive_glazes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiesta_(dinnerware)#Radioactiv...
- cafard 6y agoSome acquaintances emptied the pepper from a Fiestaware shaker and took it to a radioactivity testing event at the local firehouse. As I recall, the pepper itself was not at all radioactive.
- sigsergv 6y agoThere are also old smoke detectors that contain alpha-emitting americium. https://www.epa.gov/radtown/americium-ionization-smoke-detectors https://www.epa.gov/radtown/americium-ionization-smoke-detec...
- geerlingguy 6y agoThose are common and still sold everywhere (I have 6 of them around my house). As long as you don't chop up your smoke detector or try eating it, it's not a big risk.
- Jeema101 6y agoHere is an interesting article I found a while ago on this subject by a vintage watch collector who took some measurements of his radium dial watches using a Geiger counter: https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/luminous.php https://www.vintagewatchstraps.com/luminous.php The dose rates that he measured varied considerably depending on the watch. One very radioactive one was about ~30 times the background dose rate with the glass off and in very close proximity. Probably not something you'd want to wear on your wrist every day...
- s1artibartfast 6y agoI think it would still be pretty safe to wear every day Whole body Ambient radiation dose is about 0.3 rem/year. You could assume your wrist is about 1% of this or 0.003 rem. 30x would be 0.09 rem. The OSHA safety limit is 75 rem per year to the hands of workers, which is about 800x higher than the watch.
- jungletime 6y agoradon gas map https://cdn.treehouseinternetgroup.com/cms_images/509/radon-zones-epa-map.jpg https://cdn.treehouseinternetgroup.com/cms_images/509/radon-...
- radiateaway 6y agoApparently David Hahn used the radium paint from old clocks to make a neutron gun for irradiating his DIY nuclear reactor. If you haven't heard about that, it's a remarkable story about a precocious kid who could put Ferris Bueller to shame. He cons material supply companies, gets arrested for stealing smoke detectors, and single-handedly creates a superfund site. And in the end, he gets to fulfill his dream of working with nuclear energy by serving on a nuclear aircraft carrier. Honestly, it reads like a movie script and makes me ashamed of how I squandered my youth: https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scout/ https://harpers.org/archive/1998/11/the-radioactive-boy-scou... Also, if you can find a PDF of "The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments" which that article occasionally quotes...wow. How did kids survive the '70s? Page 35, "making chlorine gas in the home lab"...
- throwaway189262 6y agoMissing from this list are some historical and modern sources. This EPA page has a better list https://www.epa.gov/radiation/what-kinds-consumer-products-contain-radioactive-materials https://www.epa.gov/radiation/what-kinds-consumer-products-c... Missing from both is radioactive electronics. In lamps, electron sources, spark gaps, it's common to use radioactive materials to make ionization easier. In a lamp for example this would make it start at lower voltage https://instructional-resources.physics.uiowa.edu/demos/7d3046-fluorescent-lights-radioactive-starter-ballasts https://instructional-resources.physics.uiowa.edu/demos/7d30... https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/electrontubes.htm https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/elec...