Atomic energy toy

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

Kinda makes a mockery of the little slightly might be possibly dangerous things that H&S goes for nowadays, I guess they're bored.

[newshound]

When I first worked in a nuclear research lab, people often took their film badges home with them; I'm not even sure there were proper racks. One guy came to the attention of Health Physics because he was consistently showing higher doses than his co-workers. Turned out he took his film badge home and placed it in a granite ash-tray overnight.

The classic WW2 prismatic compass gives several thousand counts per second from its luminous paint, easily enough to trigger the detectors on nuclear power station personal monitors.

[Brian Gaff]

What about the trimfones btalite gas filled tube behind the dial? I can recall being rather appalled back in the 60s when we found my grandfathers old alarm clock in a drawer, still glowing from dots of something or other after 10 years. I doubt it would be adangerous unless you strapped it to yourself for a while though.

We binned it. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

That page is probably the most processor intensive and slow one I've looked at today. I've always fancied an old fashioned Geiger counter, ie one that ticks. Not seen any though, maybe they are not allowed in case we all find out the truth.

Brian

[Nightjar]

Available here, although ex-cold war and not calibrated:

700

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

What computer are you using? For me it appeared in a fraction of a second, same as with any other page.

Here's the CPU usage for loading the page in Opera 12 and in the latest IE:

Not particularly intensive is it?

It does prove though that M$ software is half as efficient!

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

Here's 4:

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

But if it were a watch....

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

You can buy all sorts of luminous stuff nowadays - is there a different chemical that glows? You have to "charge" it in light first - I assume that didn't happen with radioactive paint. My Casio watch for example has luminous hands, very useful at night, I don't have to press the light button on it. They are much brighter if it's just had a lamp shone on it.

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

Did he know he was increasing it? I mean did he do it on purpose for a laugh or to annoy them in some way, or was it just a convenient place to put it? Most people don't place anything other than cigarettes in ashtrays.

[alan_m]

It's worth viewing a few Youtube videos. Not all devices on the market live up to expectations and/or advertising hype. It may be one piece of equipment where 'you get what you pay for it' really applies.

[Tim Watts]

[Tim Watts]

Yes

Correct - the old type was radium based (usually).

[Tim Watts]

I have an ashtray full of coins.

[Nightjar]

That is one thing an ashtray in my house would not be used for.

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

Is this to remind you how much you're saving by not smoking?

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

I don't think I've ever seen any radium stuff then. Every glowing thing I've seen (the first was 35 years ago, a wind up alarm clock - "Baby Ben") charged up with light.

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

Don't most non-smokers just not have ashtrays?

[Nightjar]

If you follow the link to the bit about choosing a Geiger counter, it includes the following text:

'none of the instruments that we are involved with are intended for safety-critical or health and safety related applications.'

[Nightjar]

I suspect you are not using a computer that reads the text to you. Sites need careful design if they are to be text reader friendly.