Hey y'all check out my latest cleanout find of cool as Cold War era collectibles.

@InOtterWords "Caution, Radioactive Material."

@MethDozer Have you started to grow horns on your head yet?

@SW-User you mean like a penicorn?

@InOtterWords They were meant to glow brightly to mark runways, bunker corridors, navy boats, etc to light up without using power. They phosphoresce like glow in the dark paint, but instead of needing to charge with a light source and dimming as they glow, they used low radioactivity tritium to excite the phosphors into glowing. It's the same thing that was used in paints to make glowing watch and clock dials and military iron sites on rifles in pre-war, WW2 and post war eras. The tritium decomposes after a few decays into lower and lower radioactive isotopes and elements due to radioactive decay and they eventually lose the ability to glow.

@MethDozer ok...that is quite cool

@MethDozer Very interesting. So, even if they are slightly phosphorescent, there isn't enough radioactivity for you to be concerned about?

@SW-User not really. Not just them being around. I would keep one in pocket, that might lead to issues over a period of time.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. So it is a gas in a sealed tube. Tritium became used in favor of radium and other elements and isotopes because being a gas it doesnt accumulate in your tiasue the way the radioactive metals do. Low energy Alpha and Beta particles are mostly harmful when a material is giving them off from inside, they don't penetrate the skin very well. Like those women who got cancer from painting the glow sites on arms during WW2? That was because they were using for make-up and licking their brushes to point the bristles and the radium collected inside them and stayed their bombarding their internals. You don't want to breath Tritiuk on purpose, however it being gas it gets expelled eventually so doesn't really accumulate in tissue.


Your smoke detector is giving off similar amounts of radiation from the Americium in it, so.

@MethDozer You are one smart guy. Go back to school and get a degree in education. Become a teacher! 😀