[Closed] The reconnaissance spitfire at MOSI museum- Radioactive warning?

Radium in the instruments, possibly.

What he said, used to make them visible in the dark.

We had a watch like that at school for physics class, was more radioactive than any of the 'proper' sources we studied!

did you ask a curator at the museum? pretty sure that is their job

They only had one member of staff at the front (security)

It's DANGEROUS and will KILL you all to DEATH

that's nothing, the RAF have contaminated half of Scotland with old Lancaster instruments;

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-15845729 ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-15845729[/url]

[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/20/mod-radioactive-world-war-two ]http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/20/mod-radioactive-world-war-two[/url]

Wow! Well I learnt something today. Thanks guys 🙂

Possibly in the paint on some of the instruments i seem to remember reading. Possibly. I think there's a beach somewhere on the scottish coast thats got the same radiation warning due dumping of paints from similar usage.

*I may have dreamed all of this.

It was part of an experimental

[img] [/img]

"Death Ray" the RAF were developing

Under Linear Non threshold statistics, one in a million visitors to the museum will get cancer from it!

Remember - no dose of radiation is safe, Isn't that right TJ 😉

would wearing a helmet help?

I've already been killed three times just reading about this LETHAL TOXIC RADIATION!!!!!

It's DANGEROUS and will KILL you all to DEATH

If its unsafe why not just remove the dials and store them in one of the canals in Manchester?

probably more risk removing them and releasign dust etc than just leaving them in there?

They can't do that. As soon as you touch the dials, your whole arm melts like chedder in a toastie-maker

I think we can bury it safely in caves? Granted it is untested and therefore unsafe but surely it's worth a punt?

But that's not dealing with it. That's just putting it in a hole in the ground so not an answer. THERE IS NO ANSWER TO NUCLEAR WASTE AND YOU KNOW IT!!!!!!!!!!!

The people who used to paint the dials used to like the brush to form a good point. A lot of them ended up with terrible mouth cancers

Jesus.

You could have died several times already just trying on shoes

[url= http://www.museumofquackery.com/devices/shoexray.htm ]Shoes[/url]

I believe it is tritium used in the aircraft dials and the radiation given off is often less than many watches.

The irony is though that, by collecting many such radioactive sources together they actually become a more significant problem, as happened with the BT Trim Phones in the 70s/80s.

I remember reading about the girls who did watch faces with radium paint in new jersey painting their teeth to make them glow in the dark on nights out...

[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls ]I didn't imagine it[/url]

I believe it is tritium used in the aircraft dials and the radiation given off is often less than many watches.

It won't be tritium - that certainly doesn't glow in the dark

[i]the girls who did watch faces with radium paint in new jersey painting their teeth to make them glow in the dark on nights out[/i]

One wonders how many blokes ended up not needing to turn the bathroom light on for a midnight wee?

Tritium is also a gas. Watch out for smoke alrams they are fuli of americium which is radioactive

Tritium is also a gas.

Depends what compound it's in. It's just hydrogen with a few too many neutrons....

Watch out for smoke alrams they are fuli of americium which is radioactive

This has also killed me several times. I suspect a certain regular on here prefers the risk of being burnt alive than living with the CERTAIN DEATH that is a radioactive source in his smoke alarm.

I believe it is tritium used in the aircraft dials and the radiation given off is often less than many watches.

Radium paint for ww2 vintage aircraft. Tritium was used in paints at a later date, but modern stuff is all cheminoluminescence.

A lot of ww2 aircraft needed scrapping in the late 40s, and there are reports of the dials being burnt, and the luminous ash being spread on airfield paths to "light the way" - presumably from the NAAFI to the accomodation blocks...

One wonders how many blokes ended up not needing to turn the bathroom light on for a midnight wee?

Often the cause of death for the girls was put down to syphillis, in order to cover up the radiation poisoning...

Zokes - On its own it doesn't but for Tritium illumination sources (as used in aircraft dials) gaseous Tritium is combined with a phosphor material (either in a glass tube or bonded in paint).

Tritium produces beta radiation, this interacts with phosphor to produce fluorescent light.

Yup, encapsulated Tritium - I've got one on my keychain in my pocket, and ex-MoD arrowhead route markers at home pointing the way to the front door 🙂

Radium is an alpha emitter, which is nasty up close but the particles are stopped by air and metals easily. It decays to radon which is a gas, so as long as the ventilation is good it wouldn't be much above background.

The trouble (theoretically) is when the paint flakes off or is burnt, and is breathed in. Then you've got an alpha emitter inside the body, which is definitely sub-optimal.

sub-optimal

That is understatement of the year right there.

Then you've got an alpha emitter inside the body, which is definitely sub-optimal.

Bit like inhaling radon then

Lovely story here about a kid that collected lot of little bits of radio active materials - smoke alarms etc - for a 'science project' - he was building a nuclear reactor in his shed

[url= http://snapjudgment.org/radioactive-boy-scout ]Snap Judgement - The radio active boy scout[/url]

A lovely day for a trip to the museum. You're right that no dose of radiation is 'safe'. However, thanks to the wonder of stochastic effects, being in the distant presence of an alpha emitter for a short time means the risk is relatively low. Breathing it in changes some of those factors though: close, near easily damaged tissue and increased duration of exposure.

Tritium phosphor key rings are great.

Let's not forget the Swede who almost built a nuclear reactor in his kitchen
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14403432

There was a really good documentary about the nuclear boy scout saw it years ago unable to find it since