RADIUM HANDS AND DIAL DOTS
Scott A. Ekleberry
the watch dial? I have, and service many old wrist watches in which these
areas need attention. Short of painting them with luminescent compound is
there anything that can be done? Thanks!!
--
Scott A. Ekleberry
It's About Time!
A Full Service Watch Repair Shop
http://itsabouttimeonline.com
SAE...@woh.rr.com
Chuck Harris
The radium in the dials is just as radioactive today as it was 50 years ago when it
was applied. What has gone wrong is the Zinc Sulfide phosphorescence material
has had about all the radiation it could stand, and no longer Zinc Sulfide.
Since all the paint on the luminescent hands was, was a mixture of tempera paint, Zinc Sulfide,
and a tiny touch of radium, it should be possible to renew the Zinc Sulfide. I would bet on it,
infact.
I HAVEN'T TRIED THIS! You can buy phosphorescent grade Zinc Sulfide from a number of
chemical supply houses that trade on the internet. Do a search. (I have tried that ;-). Mix some
of the ZnS with white or yellow tempera (watercolor) paint, and apply it to the centers of the
numbers
or dots on the dial. It SHOULD glow like the dickens.
Ordinary non radioactive luminescent paint will NOT work! It must be Zinc Sulfide. It must be
phosphorescent grade Zinc Sulfide! It costs about $16 per enough to last you the rest of your life.
Note: If you are going to work on radium dials, you really SHOULD have a geiger counter. The
stuff
gets all over the place, and if ingested, it will mess you up! It has a 1600 year half life! Any
that gets
in your sinuses, or lungs will be there forever. It WILL cause scar tissue to form, it may cause
cancer.
-Chuck
-----
Chuck Harris - WA3UQV
cfha...@erols.com
Russell W. Barnes
"Chuck Harris" <cfha...@erols.com> wrote in message
8><------------------------------------------------
> Note: If you are going to work on radium dials, you really SHOULD have a
geiger counter. The
> stuff
> gets all over the place, and if ingested, it will mess you up! It has a
1600 year half life! Any
> that gets
> in your sinuses, or lungs will be there forever. It WILL cause scar
tissue to form, it may cause
> cancer.
>
> -Chuck
> -----
I watched a programme a while back, about the women who were employed in the
first US mass-produced clock factories in the 1920's. They suffered
horrific facial injuries; cancer of the jaw, tongue, etc, and had to have
parts of their face removed.
All because they used this stuff (radium) to apply numerals to clock faces.
Unaware of the dangers, they used to lick their brushes occasionally, to get
a fine point to work with; arghhhh!
--
Regds,
Russell W. B.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rwbarnes
>
Scott A. Ekleberry
Westclock made their clocks in the first 6 decades of the last century. THE
WHOLE BLOCK IS SEALED OFF!!!! It was so radioactive that is all they could
do! ALL the women that worked in the plant painting the dials are dead!!!
I doubt I will ever get enough off of old watch dials and hand to hurt me
though, the quantity is so small I would have to do thousands.
--
Scott A. Ekleberry
It's About Time!
A Full Service Watch Repair Shop
http://itsabouttimeonline.com
SAE...@woh.rr.com
"Russell W. Barnes" <rwba...@globalnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:9olhuj$e...@dispatch.concentric.net...
Scott A. Ekleberry
though? Painting them would be almost impossible I should think,. Also, on
some of the old hands the "glow" material has broken out of the center of
the hands, what to do about that? Thanks!!!
--
Scott A. Ekleberry
It's About Time!
A Full Service Watch Repair Shop
http://itsabouttimeonline.com
SAE...@woh.rr.com
"Chuck Harris" <cfha...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:3BAE2D77...@erols.com...
Richard Lanham
"Scott A. Ekleberry" <SAE...@WOH.RR.COM> wrote:
> There was a program on PBS a few years back. It was on the plant where
> Westclock made their clocks in the first 6 decades of the last century. THE
> WHOLE BLOCK IS SEALED OFF!!!! It was so radioactive that is all they could
> do! ALL the women that worked in the plant painting the dials are dead!!!
> I doubt I will ever get enough off of old watch dials and hand to hurt me
> though, the quantity is so small I would have to do thousands.
Yes, the documentary is called RADIUM CITY. I watched it with interest since I grew up
in northern Illinois. The city is Ottawa, IL. According to the Internet Movie Data Base,
it is not available on video.
Also, here is an interesting page about the problem:
http://www.junkscience.com/oct98/radgirls.htm
Rick
Richard Lanham
/////
From: Mary Lindig (mli...@roe35.lth2.k12.il.us)
Subject: NEWSDAY> news articles from Ottawa, IL
Newsgroups: schl.proj.newsday Date: 1998/10/30
Radium City: Why is it Here? When is it Leaving?
by Curtis- Shepherd Middle School Ottawa, IL
Reporting for The Roaring Rams Chronicle
Mrs. Lindig- Sponsor
In 1922, the Luminous Clock Factory opened in Ottawa, Il. They hired
women to paint dial faces and hands on clocks. They hired women to
paint because they were a cheaper labor force at the time. Before their
lunch break, and at the end of the day, the women were required to empty
their jars. In order to empty them, the women would paint faces on
their faces and on their teeth with the paint. Then they would turn off
the lights and watch their faces and teeth glow in the dark.
In 1929, the Luminous Clock Factory closed. To avoid clean up cost,
the company buried the radium throughout the city in twelve different
sites.
One year later Radium Dial opened. It was just like the Luminous Clock
Factory. They both used radium in the paint. The only difference was
that Radium Dial lied and said that they werenšt using radium in their
paint. They also didnšt post the test results that they had preformed
on the painters.
Almost fifty-eight years ago the people of Ottawa found out that both
the plants had buried radium throughout city. They also found out that
it was buried in twelve different spots. Now there are only four łhot
spots˛ left. Ottawa has petitioned the federal government for a grant
to clean up the city.
Today most companies that work with radio-active materials have Geiger
counters stationed throughout the buildings to let the employees know if
their is any radiation leaking into the plants or any other facility.
If there is a radiation leak, the plant can call a group of government
agents that will close the plant to take out any, or all of the
radio-active substance. According to our eighth grade science book,
Science Interactions, when the material is removed, it is placed in
special fifty gallon drums, and then buried in the Nevada Desert.
The biggest question is what to do with the radium once it is dug up.
One example of this problem recently happened in Texas. The Inquirer,
a local newspaper out of Texas, reported that the state on Oct. 23,
refused a permit for a low-level radioactive waste dump. The dump was
to be in rural Sierra Blanca. It is just ninety miles from El Paso, and
twenty miles from the United States, Mexican border. 90% of the waste
would have come from Texas. The other 10% would have come from Maine
and Vermont.
In the future, maybe we could find an alternative source for
radio-active elements. Maybe we could do completely away with nuclear
weapons. May then this problem will be resolved.
Sources:
October 23, 1998, Texas Rejects a Waste Dump
Http://www.phillynews.com:80/inquirer/98/oct/23/national/DUMP 23.html
/////
Rick
Wayne Schlitt
> Is there anyway to reactivate the radium in luminescent hands and dots on
> the watch dial? I have, and service many old wrist watches in which these
> areas need attention. Short of painting them with luminescent compound is
> there anything that can be done? Thanks!!
I personally would think long and hard about before I would even open
up a watch or clock that had radium hands. There certainly are some
significant risks involved.
First there is the health dangers of the radium, especially the dust
from this paint. It is not clear to me how serious these health risks
are, but anyone who doesn't at least consider them is a fool.
Secondly, there is the regulatory dangers. Many people are scared
shitless any time they hear the word "radiation", and partially as a
result, the legal levels of radiation needed for your home or business
to be declared a "hazardous waste site" is very low. If you mess with
these dials, and then have anyone who is mad at you for any reason
(customer, ex-employee, ex-spouse, etc.), you may be looking at a lot
of money for the cleanup.
I have written up a web page on the subject at:
http://www.midwestcs.com/elgin/help/luminous_dials.html
Personally, I would never even consider trying to reactivate these
dials. There are some really good non-radioactive compounds available
now a days (luminova, etc.) and I personally don't see any reason to
take either of the above risks.
-wayne
Chuck Harris
The hands are really easy! just chip away all of the radium paint on the back,
and apply new radium paint (on the backs). The dial marks are harder because
you need to have more than a little talent as an artist to paint them.
Scott A. Ekleberry
manufactured for a 50 year period had radium hands or dots. So you suggest I
stop working on watches? Or, perhaps use a fresh air respirator system
everytime I crack the case on one? Don't think so. Besides, I don't want to
scrape the stuff off, just reactivate it. If it were clock dials, I would
worry some. Clock dials are much bigger and have about 20 times the compound
as a wrist watch.
--
Scott A. Ekleberry
It's About Time!
A Full Service Watch Repair Shop
http://itsabouttimeonline.com
SAE...@woh.rr.com
"Wayne Schlitt" <wa...@midwestcs.com> wrote in message
news:x4sndcn...@backbone.midwestcs.com...
Scott A. Ekleberry
when it isn't? Some of these hands have a huge hole in the center for the
paint, that's a crater!
--
Scott A. Ekleberry
It's About Time!
A Full Service Watch Repair Shop
http://itsabouttimeonline.com
SAE...@woh.rr.com
"Chuck Harris" <cfha...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:3BAFA723...@erols.com...
Wayne Schlitt
> I think you are way too paranoid.
I don't think so.
> First of all, nearly every wrist watch
> manufactured for a 50 year period had radium hands or dots.
You may deal with a different set of wrist watches than I do, but in
my experience the percentage of wrist watches with radium hands or
dots is far from 100% ("nearly every"). I'm not sure what the percentage
would be, but I would guess it is less than 10%
> So you suggest I
> stop working on watches?
Well, some people suggest that you should stop smoking for health
reasons, and you should wear your seatbelts, and look both ways when
crossing the road. From what I can tell, the health risks of working
on radium watches is *at least* as risky as those kinds of risks, and
possibly much worse. I said that anyone who doesn't at least consider
these risks is a fool, and I don't think this is being paranoid. Lots
of people choose to smoke, you can choose to work with radium. I,
personally, don't think either of those risks are worth it.
> Or, perhaps use a fresh air respirator system
> everytime I crack the case on one? Don't think so.
When I asked, several people on the "Radiation Safety" mailing list,
say yes, you certainly should. They said you should also use a
disposable mat, and disposable gloves.
The people on the "Radiation Safety" mailing list are generally
"pro-nuclear", and generally rant against the paranoia that the
general population has about nuclear power, radiation medicine, radon
levels, etc. These are people who work with radiation issues on a
daily basis. This stuff *can* be dangerous, and you should treat it
with a healthy respect, just like cars can be dangerous, and you
should take driving with a healthy respect.
> Besides, I don't want to
> scrape the stuff off, just reactivate it.
One of the previous posters suggested that you scrape it off and mix
it with new paint and zinc-sulfide. I would rank that right up with
driving while you are drunk, not wearing a seatbelt and talking on a
cell phone. People do that all the time and live, but that is way
over my risk tolerance.
> If it were clock dials, I would
> worry some. Clock dials are much bigger and have about 20 times the compound
> as a wrist watch.
The radiation level reports that I've seen from watches can vary by
way over a factor of 20. As long as the watch glowed when it left the
factory, they really didn't much care about the exact amounts of
radium.
Again, you can make your own choices, but I strongly suggest thinking
about it.
Oh, and again, besides the health risks with working on radium
watches, the risks of having to pay thousands of dollars to clean up
your work bench to get it back under the legal limit is very real.
The people on the "Radiation Safety" mailing list seem to think that
the legal limits for radiation are much lower than they need to be,
but what the government will do if they decide your shop is
contaminated is very real.
-wayne
Chuck Harris
> One of the previous posters suggested that you scrape it off and mix
> it with new paint and zinc-sulfide. I would rank that right up with
> driving while you are drunk, not wearing a seatbelt and talking on a
> cell phone. People do that all the time and live, but that is way
> over my risk tolerance.
I never wrote anything suggesting that you should scrape the radium
off and mix it up with zinc sulfide. I said to paint a zinc sulfide and
tempra paint mixture OVER the old radium.
If you are that scared of radium, I would have to suggest that you stay
away from any watch that may ever have been serviced. It might have been in
the same cleaning machine as a watch with radium hands! It may be minutely
contaminated with radioactive particles.
Humans were designed/adapted to withstand a fairly large amount of radioactive
exposure. ALL humans have measurable amounts of radium in their skeletons.
We are all exposed to ionizing radiation from the soil, from radon in the air, and from cosmic
sources, including the sun. Wherever there is granite, there is radium and uranium.
Usually in measurable quantities. Wherever there is granite, there is radon a byproduct of
the decomposition of Radium. The background count of gamma rays in any granite building
will be several times the normal background count. (Congress got all in a tither about that
until they got an estimate of what it would cost to fix the non problem.)
There are radioisotopes in all modern smoke detectors. All electronic vacuum tubes.
All CRT's (including the one on your desk). If you visit a state park, stay away from
the campsites, as they are contaminated with thorium and cerium isotopes from coleman
lanterns mantles!
You can run, but you cannot hide!
Chuck Harris
> That should work, as long as the paint is still in place. But what about
> when it isn't? Some of these hands have a huge hole in the center for the
> paint, that's a crater!
The usual lumenous hand is a skeleton framework. The lumenous paint is brushed
on the back, and its surface tension makes it cover over the holes in the hand, just like
a soap bubble will form over a wire frame dipped into soapy water.
Scott A. Ekleberry
--
Scott A. Ekleberry
It's About Time!
A Full Service Watch Repair Shop
http://itsabouttimeonline.com
SAE...@woh.rr.com
"Chuck Harris" <cfha...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:3BB0F16D...@erols.com...
Wayne Schlitt
> Wayne Schlitt wrote:
> > One of the previous posters suggested that you scrape it off and mix
> > it with new paint and zinc-sulfide. I would rank that right up with
> > driving while you are drunk, not wearing a seatbelt and talking on a
> > cell phone. People do that all the time and live, but that is way
> > over my risk tolerance.
>
> Wayne, you need to work on your reading comprehension!
> I never wrote anything suggesting that you should scrape the radium
> off and mix it up with zinc sulfide. I said to paint a zinc sulfide and
> tempra paint mixture OVER the old radium.
Hmmm... I thought you said:
"The hands are really easy! just chip away all of the radium paint on
the back, and apply new radium paint (on the backs)."
> If you are that scared of radium, I would have to suggest that you stay
> away from any watch that may ever have been serviced. It might have been in
> the same cleaning machine as a watch with radium hands! It may be minutely
> contaminated with radioactive particles.
I am no more scared of radium than I am of driving a car or crossing
the street. I do not, however, drive drunk or cross the street
without looking.
The problem with risks, is too many people seem to think that either
the risk is zero, or it is 100% fatal. When people hear that a watch
is radioactive, they jump to the conclusion that either "Oh my God, we
are going to die!!!" or "there isn't any problem here at all." That
is why I've been comparing the risks of radium dials to risks that we
deal with on a daily basis. To me, the benefits of driving a car
outweigh the risks. To me, the benefits of messing around with
radium paint doesn't come close to outweighing the risks.
> Humans were designed/adapted to withstand a fairly large amount of
> radioactive exposure.
"Fairly large amount" is a meaningless term. When evaluating risks,
it is important to try to be precise. My web page discusses things
in direct terms like mrem/hr for specific body parts and such. (See
http://www.midwestcs.com/elgin/help/luminous_dials.html ) If you think
my numbers are off, please let me know.
> ALL humans have measurable amounts of radium in their skeletons. We
> are all exposed to ionizing radiation from the soil, from radon in
> the air, and from cosmic sources, including the sun.
Of course we all have measurable levels of radium in us, I've never
said that we didn't. We also have measurable levels of alcohol
produced by things like the yeast in our mouths. When I say "driving
drunk is a risk I don't want to take", that doesn't mean I think that
I can't ever have a drink.
> There are
> radioisotopes in all modern smoke detectors. All electronic vacuum
> tubes. All CRT's (including the one on your desk). If you visit a
> state park, stay away from the campsites, as they are contaminated
> with thorium and cerium isotopes from coleman lanterns mantles!
All very true, and I highly recommend not grinding up a bunch of these
things to make a nuclear reactor either. For an "interesting" story,
see: http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html
-wayne
Chuck Harris
> In <3BB0F08D...@erols.com> Chuck Harris <cfha...@erols.com> writes:
>
> > Wayne Schlitt wrote:
> > > One of the previous posters suggested that you scrape it off and mix
> > > it with new paint and zinc-sulfide. I would rank that right up with
> > > driving while you are drunk, not wearing a seatbelt and talking on a
> > > cell phone. People do that all the time and live, but that is way
> > > over my risk tolerance.
> >
> > Wayne, you need to work on your reading comprehension!
> > I never wrote anything suggesting that you should scrape the radium
> > off and mix it up with zinc sulfide. I said to paint a zinc sulfide and
> > tempra paint mixture OVER the old radium.
>
> Hmmm... I thought you said:
>
> "The hands are really easy! just chip away all of the radium paint on
> the back, and apply new radium paint (on the backs)."
>
>
> > If you are that scared of radium, I would have to suggest that you stay
> > away from any watch that may ever have been serviced. It might have been in
> > the same cleaning machine as a watch with radium hands! It may be minutely
> > contaminated with radioactive particles.
>
> I am no more scared of radium than I am of driving a car or crossing
> the street. I do not, however, drive drunk or cross the street
> without looking.
10,000 times higher than your risk of dying from the tiny amount of radium you are likely to
get exposed to when working on radium dialed watches.
Just as you can easily increase your risk of dying in a car accident, you can easily increase
your risk of dying from radium exposure. Spreading it all over the place will increase your risk
of accidental ingestion.
Your skeleton already contains about 1/10 the amount of radium as is in a typical watch. Are you
planning on ingesting all of the radium in the watch?
> > Humans were designed/adapted to withstand a fairly large amount of
> > radioactive exposure.
>
> "Fairly large amount" is a meaningless term. When evaluating risks,
> it is important to try to be precise. My web page discusses things
> in direct terms like mrem/hr for specific body parts and such. (See
> http://www.midwestcs.com/elgin/help/luminous_dials.html ) If you think
> my numbers are off, please let me know.
to you. I can quantify "Fairly large amount" for you if it means that much to you.
>
>
> > ALL humans have measurable amounts of radium in their skeletons. We
> > are all exposed to ionizing radiation from the soil, from radon in
> > the air, and from cosmic sources, including the sun.
>
> Of course we all have measurable levels of radium in us, I've never
> said that we didn't. We also have measurable levels of alcohol
> produced by things like the yeast in our mouths. When I say "driving
> drunk is a risk I don't want to take", that doesn't mean I think that
> I can't ever have a drink.
>
> > There are
> > radioisotopes in all modern smoke detectors. All electronic vacuum
> > tubes. All CRT's (including the one on your desk). If you visit a
> > state park, stay away from the campsites, as they are contaminated
> > with thorium and cerium isotopes from coleman lanterns mantles!
>
> All very true, and I highly recommend not grinding up a bunch of these
> things to make a nuclear reactor either. For an "interesting" story,
> see: http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html
in handling large quantities of dusty radioactive materials, and guess what? He is still kicking
along 20 years later!
I went in for a whole body bone scan a few months ago. The doctor injected me with enough
Technetium isotope to make me pin my PDR-27 Geiger counter on the 50 milliRoentgens per hour
scale, at 1 foot from any part of my body! A radium dial watch will top at 3 milliRoentgens per
hour at 1 inch, with the beta particle shield open, about 0.15 milliRoentgens at 1 inch with beta
shield
closed. When the beta shield is open, the counter measures beta + gamma. When the beta shield
is closed, it measures only gamma.
The Technetium isotope had a half life of 6 hours, so it didn't stay with me for very long. But
none
the less, I wasn't too happy about the exposure. But in the 24 hours or so that I was hot, I
received
a dose of about 600 milliRoentgens. If I ate the watch, it would take 3750 hours to achieve the
same
dosage. I'm not planning on eating the watch, but I might accidentally ingest 1/10000th of the
total amount
of radium on the watch (if I was really careless).
The doctor told me (and my own independent research confirms) that the dose I received, from the
bone scan, would not measurably decrease my life span. I hope we are right, but it doesn't keep me
up at nite worrying.
Food for thought.
Wayne Schlitt
> Wayne Schlitt wrote:
> > "The hands are really easy! just chip away all of the radium paint on
> > the back, and apply new radium paint (on the backs)."
> I sure did! Where did I mention grinding it up and making new paint?
Ok, your other comment about mixing up new paint with tempra paint and
Zinc Sulfide, combined with my understanding that it is almost
impossible to get new radium paint today lead me to believe that you
were suggesting mixing up new radium paint. Where can you get new
radium paint from now a days? You certainly can get stuff like
luminova, and I'm pretty sure you can get tritium paint from several
sources, but not radium.
> > I am no more scared of radium than I am of driving a car or crossing
> > the street. I do not, however, drive drunk or cross the street
> > without looking.
>
> Wayne, the risk of your getting killed driving your car is probably
> (there is that word again) 10,000 times higher than your risk of
> dying from the tiny amount of radium you are likely to get exposed
> to when working on radium dialed watches. Just as you can easily
> increase your risk of dying in a car accident, you can easily
> increase your risk of dying from radium exposure. Spreading it all
> over the place will increase your risk of accidental ingestion.
To a certain extent, we may both be saying the same thing. All I've
said is that you need to think about this stuff and take reasonable
precautions. I missed one of your earlier posts where you recommend
having a Geiger counter when working with radium hands, which seems
like a reasonable thing to do.
As I'm pretty sure you know, where you absorb the radiation is as
important in figuring risks as the amount. From what I know,
ingestion is much less of a problem than inhalation.
I disagree with your assessment that you are 10,000 times more likely
of dying in a car accident than messing around with radium dials.
It is my understanding that nuclear workers have a legal exposure
limit for their wrists and hands of 19 rem/quarter, which turns out
to be about 8mrem/hr. (Wrists and hands have some of the highest
limits because they are mostly slow growing bones.) It is also also
my understanding that this legal limit based on an increased death
rate of about 1 in 10,000, which is pretty close to your risk of
driving a car. So, the legal limit is basically saying that nuclear
workers can't be exposed to a higher risk than if they drove a car at
double the national average.
The radiation levels measured on watches varies widely, some are
reported to be in the tens of mrem per hour range, although most are
much lower. You say they tops out at 3mrem/hr. Either way, your risk
from wearing some watches with radium dials is going to be within a
factor of +/-10 or so of driving a car.
I am assuming that breathing in the dust increases your risks
substantially.
I will say again that if you aren't afraid to drive a car, you shouldn't
be afraid to wear a watch with a radium dial. I recommend not driving
drunk, and not doing things to stir up the radium paint dust so that
you end up breathing it. I also recommend not sleeping with your
radium watch on, especially if you like to rest your head on your arm
and have the watch right next to your eye/brain. I can't see any
reason to apply new radium paint to watches with things like luminova
or tritium paint being available.
> I didn't feel it was necessary to dig out my nuke physics text books
> in responding to you. I can quantify "Fairly large amount" for you
> if it means that much to you.
Actually, yes, it would would mean quite a bit to me, and to many
other people. I wrote my web page on radium dials because I got a lot
of questions on the subject. I have researched the subject as
carefully as I can and I have tried hard to make reasonable
recommendations. This web page is currently read by 4-10 people per
day, and it means a lot to me to not give out bogus information.
-wayne
K DeAnda
wrote:
>I HAVEN'T TRIED THIS! You can buy phosphorescent grade Zinc Sulfide from a number of
>chemical supply houses that trade on the internet. Do a search. (I have tried that ;-). Mix some
>of the ZnS with white or yellow tempera (watercolor) paint, and apply it to the centers of the
>numbers
>or dots on the dial. It SHOULD glow like the dickens.
>
>Ordinary non radioactive luminescent paint will NOT work! It must be Zinc Sulfide. It must be
>phosphorescent grade Zinc Sulfide! It costs about $16 per enough to last you the rest of your life.
Now that the safety issues have been discussed at length, using great
care I want to try this... has anyone else out there used this
procedure yet with any success? Any suggestions on ZnS suppliers or
specific desirable compositions and painting techniques? (Obviously
one should not lick the brush to get a good point... ) Though radium
beta emissions are high energy, I'm sure there is a practical limit on
how thick the paint can be applied in this situation before loosing
brightness (since the emitter is now under the scintillator instead of
blended within).
Found a couple online vendors that might have correct material:
http://www.sciencealliance.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=1001&Product_Code=C8780-25
http://www.2spi.com/catalog/chem/zinc-sulfide.html
Also read: "Zinc Sulfide-Ag gives off the common green glow. Zinc
Sulfide-Cu gives blue-green light and Zinc Sulfide-(Cu+Mg) gives
yellow-orange light."
-KD
----------
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-- H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927
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Chuck Harris
As the (so far as I know) the originator of the idea, I doubt anyone
has tried it
yet. I would have expected to see some comment, plus or minus.
The supplier that I was going to try is "The Science Alliance".
The stuff they have should be
perfect for the job. ZnS should work with or without
the metal dust. The dust changes the color
thru some mechanism I do not understand. I believe that the phosphorescent
grade will have some
metal dust already, but you would have to ask.
As to the Beta particles, the radium is so hot that they pass right
thru the phosphor, crystal
and all. There should be no problem with the paint's thickness.
These are very high energy
electrons! In the original radium paint, the mixture was from
about 1: 1000 to 1: 10000 radium
to paint.
Zinc sulfide really isn't toxic, neither is tempera paint. But
you shouldn't put things in your
mouth that aren't food. (your momma told you that.)
It is absolutely beyond my comprehension as to how the "radium girls"
could have thought it was
a good idea to paint their teeth and faces with the stuff. If
it was mud or sewage would they have
been so quick? They must have really been specially selected
as being the dumbest people the
company could find.
As to painting, get the finest brush you can find at the artist store,
and very carefully fill in the centers
of the dial dots. Definitely use magnification!
The paint should be about the thickness of heavy
cream. It shouldn't be any harder than the other stuff we do
to watches. The "radium girls" could do it ,
after all ;-)
-Chuck
Bill White
I would suggest that if you are going to mess with crappy old radium
hands and dials, do this...don't let the
old radium particles become airborne! just use water which will
both dissolve the radium and keep it from floating
through the air. Get rid of the water. Don't eat or drink
or breathe radium, it's radioactive. Don't put old radium
where anyone or anything will ever eat, drink or breathe it.
Don't fuss, whine, moan and parent others just because
you're bored, just be sensible watch people and go on from there.
Anyone who wishes to replace the radium paint on old watch dials and
hands can have just for the asking, a small
quantity of safe and easy to use luminescent paint which will do the
job quite nicely. Simply contact me and I
will set you up.
Bill White
NAWCC # 0118120
Cazadero
Railroad Crystal Co.
P.O. Box 188
Jenner, California 95450
707-865-1938
