Radioactive "health" pen from eBay.
Added 2020-03-13 06:09:57 +0000 UTCAfter viewing the video by The Thought Emporium (link in YouTube description) about the "ionising" health products being sold on eBay and Amazon I immediately rushed to buy one of the pens before they got banned.
I needn't have rushed as they are still well and truly available. There's an eBay search link in the YouTube video description.
Keep in mind these pens are basically a metal tube filled with thorium dioxide dust and give off alpha, beta and gamma radiation. The metal case limits most of the emitted radiation to gamma, which doesn't really help the situation much, as it's the naughty one that needs lead shielding.
If you have a geiger counter and like radioactive stuff then these are OK as a $15 novelty harking back to an era when it was thought that radiation cured all ills. But don't buy one unless you have a valid reason to have radioactive material and can deal with it responsibly. The dust poses a significant hazard if inhaled or ingested.
Comments
the water-hydrogen...thing looks like a generic tea infusion stick that they just filled with inert stuff
2020-03-17 23:15:24 +0000 UTCI remember kickstarting a geiger counter circa 2012-2013 but I don’t think it did A B and G
Cerity
2020-03-17 19:58:53 +0000 UTCI think that is probably the reason.
Big Clive
2020-03-15 03:48:47 +0000 UTCmaybe just denser there compared to the thinner walls of the tube?
Michael Thompson
2020-03-14 16:48:23 +0000 UTCI just checked with a neodymium magnet and the case had a slight magnetic attraction, so I'd guess stainless unless the contents have a slight magnetic effect. Strangely the tip was more attracted to the magnet.
Big Clive
2020-03-13 21:00:34 +0000 UTCIt's a netIO GC10 I bought on eBay.
Big Clive
2020-03-13 20:59:19 +0000 UTCDo you have a link to that Geiger Counter? :)
2020-03-13 18:25:34 +0000 UTCI collect radioactive items (I recently got one of those "quantum scalar" pendants to add to my collection) and I'm usually the first to say to not unreasonably freak out about radiation, especially with household items like Fiestaware and Uranium glass since those are fairly safe with minimum precautions (even Radium clocks are fine to have minding to keep them away and not to mess with them). This however is one of the worst objects one can get, not because of the amount of radiation per se -as said Thorium is everywhere and it's not an issue normally- but because of the fact that it's in powder form. Internal contamination is a completely different beast and very very dangerous. So yeah I would recommend anyone to not mess with the powder unless absolutely prepared to do so. By the way, can you check if the pen is made of Aluminium? Hopefully not since Aluminium will emit neutrons in response of being bombarded by the alpha particles from the Thorium decay
2020-03-13 18:22:00 +0000 UTCYes I did. It was just off-camera.
Big Clive
2020-03-13 17:15:31 +0000 UTCSmoke alarms contain a tiny amount of Americium which is mainly an alpha particle emitter. It is in a metal case that blocks the alpha particles.
Big Clive
2020-03-13 17:15:04 +0000 UTCPure coincidence just watched the PBS docu about the pioneers in Forensic Chemistry in 1920's New York ... Radium gets a good mention!! https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x70grho
Ian James
2020-03-13 16:46:14 +0000 UTCLet me guess. You used that mantle to fake the radioactivity in your spoof MRE video?
MrTridac
2020-03-13 16:08:13 +0000 UTCBut is it OK to continuously be in the vicinity from the Radio Activity of a 'Smoke Alarm' ?
Andrew Donaldson
2020-03-13 13:48:47 +0000 UTCWhen I finally lose my mind and become a supervillain, I'm going to get rid of nuclear waste by packaging it in a quack product and emailing it away via ebay.
Nani Isobel
2020-03-13 09:36:50 +0000 UTCI think AvE did a video about it. Found it: https://youtu.be/W64tcCoOqJs
Nani Isobel
2020-03-13 09:18:44 +0000 UTCOne day you will get bored with it and set it aside. A generation later somebody finds it and plays with it. Maybe it's a kid. Maybe they wonder what that powder tastes like? No. pass up the temptation unless you are willing to commit to the expense of disposing of it properly.
Bill Kerr
2020-03-13 09:03:35 +0000 UTCWelcome to the new age, to the new age welcome to the new age, to the new age...
Michael Thompson
2020-03-13 08:46:16 +0000 UTCI wonder how radioactive thoriated tungsten electrodes for TIG welding are.
evilution
2020-03-13 08:45:37 +0000 UTCAre you sure your not hiding your Trident ingot under the table? You don't normally see that kind of radiation outside of a Scottish MRE
Jim
2020-03-13 08:20:56 +0000 UTCYeah. It's a little bit squirmy. Now if the thorium powder stimulated phosphors....
Big Clive
2020-03-13 07:13:47 +0000 UTCIt came from eBay pre-built. It's a netIO GC10.
Big Clive
2020-03-13 07:12:47 +0000 UTCI like your semi-DIY geiger counter with CPM and total counts. Can you send me to a site that you got the plans from, or actually, I think my cousin with no electronic skill might enjoy a pre-built one. Thanks! My DIY has no data, other than 'click'. My more pro model has 'click' and a semi-calibrated needle.
2020-03-13 07:07:05 +0000 UTCThis is one of the very few products I see you feature that I'm not going to look for.
Neil Tonks
2020-03-13 07:01:45 +0000 UTCI almost want one just to fsck with my uradmonitor (a weather station thing that is made in Eastern Europe so includes a genuine geiger-muller tube!
Moz in Oz
2020-03-13 06:36:37 +0000 UTC
