[time-nuts] How dangerous if a Rb lamp broken?

[Tom Miller]

I wonder what that is? How come the digits don't show the same burn that the 
hands do? They certainly remained in the same position for longer than the 
hands.

Hmmm?

Tom

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chuck Harris" <cfharris at erols.com>
To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement" 
<time-nuts at febo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 3:41 PM
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] How dangerous if a Rb lamp broken?


> The dials of most of the old "radium" dial watches have burns in them
> caused by the hands being parked for long periods of time as the watch
> invariably failed and stopped.  The crystals are similarly "etched"
> from their exposure.  The gamma photons did the deed...
>
> I have one such watch that was given to me by an uncle who was a physicist
> and was part of the Marshal Island H-Bomb tests.  He was given the watch 
> by
> the US Army, and wore it daily until it set off the alarms on one of the
> experiments he was working on.... After that, it sat on a shelf for 20 
> years
> before being given to me.  No burns when it was put away, and a very
> distinct burn after sitting 20 years.
>
> So, yes, it would burn you, but at the rate that gamma comes off of a
> watch dial, it would take a long time, and your body would have naturally
> replaced the cells many times over the duration of the burn.
>
> -Chuck Harris
>
>
>
> Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
>> In message <5DEED07BE9DE486C9E668636A2949A62 at BACKROOM>, "Max Robinson" 
>> writes:
>>
>>> I once read that if you were to wear a radium dial watch face down you 
>>> would
>>> get a radiation burn on your arm.  I wonder who would do such a thing. 
>>> I
>>> also wonder if the writer knew what he was writing about or if he was 
>>> just
>>> speculating.
>>
>> You would.
>>
>> He did.
>>
>>
>
>
>