Radioactive Stuff // 2011 edition
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- I have been collecting radioactive items and minerals for almost two years now so it is time to share it with you and all the other collectors on RUclips.
A good source of other radioactivity videos is Bionerd23's channel:
/ bionerd23
Best radium based collection I have seen on RUclips:
www.youtube.com...
Captions to help you understand my danish accent :o) :
OK - after that disclaimer let's take a look at my radioactive collection as of July 2011. It contains small samples with relative low activities but I still take precautions with these because of the radioactivity.
Mishandling these can be dangerous and even lethal in long terms.
Let us start with the thorium-based part of my collection.
This includes thoriated welding electrodes and gas mantles, euxenite, polycrase, thorite in different sizes, aeschynite and iron rich thorogummite.
Here I use my Gamma Scout to measure the activity of the thorogummite.
I have set the alarm quite high at 50 microsieverts/hou so the Gamma Scout will start to tick over this level.
This time it peaked at 89 microsieverts/hour. My normal background level is .12 microsieverts/hour so this piece of thorogummite measures 744 times normal background level - not bad.
Next I'll show you my special thorite sample which is cut like a gem stone.
If the grim reaper ever were to wear jewelry this would be it.
Dark and deadly - but quite beautiful actually. The camera doesn't do it justice.
The seller did point out that this is not suitable as jewelry. He wasn't kidding...
Next up is the radium based part of my collection.
These are radium painted watch hands. I hate them. They caused so many deaths amongst the women that painted them, they emit a lot of radon and even a tiny speck of paint that falls off these loose spare hands is highly active.
Much safer are the sealed vacuum tubes used in radars during World War II. I have a single Westinghouse 1B45 and two Western Electrics 1B22. It is the 1b22 tubes you see in the video.
As you can see one of the boxes is still sealed. It has remained unopened since June 1945 - that's over 66 years.
Moving on to the americium based sources.
I have a total of 9 americiumoxide discs in various stages of the extraction process from smoke detectors.
Three with an amount of 37 kBq and 6 with 33 kBq.
When I turn on the ticker in the Gamma Scout it starts screaming from all the alpha-particles hitting it... and then it passes out. Too much for it to handle.
Luckily with only the alarm turned on it manages to get a proper reading.
The radiation is almost entirely alpha-particles which can't even penetrate the outer layer of dead cells in your skin so it is relatively safe radiation.
Last but not least: my colorful uranium based collection. What you see is uranium glass, phurcalite with zippeite, betafite, uraninite, torbernite, samarskite, boltwoodite, autunite, samarskite with ytterbium, uraninite with gummite and more torbernite.
I also have some of the famous uranium glazed pottery. This is not the Fiesta Ware brand. It is marked GMBC and the other ones in my collection are from Vernon Kilns.
They are actually orange in real life but my camera picks them up as red - sigh.
Here is a ½ gram sample of the infamous depleted uranium. It emits almost only alpha-particles which are stopped by the glass so I'm not picking up that much activity from it.
I am not taking it out of the ampule though since it's also toxic.
Sorry for the bad lighting but it peaks at 2.0something microsieverts/hour.
I respect it but I don't fear the levels shown in this video. I do keep my dose very low by keeping this collection in the garage and only approach it once in a while - just for safety. It's not on permanent display inside my house :)
Remember that on average your body is hit by ionizing radiation 10 000 times every second of your life just from background radiation (3 - 4 000 of these from the K-40 and C-14 in your own body). Our bodies are not unfamiliar with low levels of radiation ;)
Thank you very much!
I do put a lot of time into my videos (that's why I don't upload often...).
I can easily spend three whole days on editing a five minute video. Good thing I don't work with this professionally - I would quickly be fired for being too slow with my endless final touches ;)
So what do you collect?
"Radioactive stuff"
You sir are a badass.
I got here from looking up samarskite. I think it's beautful! Thanks for the video!
Hey, do you get a reading if you hold that meter up to a running microwave? :P
Hi and thanks for watching :)
There's no ionizing radiation in a microwave oven so it shouldn't trigger a geiger counter. But the electronics in it may get confused if it is bombarbed with a lot of microwave radiation giving a false reading. But no, I don't see any readings near my running microwave oven :)
Not hating, but i believe there IS ionising radiation inside a microwave oven, as the magnetron contains a thoriated electrode q:
I was thinking of making RUclips videos about minerals, especially the radioactive ones. So I decided to see what was out there. This was the first video I came across, and I'm glad to see the first mineral you mention had my label with it. I hope your collection has been progressing. Good specimens are progressively difficult to acquire. Thanks for sharing the love of some of the most interesting materials on earth.
No, they do not have to be worried. The military DU is different from my pure sample in the way that it is alloyed with 1-2% of other stuff to prevent oxidation.
My sample is blackened by U-oxides - basically it is rusted - and radioactive dust can fall of it and get into my lungs etc.That's when it gets toxic and why I keep it in the vial.
As far as I know the military will never accept rust which could give a malfunction in a critical situation.
The problem with DU is at the receiving end...
@strontium141 :
Yep, most people suffer from radiophobia because of ignorance but people often smoke or tan which I find much more dangerous than low radiation.
I don't blame them if they have only learned about radiation from disasters like Hiroshima, Chernobyl or Fukushima. Or Hollywood movies where any radiation means RUN!
As you know: with a few precautions there's nothing to fear from the low radiation in my video.
@sklodowska226 :
Thank you. No, the small torbernite pieces are from the Margabal Mine, Aveyron in France. They are solid crystals with virtually no matrix!
Thank you. That's a very comprehensive reply and it certainly answers my question. If I do buy a sample of Uraninite I'll keep it in the shed or garage instead of indoors.
Exactly. Except from the green uranium glass and the americium discs all of my collection is stored outside in my garage separated from my house and prolonged human contact.
I have much stronger stuff in my collection now than shown in this video (need to make an update video at some point). These samples are kept in airtight plastic bags behind thick layers of stacked garden tiles. I try to minimize the dose as much as possible (ALARA) without being radiophobic.
Bismuth is so vaguely radioactive that it was only recently proven to be radioactive. Only very few labs has the equipment to show it's radioactivity - I will never be able to show it. It's half life is over twenty billion billion years (not typo) so almost nothing is happening...
With that said I do own two nice samples of bismuth. I show them in my video 'Exotic Metals vs. Magnet' :)
Thanks for watching and commenting.
That would be sad :)
Taking an intercontinental flight with several hours up in the cosmic radiation is far more worse than what I expose myself to in this video. Not to mention being in the sun or tanning bed (UV-rays), living in the city (air pollution) or smoking (!!!!). Everyday the world is trying to kill you ;)
Thanks for watching!
The Gamma Scout can be bought directly from their website for around 500$ + shipping. Cheaper ones - often russian - are found on eBay.
A tiny speck (the size of a dot) from a nuclear power plant core is far, far more radioactive than anything shown in this video (check bionerd23's Chernobyl videos where she finds and measures some tiny fragments).
All in this video is quite low activity. But I do handle it careful to avoid it getting into me and have internal exposure. External exposure once in a while is very low risk from these low activity sources - but internal is always bad.
An hour near this collection once in a while isn't worse than being a regular flyer (cosmic radiation) or tanning/smoking regularly. It is not completely without risk - but the risk is next to nothing with these lows levels for short time.
Alpha radiation is the worse if the source gets INSIDE you - external alpha is stopped by the dead layer of cells on your skin and basically without risk - even at 638 uSv (there is some gamma from it too - so don't carry it on you :)
Pure plutonium actually gives of alpha radiation so the radiation is not that dangerous if not inside your body. But its decay products gives off gamma radiation so you would detect gammas from a sample of plutonium - more the older the sample is.
It contains americium-241 which is a powerful alpha-radiation emitter. In a smoke alarm it emits enough radiation to ionize the air to make it conductive. Smoke lowers this ionization which triggers the smoke detector in a fire.
:)
I don't use these for food although they are considered safe to use. If the food is very acidic and lays on the plate for a long time uranium could get into the food. Even though it is very, very small quantities I wouldn't eat from these. There's simply no need to take the risk since there are so many non-radioactive dishes ;)
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Thorite cut as gem is quite nuts but also beautiful ;)
Depleted uranium is legal in most/many countries (I don't know the laws in all countries). It's the enriched uranium or plutonium that can get you in trouble... In the US you can own 15 pounds of depleted uranium without any license (my ½ g sample is 0,007% of that...). The depleted uranium is actually one of the safest things shown in this video!
Thank you!
It's actually grown considerably since I made this video. Update video hopefully coming in 2013. Stay tuned ;)
I love seeing and learning radioactive stuff with you!
They are collected from a variety of webshops. Most of it can be found on eBay.
@strontium141 :
Thank you! I haven't got an excact prize for the whole lot but some of these minerals and items are rare and sought after as you may know as a collector yourself. Incl. shipping and import taxes the total is over 1000$. The gem-cut thorite, big torbernite piece, boltwoodite, depleted uranium and Westinghouse 1B45 are some of the more expensive. Add the value of the Gammascout (500$) and it turns out to be quite an expensive hobby but it will not loose value - it may increase!
This is an excellent play list. I love watching it.Cheers.
Uranium is more toxic than lead because of the added radiotoxicity.
Go to eBay for cheap geiger counters but don't expect to get much lower than $100 for a useable device. Geiger counters are quite popular - especially after Fukushima even though the interest is falling so you could get lucky and win an eBay auction with a good buy :)
Thank you!
No - all of this is legal in Denmark and most countries. If handled responsibly it's not that dangerous. Smoking and tanning beds are also allowed in Denmark even though they are carcinogenic and effects a much larger number of people than radioactive collections :)
I can see the careful work and patience that went into this video. Thank you :)
Betas come in a wide range of energies - high energy betas can easily penetrate deep enough into you to hit living cells unlike the alphas. So external beta radiation is worse than alpha radiation.
I show a high-purity ½ g sample of uranium in this video? Do you mean plutonium? That is not possible for me to get :)
@guyipod :
Because I find it so much more interesting than collecting stamps, lighters, bottle caps, shoes or whatever other people are collecting. And it's really not that dangerous if you know what you are doing.
I do not smoke or tan and the average background radiation in my house is very low at 0.12 microsievert/hour so if I handle these items wisely and limit the dose my risk of cancer is likely lower than an average person.
Thank you!
Looking forward to your video because you and Bionerd23 are the American and European champs on RUclips, when it comes to radioactivity :)
I was actually really lucky with the 'small' torbernite samples. Usually they are very expensive but I found a French collector with reasonable prices, bought the whole lot and even got some free samples thrown in the package :)
I also need to make a new video because my collection is now quite larger than shown in this video.
nice video. I have a few secondary uranium minerals myself. autunite, torbernit and tyuyamunite. the tyuyamunite is on my rock shelf cause it isnt above background. rest are in plastic containers inside a paint can in the garage. nice and diverse collection you have.
I believe my viewers are smart enough to know not to eat radioactive materials...
What I was trying to tell is that even though the americium-disc reads very high they are relatively safe to have in your house compared to the strong gamma and beta emitters shown in this video which reads much lower.
I never talked about contamination, fall-out or eating radioactive material in this video. I believe people are smart enough to tell the difference but thanks for pointing it out anyways.
Ah, what a wonderful Torbernite collection!
Oh OK. That is the ionization source (americium oxide disc) taken out of a smoke detector. Do not take apart smoke detectors unless you know what you're doing. In the US it is even illegal.
In Denmark I would need a license to buy a check source and 'I am a collector' is not enough reason to get the license :(
In Denmark all consumers are allowed to throw away 3 smoke alarms with Am-241 as normal trash every month - a law that have no practical value and noone knows about it...
Natural sources are luckily still allowed in Denmark - no matter how powerfull they are.
Yes. I would like to do more videos about radioactivity, the first one will be an update to this video since my collection has grown considerably ;)
The depleted uranium in this video is close to harmless as long as it is in the vial (it is toxic) and I only am in contact with it occasionally. The level of radioactivity is really low - it's much more dangerous to make an intercontinental flight with the high levels of cosmic radiation bombarding your whole body at 30,000 feet :)
Thanks! Your collection is massively larger than mine. I try to keep my exposure nice and low. Also, most of my samples are assayed lab samples with exact geometries and 80 to 95% activities.
Looks like you have the French Connection lol
I looked at your liquid metal videos and now I think I need some gallium and fields metal!
Hi Tom
That's true. I've spent months now trying to explain to people that the radiation they detect from their rain is from radon washout (uranium decay progeny) and quite normal. They need to spend their time helping Japan and worrying about other problems.
I agree. I have expanded my collection quite a lot since this video - especially on the uranium minerals (I need to make an update video when time permits it).
But I don't have uranpyrochlore yet. One of my samarskite samples is supposed to have a little yttropyrochlore on it though - which is quite close to being uranpyrochlore ;)
Im bored. What to do?
of course watch brainiac75 :)
They were all purchased online - mostly from eBay.
Your uranium collection is very beautiful. I will be posting a video with mine in a few days. Though I have an amazing meta-torbernite sample, yours are simply stunning!
All of these levels are (as you already seems to know) low compared to Chernobyl. The background radiation in the red forest near Chernobyl is over 200 mcSv/h of penetrating gamma and hard beta radiation so nothing in this video is even close.The levels in this video is limited to point sources of low activity so the risk is really low. One cigaret won't kill you unless you are really unlucky - it's the same with my collection in this video: low but not zero risk. Life is full of low risks...
Don't handle radioactive items when having an open cut. External exposure is not that bad at these very low levels. But getting radioactive particles stuck inside you is very bad - even with low activity sources.
@endlessmountain:
Most people are hysterical about radiation - it's called radiophobia. And I have seen a lot of self-proclaimed 'experts' taking measurements on RUclips - some even asking for money to fund their measurement journeys...
I'm not an expert either but my view on the case: Fukushima is a terrible disaster, and a lot of japanese people have received unhealthy doses. But the dangers in North America from Fukushima are negligible.
People smoking is what scares me. That's dangerous!
In the ionizing types - not the optical ones. In Denmark they are getting very hard to find but eBay is one again a good friend...
I would strongly advise that all those sample of ores and radioactive materials
be stored with some shealding between and you.Also the biggest hazard is radon
gas.By enclosing them in simple zip lock bags and a snap tight container
can keep this dangerous gas at bay.Be sure to open them up outside.
I have considered a key chain 'light' with tritium but haven't bought one yet. Mostly because my Gamma Scout is not really sensitive enough to pick up the weak radiation from them and they have a limited period of radiation compared to all the other samples in the video. But I'll probably buy one sometime. It's just not that high on my wish list :)
In this video I use the Gamma-Scout. A decent model that I especially love for its ability to measure alpha-radiation (not only gamma and hard beta radiation).
What a beautiful collection, and a first class video... Bravo! :)
It's a Gamma Scout. A quite popular geiger counter.
Nej, de er ikke tilgængelige i målbare koncentrationer. Jeg har dog nogle stykker pitchblende/uraninite, som er meget kraftigere end, hvad jeg viser i denne video. Flere af dem får uden problemer min Soeks Defender til at gå i max med gamma-stråler.
Jeg skal snart have lavet en update til videoen, da samlingen er vokset betydeligt :)
Well that sounds good.Happy collecting.You have a very fine elements
collection.
Amazing collection!
You have a very beautiful collection. The total activity looks higher than what I would own. I'd love to run half of that through my gamma spectrometer and see what's in it (even though I already know lol).
Have you considered buying a piece of trinitie from United Nuclear? Atomic Bomb glass, basically.
Also, you might consider getting an Inspector Geiger counter. That Gamma scout has a small tube (LND 712).
Thanks for showing!
I agree. Have been looking at them tritium key chains. But it seems that you need quite sensitive equipment to pick up the (x-ray) radiation from them. But I gotta try it myself at some point. And something that glows in the dark because of radioactivity is just cool in itself :)
I know it has been a long while since you made this video, but I found it very interesting that on the vacuum tube boxes. It says Sink in the ocean or bury I have learned a lot about magnets, thanks to your channel.
+Steven Syrko
Thanks for watching! The tubes are from 1945 and back then they didn't care so much about the environment. "This tube contains radium - just dump it in the ocean if you want to get rid off it". That certainly wouldn't (and shouldn't) be accepted today.
Very very nice, I have a collection of minerals myself, bet never thought about radioactive collecting. Keep up the great videos.
Personally I would never have radioactive items in my bedroom - too many hours close to the source. And even with proper shielding you would still have a problem with the radon it emits.
With that said 300 cpm is quite a weak source so it must be a low-grade sample unless it is stated for a very unsensitive geiger counter. Uraninite is usually very strong due to high concentration of uranium (and radium). But I always keep anything radioactive out of my bedroom - so should you.
I must say you have a wonderful collection, I also must give props to the editing of your video. Extremely well done. If you ever are interested in trades let me know, I have a vast collection now! Keep up the good work!
I would like to have it but there is so much fake trinite with fake documentation being sold that I have so far decided not to buy samples of it...
You mean the vacuum tube at 2:36 into the video?
You can read about it here: tubecollector'org/1b22'htm
@KarbineKyle :
Thank you! I have seen ekanite but it is very expensive so I haven't bought any (yet). Your gem-cut ekanite piece is huge! Must be worth a fortune.
Beautiful collection! Nice Thorite gemstone! I have an Ekanite gem. That is a nice Thorium-Uranium bearing mineral too, and can be faceted like most gems. I LOVE your mineral specimens! The video quality is awesome too! I like your Am-241 (AmO2) capsules. Most contain 0.9 > 1.0µCi, but some industrial detectors can have almost
Can we wear Thorite..
Thank you! And thanks for your videos, the best documented videos on youtube about radiation.
I would like some real history trinitite but United Nuclear doesn't ship to Europe as far as I know.
I know the GS is limited in detecting low activity but I can't afford better right now. It also has problems with really high activity: this summer I will make a video with my collection of pitchblende that the GS doesn't like...
I don't store any of my collection inside my house by the way - ALARA :)
Yes you can buy a UV flashlight on ebay very cheaply to use on uranium samples.
I live like 2 miles away from where you got that Thorogummite. I know where i'm going this weekend!
what a beautiful collectio
Deadly collection try shine a ultra violet torch on the uranium samples it will glow green
Thank you for talking about the Radium Girls...
this is why I never just #TrustTheScience, I do it myself.
1 microsievert = 0.1 millirem.
You can't easily convert between REM (Roentgen equivalent (in) man) and roentgen.
Denmark! Nice place. I went to Sweden and Finland, but not Denmark. Sweden was much more fun than Finland. Sweden had their water festival... but everyone seemed quite down in Finland... not sure why.
Europe has strict laws on radioactivity. In the USA, we don't care. lol
Most places allow natural radioactive minerals because they are found everywhere... it would be like making grass illegal. lol
Thank you!
I personally like this video more than some of my others that have much more views. I guess radioactivity is not as popular as I would like it to be ;)
Nice mineral collection.
For this I used Pinnacle Studio Ultimate 14 which is quite old and unstable with HD video. But I have switched to HitFilm 2 Ultimate which is much more advanced and stable. Highly recommended.
Thanks for watching!
Hi. I would have answered eBay a while ago but they have turned completely radiophobic and don't allow uranium for sale anymore...
I can see you live in USA so you should try unitednuclear (.) com. They have a section with radioactive items.
Safe and cheap is a very rare combination for items in a radioactive collection though. If you have a geiger counter the uranium glassware (and the much more active and expensive old fiestaware) are quite safe and surprises people with the uranium content.
@infantrymanforIIfx :
Hi. I bought it on eBay back in 2010.
Can you comment further on your Radium samples? I repair watches and clocks and keep a bunch double bagged and sealed in plastic unless I am working on them. I always use safety goggles, gloves, and mask when working with them as to avoid inhalation of particles. I clean my work bench with disposable materials and then use my geiger to verify no traces of activity. As long as the samples are treated with respect (and you don't eat it like the Radium Girls) the danger becomes minimal. Thoughts?
Sounds like you're doing it the right way. The radiation direct from them is not really a problem when only handled once in a while. But getting particles from these inside you is a real problem. The safety procedures you use should avoid this problem.
Just be very aware of cross-contamination. Radium emits radon and the radon daughters will accumulate inside the sealed bags. Try taking the radium-painted arms out of the bags and measure the bags only. I'll bet they are hot :)
So also dispose anything in contact with the bags - like your gloves. And always wash your hands thoroughly after handling radioactive materials. That should keep your risk very low.
Great collection and good video!
We need to find you some uranpyrochlore. You can sometimes find it in beautiful black crystals.
Man, you are awesome!
didn't a company used to make a full table set that was coated in some kind of radioactive paint.
Yes, Fiesta ware is famous for this. But other companies from the same era made used similar radioactive glazes.
www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/fiesta.htm
the radiation that has spread to north america from fukishima I don't think can be safe but I know very little about this and the mainstream doesn't report it. People take rain/snow samples and have counters go crazy. I'd like to hear what scientific radiation element experts have to say about it.
What an amazing video! I didn't know about all of these radioactive items!
Awesome collection!
An amazing collection congratulations!! And a very well documented video!
I´m subscribing!
My god how where you able to get all of that like depleted uranium and radium
Ali Alsouaijet eBay! It solves all your problems!
Boron Oxygen Ionide Uranium Gallium Yttrium
Jk
So its sort of like lead(as far as toxicity goes)?
another question, how much would a cheap Geiger counter or other radiation detector cost?
Thanks for every thing your awsome
Thanks! I really need to make a new video about my radioactive collection... I think it's nearly twice as big now. I need to make a lot of videos in 2014 :)
Thanks for your support!
Well, Uranium slowly turn into lead. Since it is radioactive, it can only be worse :). Depend on the amount, like everything.
Great, thanks for sharing.
Is any of the thorogummite radiation have gamma rays included?
could you do more videos on just radioactivity in general?
and how dangerous is Uranium?
Plz make a element collection!!!!!
Great collection. I love your torbernite specimens. Are the smaller ones also from katanga?
Love your collection :)
We are exposed to vary extremely low radioactivity in distilled water
*beta, no hating, but how could a hydrogen atom radiate a particle bigger than the actual hydrogen atom?
How much was that huge thorite gem? Would love to get my hands on one.
I was thinking of buying a small (1cm X 1 cm) piece of Pitchblende/Uraninite which a supplier sells online. The activity is stated as 300 counts per minute. Would I need shielding to have this and would it be safe in my bedroom among my rocks and minerals collection?
Where do you keep your radioactive stuff
I keep all my radioactive stuff at the end of my garage (which is a separate building next to my home). Especially my big pitchblende pieces - that I haven't shown in a video yet - emit a lot of radon so they are not welcome inside my home ;)
awesome collection I have one to how much did all that cost you
Radium pocket watches without the crystal cover can emit over 300 microsieverts per hr!! I have 2 with no crystals, 14 with.
MikesAvenger Yep, radium is really potent because of its short half life compared to uranium and thorium. Be careful with the ones without cover. Chipping radium paint is not fun :)