How to spot radium on dial?

[Khan]

Hi 

Is this radium?

If yes, how can I safely change the crystal on it or is it best to leave it? 

How to check radium without a measuring device? 

 

 

[rehajm]

2 hours ago, Khan said:

How to check radium without a measuring device? 

Is that even possible? If you don’t have one of the inexpensive counters assume that it is….

A nice looking dial with potential…

[Nucejoe]

A piece of USED fine sand paper works to take these scratches out, then smear some tooth paste on a piece of cloth to polish this crystal with. 

Rgds

[AndyGSi]

My first thought from the visual is that I would treat it as radium.

If it is radium then you shouldn't have removed the back without precautions in place as there
was more than likely a build up of gas which has now been released and potentially inhaled.

Unless it has some sentimental value I'd leave well alone.

[mikepilk]

From the age of the watch, and the way the lume is turning from green to brown on the hands, I would guess radium.

Shine a bright light (ideally UV) on to it. Radium is slow to glow, slow to fade. Later lumes like Luminova, Tritium, glow immediately.

You can get the scratches out of the crystal with fine wet and dry, and Polywatch. But I can see cracks through the crystal.

[Khan]

It doesnt glow at all when exposed to bright light. It has fine cracks on it so would be nice to get crystal replaced but I might let it be as is. 

But what are the precautions - is it better to work on it outdoor? 

Edited August 8, 2024 by Khan

[mikepilk]

There are countless articles on here about how dangerous radium is : some would gladly sprinkle it on their breakfast cereals, and some would not want to go withing 100m of it.

The truth is somewhere in the middle. If you are going to do it,take sensible precautions to prevent contamination. 

Loose flakes of radium are the danger, you don't want to inhale it.  

What I do, is cover the work surface with cling film, wear latex gloves and a mask. When finished, I wipe down all tools, surfaces, put gloves, clingfilm, wipes etc in a sealed bag and in the household waste. 

[Nucejoe]

 There are several isotopes of Raduim, whose half life differ greatly, ranging from 4 days to 1600 years, depending on which ones we had for breakfast today?   we could be emitting radiations 1600 years after our body has turned to dust. Your breakfast  might have contained Xenon 124  whose half life is only one trillion times  longer than life of the universe.

Radioactive elements like any other can chemically bond with other elements and  enter our body hiding in food we eat. 

So I recommend buying  many Geiger counters when on sale, one to incorporate into our pillow, one for every dish, one for the tooth paste ,....

We are the product of a supernova explosion, the entire universe is a nuclear reactor and will continue emitting radiations of all type until it ( the univers dies) .

Did you like the story about the fate of universe? 

That ain't all, following  its death the only force that  remains is gravity and some kinetic energy of each mass, the fellow whose life is longer than universe will disintegrate too, gravity keeps pulling bits together, one such bit can be our galaxy, the more mass it pulls together the more massive it gets to generate stronger force of gravity thus pulls more mass till all mass is one big ball but not so fast forward  ,  the bigger it gets the more it collapses into itself due to the force of it's own gravity, so there are opposing factors, one is growing gravity which grows with mass the other is collapsing due to stronger gravity of bigger mass, the new one ball the univers has become, keeps collapsing into a dimensionless point of unimaginable intensity, energy and  zero entropy,....

Next may comes another big bang, oh no. 

That's how the theory of big bang in mankinds mind formed.  Ever read the story that universe was a dimensionless intensely energised point.

Stop redium ing your mind, and  play with watches. 

Isn't a single moment of life too valuable to spend it worrying? 

Rgds

[mikepilk]

47 minutes ago, Nucejoe said:

 We are the product of a supernova explosion

Indeed, as Joni Mitchell sang : "We are stardust, we are golden*" 

*It's amazing to think that all the gold on earth is produced either in supernovas or colliding neutron stars. 

[Nucejoe]

I wonder if life is the ultimate product of the universe.

Oh well , let fix Khan's watch first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Darthkram]

Without a Geiger Counter no way to know for sure, I picked one up second hand for quite cheap just to be able to tell.

It looks to me like the numbers have been re-lumed at some point, the colour of those doesn't scream radium to me actually. That browning of the lume on the hands does look radium based though. Balance of probabilities says there is probably some radium somewhere in that watch.

I wouldn't worry about gas being released when you opened the back, almost no way that watch is water/gas tight given its age.

If you change the crystal take sensible precautions. I lay paper towels over my work surface and dispose of them afterwards then wipe everything down with a damp paper towel. I had my working area scanned by a professional a while ago (I think I posted the story before) and he couldn't detect anything so I assume my precautions are ok.