Radium dials are watch, clock and other instrument dials painted with luminous paint containing radium-226 to produce radioluminescence.
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What kind of paint is used on watch dials?
Instead of using enamel powder, a lacquered dial is produced by spray-painting a few layers of lacquer (or enamel paint) on the base dial (normally made of brass).
What was radium used to paint watch dials?
Radium Watch-Dial Painters. In the 1920s, several US watch companies produced “glow in the dark” dials painted with radio-luminescent paint, composed of zinc sulfide (ZnS) mixed with radioactive radium ( 226Ra) salts. The employees hired to paint the dials were mostly young women.
When did they stop using radium on watch dials?
1970s
Many of these workers developed bone cancer, usually in their jaws. Eventually, scientists and medical professionals realized that these workers’ illnesses were being caused by internal contamination from the radium they ingested. By the 1970s, radium was no longer used on watch and clock dials.
What made watch dials glow?
Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen, and tritium gas-filled fluorescent tubes are used not only in watches, but also on everything from cockpit instruments to gunsights. Two of the best known users of tritium gas tubes for watch dials are Ball and Luminox. Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon by night.
Is radium paint still used?
Radium paint itself was eventually phased out and has not been used in watches since 1968.
Can you buy tritium paint?
Can You Buy Tritium Paint? No, you cannot buy tritium paint because tritium is typically a gas.
How can I tell if my watch has radium?
Plastic crystals can often exhibit a burn-in from the paint. Radium-based paint was banned in the 1960s and all of the paint was phased out a decade later. The easiest way to tell if a watch is radioactive is to pick up a simple Geiger counter. This will tell you definitively if a piece is radioactive.
What replaced radium in watches?
Tritium
Tritium, introduced in the early 1960s, had replaced radium (Radium-226) in watches largely by the end of the 1960s, and although still radioactive and potentially hazardous, the beta particles are not able to escape through the watch glass or skin (but it is a health threat if ingested).
Can you still buy radium watches?
Radium was eventually banned after scores of dial painters died from cancer and various ghastly ailments. But many of the so-called radium watches are still around today, considered antiques and even prized as collectibles.
Are radium bands harmful?
Radium releases alpha particles which have very low penetrating power. Hence we are not in danger of those radiations.
What does radium do to the body?
Exposure to Radium over a period of many years may result in an increased risk of some types of cancer, particularly lung and bone cancer. Higher doses of Radium have been shown to cause effects on the blood (anemia), eyes (cataracts), teeth (broken teeth), and bones (reduced bone growth).
Is radium more radioactive than uranium?
The radioactivity of radium then must be enormous. This substance is the most radioactive natural element, a million times more so than uranium. It is so radioactive that it gives off a pale blue glow. Yet it would still take the Curies another three years to produce a pure radium salt.
Does radium Glow forever?
Radium dials usually lose their ability to glow in the dark in a period ranging anywhere from a few years to several decades, but all will cease to glow at some point. A radium dial clock from the 1930s. A key point to bear in mind is this: the dial is still highly radioactive.
When did they stop using tritium in watches?
Since tritium watches are also considered to be potentially hazardous, the use of tritium in watches was finally stopped in the 1990s. Since then, timepieces are made with Super-LumiNova, a pure phosphorescent luminescent material that is free of any radioactive additives and based on an alkaline earth aluminate.
Is tritium still used in watches?
Although tritium paint is still used today for watch lume, it was most commonly used in the 1960’s through about the late 1990’s or early 2000’s. Also used during this time, however much more rarely, was promethium, another radioactive material used for self-luminous watch applications.
How many dial painters died from radium poisoning?
Repeating this process caused the radium to linger in their mouths. Initially, the women did not know the risks of radium and even enjoyed painting it onto their nails and clothing to glow in the dark, but exposure to radium later led to over 30 deaths in the company.
Is it legal to own radium?
Your possession of radium-containing watches and clocks for repair purposes, though only temporary, is subject to the general license provisions for self-luminous products containing Ra-226 contained in NRC regulations (10 CFR 31.12) or equivalent Agreement State regulations.
How radioactive is radium paint?
The radium isotope (226Ra) used has a half-life of about 1,600 years, so radium dials remain essentially just as radioactive as when originally painted 50 or 100 years ago, whether or not they remain luminous. Radium dials held near the face have been shown to produce radiation doses in excess of 10 µSv / hour.
Is it legal to own tritium?
In the US, devices such as self-luminous exit signs, gauges, wristwatches, etc. that contain small amounts of tritium are under the jurisdiction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and are subject to possession, distribution, and import and export regulations found in 10 CFR Parts, 30, 32, and 110.
Is it legal to buy tritium?
Although it is illegal for Amazon to support sales of tritium on their site, it is somewhat similar to a game of whack-a-mole. If Amazon finds the listing and shuts it down, another will pop up until they are found again.