.150 Background either he has a low level waste dump under his desk or the monitor is not very accurate! Even if you wear this 24x7 for a year you will get less than half the yearly average allowable dose! About 2/3-1/2 what some people from being where they live! About half what an International pilot gets at work! About 1/6 to 1/12 of what you get from CatScan! So context!
@@danquaylesitsspeltpotatoe8307 Sievert measurements from CPM are often super imprecise, while clicks tell you how many particles are hitting the tube, and is generally a good sign you probably don't want to be somewhere too long, it doesn't tell you how much energy those particles have. It could possibly have been that it was emitting a lot of low energy particles, which confused the Sievert reading.
The Otis radioactive lift buttons (google it!) incident really makes me think twice about buying things like cutlery and cookware that is made in countries like India and China.
@@WilsonPendarvis-tn3wm I mean, China is essentially sitting of mountains of thorium/uranium-rich waste, since they import and process vast amounts of Rare Earth Ores that can be up to ~1/10th thorium dioxide by mass.
Smart meters and smoke detectors are both more radioactive than this pendant, smart meters are MUCH more radioactive. Thats why the wealthy keep their meters away from their houses. "If you don't have a meterhouse, yooooou might be a poor person!"
@@one_smol_duckeh, keto is more of a "If I don't eat my cake I can have my cake later" scenario, so long as you do have the cake later it works fine. If you don't, well, the cake eventually goes off (kinda like the DNA in your body when it starts being broken down by excessive ketosis).
@@D.von.Nnot the same altitude increases red blood cell for oxygen bond this thing activates white blood cells cause there is damage and trauma that may cause infection
Once again, I am baffled that the makers of quack products are committed enough to their bit that they would put genuine radioactive material into something.
@@PhysicsGamerActually it is. China refines a lot of rare earth metals and thorium is present in the ore. Sometimes you can get uranium too. The better solution? Build thousands of thorium fuel cycle nuclear reactors to "burn" it for energy instead of giving people cancer with magic woo pendants.
I put my smart meter under my pillow and when I woke up the next morning all my fridge magnets started sticking together. I can’t get it to reverse now.
Reminds me of seeing claims of essential oils curing cancer by “speeding up cell growth”. You know…. Because you definitely want uncontrollably faster growing cells when trying to fight cancer… such a great idea..
@@BMarie774omg I remember seeing an essential oil blend labeled" measles vaccine". Way back when I had Facebook. What's worse, it had quite a few likes and shares.
I'm actually kind of surprised that it contains radioactive material. It seems almost 'honest" in a way, as though they actually believe it works for its intended purpose. They could easily have sent a completely inert plastic object, and most people would have been none the wiser.
Yep. I don't understand why they do it. It probably costs them more money to produce, and if anyone even tries to test it (not that anyone would think of that), they will find out it's radioactive. So why do it?
@@bosmer3836it's a psy op from the Chinese government to harm our country by flooding us with plastics. Most clothing and items from there are just designed to break down and deteriorate and go into our bodies through the air and water poisoning us with toxic chemicals.
@@bosmer3836 to harm us. You might not be at war with china but china's at war with you. Lead in children's toy paint, lead in makeup products, poisons in toothpaste, dog food, melamine in candy. Long history of this. The OP here has it twisted in the most naive of ways. "ahh yes the chinese, wonderful people, they just don't know how radiation works, honest mistake hahaha XDXDXD" They're not irradiating jewelry to sell to Americans to give an "honest" product.
Clive, your geiger counter has the Soviet SBM20 tube in it which only sniffs beta and gamma radiation, so it is detecting the few gamma particles from the Thorium source. Thorium radioactive emission is mainly alpha radiation, so a pancake type geiger tube with mica window and the count would go crazy with the same specimen. Also a cloud chamber would show the paricles well, especially how alpha particles only travel for such a very short distance..
However Alpha Particles are low energy and a piece of paper stops them and are not usually a problem unless you eat or inhale their source. Even the dead cells in the outer layer of human skin provide adequate shielding because alpha particles can’t penetrate it.
@@elizabethwinsor-strumpetqueen Hi, what purpose do you need it for? ( e.g.home, outdoor, lab) There are many different types available with vastly different pricing..
@blitzroehre1807 I'd be interested in one myself, as a present for a friend who is interested in atomic energy. I understand these can't be used as a scientific source of data of any kind, but this particular specimen interested me, and I don't want to waste money for obvious Chinese fakes. I'm from Poland, so ex-Soviet military equipment is showing up for sale here and there, but it's mostly junk some 40 years after production date at best, and horribly overpriced for nostalgic value or out of a sheer will to get some money out of the naive people. If you possibly have access to the schemes, I'd be interested in building one myself.
Temu is widely rumoured to use forced Uyguhr labour in the factories that supply their products.... no protection for the workers there, let alone union protection (which would probably be illegal in China anyway)
Rees mogg wants that for Britain too. Like he said "if its good enough for India, it's good enough for Brits" when talking about scrapping employment rights and health safety.
The most baffling thing about these is that the kind of person who buys into this stuff would probably never verify what material is used to make these, so they could very easily leave out the ThO2 and they wouldn't notice. There's literally no reason to make these radioactive unless the manufacturer also buys into the energy field woo.
I mean China has as much (probably more) quackery as the west. Given how much people spend to consume exotic animal parts for traditional Chinese medicine I wouldn't be surprised if there's a large group of people who actually believe this negative ion stuff and think their products have genuine health benefits.
@@poke548its already false advertising because it definitely doesn't protect you from radiation, that little flyer is probably filled with false claims
I have bought plenty of these products from Amazon for the explicit purpose of testing them and reporting my findings to the NRC. The irony is that it would be unethical to ship them back for refunds if they do come up hot, but I did get a bunch of things deleted. They seem harder to find now, and the last few things I ordered were not radioactive. I haven't bought that sticker design in particular though... I'm not even going to try dealing with Alibaba, Wish, Temu, Shein, etc. All the NRC can do is ban stuff for sale to the US, and usually only on an item by item basis at that. I haven't tried the IAEA yet though... 🤔
Fascinating how people keep buying them, many of them obviously unaware of what's really inside, and how the producers keep making it with thorium, even though they could just sell them plastic anyway.
@@LarixusSnydes Plus it's another great way to recycle the dead plastics we dumped on them AND to get rid of their own radioactive waste AND we pay for it! While producing them no doubt lowers their reproductive rates without having to have the unpopular 1-child regimen amongst the unwashed masses. Win-win all round! 😉😬
@@phillippereira6468I understand this is a joke but China does have universal pensions. It's under pressure from an aging population much like western Europe right now.
Those pensions are the motivation behind policy that allows someone to sell products made with thorium. An aging population tends to buy into life extension and older people buy more of these "new age" things and are probably at higher risk of adverse health from exposure.
I'm glad I never paid for their ads. I'm glad I stuck to my gut on Temu. From the start once I saw their first ad I was like this is a scam and if not then their products will be as crappy as Wish. And look at what information we get recently I was so fucking right and glad I never tried their products.
The Thought Emporium has a great series of videos where he bought and tested a ton of items like this from Amazon. The US government ended up getting involved with it because some of the stuff was WILDLY dangerous like this one item that had a decent amount of radioactive dust(IIRC it was thorium dust).
Thorium have mostly alpha radiation - which that geiger tube cannot detect, so it is probably a bit more spicy. But since alpha particles are stopped by the skin perhaps it is perfect for adjusting that fancy blue aura.
Many years ago I went to a nuclear power station on some business, as one does, with a colleague who was wearing a very valuable vintage watch. It turned out, perhaps predictably, that the watch contained materials which set off the radiation alarms at reception, so it had to be left outside. Subsequently, the watch was sold owing to it being impractical in our line of work. Interestingly, apart from a few carefully guarded "hot" areas, the general radiation levels inside the main reactor hall, even directly over and beside the reactor vessel, were about half the natural ambient level outside.
@@markiangooley Lead glass is not normally radioactive, and would be too soft for a wristwatch. Some vintage camera lenses contain radioactive glass, however. These contain thorium dioxide.
@@cdl0 I think he is talking about using leaded glass to stop the radioactivity from the glowing arms or glowing numbers on the clock face, not saying that lead glass is itself radioactive
Also on the power station theme, I found that coal fired power station exhaust carries a fairly large radioactive load which in one case (at least) fell mostly on a pasture used for cows. I'm guessing the Chinese suffer more from that than we do these days. Then there's radioactive natural gas, a whole other bundle of fun!.
Not too long ago I went on eBay and bought some "negative ion powder". Sounded super sketchy and they even had a photo of someone holding the powder in their hands with an "ion meter" (obviously just a simple Geiger counter) on top, and I wanted to see if it was genuinely Thorium Dioxide or just some inert junk... safe (or unsafe) to say, when it arrived I stuck my counter near it and it went ballistic, confirming that this ziplock bag inside a box wrapped with what seemed like an entire reel of parcel tape was indeed just a BUNCH of ThO2. I hope the person in the photo decontaminated themselves afterwards......
Now you can power your house for 10 years if you build a thorium molten salt breeder reactor. You may need to source some U232, U235 and Plutonium to start it but that's no problem for crafty people.
Dear Lord, that sounds too much like the Introduction to a Plainly Difficult-Video... "The USPS Radiation Distaster" Bot too long ago, xxx bought some negative ion powder from ebay. The seller shipped it in an Zip-Lock bag, inside a bubble-warp enevlope. [...] Sorting Machine 123 had been known to occasionaly problems [...] Puff of White Powder [...] Drug enforcement sent samples to laboratory [...] wiped machine clean, [...] but didn't wash their clothes [...] Other Parcels covered in ... [...] After negative Drug Test, USPS resealed the Parcel [...] Shipped it to customer [...] Strange sickness [...] Postal workers... *shudder*
Wait, cheap enough you could buy it on a whim? This box made it through the post? And it just sits in your house somewhere now? I hope it absolutely cannot get airflow to it. If that's concentrated thorium dioxide as a *powder* and you have like a sammich bag of it, that's uh, pretty spicy. I'd never feel clean if this were anywhere near me.
I lived my life from about 2 to 15 with a radioactive source in my bedroom. A Big Ben alarm clock with green glowing face numbers and hands from Radium.
@@bigclivedotcom we had a big ben alarm clock, when i was young i took it to bits and scraped off and ground up the green glow stuff and mixed it with water and pva wood glue to turn it into paint ......
@@bigclivedotcomThe luminous paint on my 1966 Timex watch was just a phosphor that stored up energy in bright light, and gradually faded overnight. Unless your alarm clock was much older, I think it was probably similar - not radium based.
The radiation levels here are so low it does not really matter, people handle much more dangerous items all the time. The box is completely safe to ship etc. Having said that I would not have this thing around my skin and definitely would not like to ingest or breathe in anything coming off it.
Its most likley dominantly Alpha emiter, even packaging reduces counts. It whoud be interesting to mesure the thin whit Alpha pancake probe, this is beta/gama gaiger tube which can mesure just secondery emisions of them activated by alpha...
post is much less controlled than most people think. There are mad lads importing all sorts of stuff just by sending it. As long as it is not drugs or explosives it's usually fine
It would be nice to check that against common every day household items that give off radiation, for instance, a stoneware coffee mug. There used to be a Museum next to the Zion nuclear power plant in IL, USA, and they had a window with a view of the containment buildings, with a Geiger counter pointed at the buildings. Then you could pull a lever that would move a coffee mug in front of the counter, and the counts went way up.
The Japanese are missing out on a shopping opportunity: they could be selling souvenir bottles of Fukushima waste water instead of dumping it in the sea.
More than that, Fukishima water contains more than the usual level of Tritium (Hydrogen with three neutrons), which is in great demand for fusion experiments!
China is acting all pissed about it being released. Meanwhile, Chinese factories are actually buying it in backroom deals to mix with the clay slurry to make these radioactive pendants. 😂
@@drussell_ most of background comes from rocks actually. Radon gas for example is emitted by rocks and can accumulate in buildings. Fishies are more of the main source for heavy metals than for radioactivity. Mmm, tastyt mercury and cadmium
@@Matt_Quinn-CaledonianTV _sounds like a euphemism for having spent time 'window shopping' in the red light district_ Amusing, but [rhetorical question] what sort of mind must you have to have even thought of that? ;)
Some top quality quackery there! The comprehensive twaddle on the leaflet literature is impressive in its' length. At least the number on it is lucky, as you irradiate yourself! Cheers.
I would suggest reading "radiation hormesis" Low doses of ionizing radiation, just above backgrond radiation are thought to be benificial, by stimulating activation of the bodies repair mechanisms that protect against diseases.
A commercial electrician friend spoke of installing wireless lighted EXIT signs occasionally, which used a "safe" radioactive source to light them. He said it was the strangest thing to open a box of them and they're glowing BRIGHTLY up at you!
I'd like to see it compared to a smoke detector or an old luminous watch. (When we studied radiation at university, the sample, sealed in a foil packet, that we had to handle with such care, gave a count considerably faster than background, but a luminous watch made the counter go crazy.)
Clive's Geiger counter doesn't have an alpha window, so that's evidence that there are plenty of beta/gamma rays coming off that thing, probably from thorium decay byproducts.
I just found you. I must say, I adore how you say "one moment please" it's so polite! Very nice tone of voice as well. Thank you for being so informative and knowledgeable!
Clive, you can make a simple radiation detector using a reverse-biased PIN diode or alternatively an alpha particle detector using a TO-3 type NPN transistor with the can removed. Might be an interesting video for those whose hobby is electronics.
If you're going to get one for testing your Geiger counter, it's best to get more than one. I bought two, and one is significantly more active than the other. I'd guess the thorium content is a sprinkling of tiny grains, and each medallion may only get a few (or no) bits of it. I really think Clive should build a cloud chamber and see if we can identify any "hot spots" on the thing. 😁👍
Seems weird in these times when 'Radiation' is a dirty word and mobile phones are allegedly bad for our children, that on-line stores actually sell radioactive products. Many years ago they sold a tonic with radium in it. This produced a condition called "Radium Jaw" which resulted in a person's bottom jaw falling off. Obviously he died soon after. Thanks Clive for posting, aren't we humans strange sometimes 😅
"Radium Jaw" was mostly a disease suffered by the girls that painted glow in the dark dials for watches and clocks. They got it by the ingestion and subsequent absorption of radium into the bones when they would put the brush used to paint in their mouths to make a sharp point of the bristles!
@@Capohanf1 The case that made me aware of 'Radium Jaw' , probably 20 years ago, was that of a man called Eben Byers. He consumed a product called 'Radithor' a tonic water containing at least 1 microcurie of radium isotopes 226 and 228. Bailey Laboratories sold 400,000 bottles of Radithor, and only 80 deaths were attributable to Radithor. Investigations have concluded that many others died of cancer which the link between Radithor and the death were not made apparent. Somewhat ironically the inventor of Radithor, William Bailey was one of those who died because of the use of his own product.
@@Capohanf1The radium jaw caused by radithor is slightly more infamous than that suffered by the girls who painted clock faces, just because in the case of Eben Byers we actually have a photo of him missing his jaw, it looks like the sort of thing you'd see in a creepypasta thumbnail ngl, and you can look it up if you want. The imagery is somewhat disturbing but not particularly gory, and it's a relatively low quality black and white photo from the early 1930s. I think his case was just particularly severe, given that he was drinking several doses of the stuff a day for years.
Also iirc radium jaw didn't cause the bottom jaw to just fall off as in the case of Eben Byers most of the time, usually it didn't quite progress to quite that level. There is a noted case of one of the girls (Mollie Maggia) having to have her lower jaw removed due to the damage caused, but for some girls they just lost a few teeth. Most affected would fall somewhere in the middle.
You need to remember, these are also the people who are so superstitious / clueless that they think that overpriced pieces of fungus or deer antlers can cure cancer...
Bet that pendant is even hotter than your counter shows. Thorium emits a LOT of alpha particles, and that GM tube isn't going to detect them very well. You are probably only seeing the weak gamma rays it emits, as well as any beta particles from the thorium decay products. You should get access to a mica window GM tube that will detect alpha particles if you really want to see how hot that thing is...
@@bigclivedotcom That's a shame but... "trying IS the first step to failure" - Homer J Simpson. Would a kit be welcome? For a breakdown or to try again? (Not promising I'd send one but seriously considering it.)
Reminds me of a school physics lesson. Teacher brought out the school's licenced-and-usually-locked-up radioactive source, and we measured it. Then he showed us his vintage watch, no restrictions necessary, which produced a considerably higher reading on the counter!
@@mattymerr701 Reminds me of the physics lesson where the teacher said "Don't point these radiation sources at your gonads", followed by all the teenage boys sterilising each other.
I have a tritium watch. I'd love to have a new watch with new bright radium lume, but they aren't sold anymore. They were dangerous for the infamous "radium girls" because they would lick the paint brushes and ingested it. Radium on watch hands behind a glass case really isn't dangerous. Old WWII airplane dials and instruments also used radium to make them visible at night.
I feel bad for the factory workers who have to be constantly exposed to all that radiation but i guess when you have no other choice you take the job you can get
0.4 uSv/hr (above background) is considered a radiation area at most nuclear facilities. That's not an alarming amount of radiation by any means, but both of those items definitely would be controlled as radioactive material at nuclear facilities (in the US at least).
During a physics lesson in the 70's, the teacher (master in those days) accidentally dropped the Thorium source during his demonstration. After 20 minutes of fruitless searching, he abandoned the lesson. He informed us the following week that his wife had found the Thorium source a couple of days later. In his trouser turn-up.
@BreatheScotlandRight, not funny, apart from inside you,the last place you want to have that source is near your private parts. Reproductive cells are especially vulnerable to ionising radiation.
I'm kind of surprised you didn't take any precautions handling what you believed to be dangerously radioactive material prior to measuring how radioactive it was.
It's most likely an alpha emitter, and not the worst of what is sold online by a long margin. I store items like these in a designated safe area and wash my hands after handling to avoid ingesting any loose dust.
Danger is a function of how radioactive it is vs how long you spend around it. These aren't particularly radioactive, but they would be bad to wear right on your chest every day. Same reason when you get X-rayed the doctor is protected but you aren't - it's safe for you every so often but not for them when they're around it all the time.
I have one of those sources. Small sample very close to a small detector - 2,000 CPM, 0.5 uSv/h. A foot away (30 cm) it's lost in the background noise here. My meter doesn't measure the alpha rays, so it's just the weak gamma I record.
If this is a problem... I have camera lenses that are way more radioactive. The scary bit is the dust that may come off it. And indeed, as you mention, in the factory for sure.
You can find similar ones, made of glass. They are good as test sources for Geiger counter. Easy to detect but completely inert and so safe to use and store - won't leave any particles around.
I find it really weird that these energy pendants and bracelets actually have some sort of radioactive material rather than just being a hunk of iron or something and no one would know. Like the creators must know it’s complete BS, why bother with adding anything interesting to it? I mean, maybe they actually think radiation is good for you. But why market it as anti radiation???
This emits mostly alpha particles, hydrogen nuclei. These cant get past clothing or skin so its relatively safe to hold. Wearing it around your neck for any serious amount of time pretty much guarantees skin cancer, bone cancer if you are really unlucky (sternum/ribs) Alpha particles cant make it past skin cells, but you get enough of them trying in one spot for long enough and enough of them will find gaps between the dead skin cells to the living ones underneath to cause problems. More time or more particles = more chances for particles to find their way deeper. Its a hydrogen nuclei, its literally the smallest element on the periodic table. Gaps between atoms are massive compared to it.
Thorium oxide emits alpha and beta radiation which is pretty harmless. You want to shield your eyeballs and also not ingest or inhale the particles but external to your body alpha does not penetrate your skin and beta barely your skin so maybe clothing. I worked in nuclear power and we used to use those coleman gas lantern mantels for training. The radiation detectors we used for frisking when we came out of the reactor compartment were set to 300 CPM above background. A coleman mantle would set off their alarm. And as I think about it they did penetrate clothing some because the person acting as the instructor could hide them in a pocket or sock or whatever to see if the trainee caught it by doing a thorough frisk. I'm less sure about modern ones. I was just reading that while some mantels are still made with thorium oxide, many now use other materials. I still wouldn't go out of my way to wear such a pendant but I doubt it does much good or bad.
I wonder how those radioactive things can get through customs that easily. And I would like to buy a luminous vial/keychain, however they are quite expensive and also I don't want to order one only to find that it didn't go through because of the radiation, let alone to get in trouble.
I'm not very good at it but I tried to find more information.. We are constantly exposed to natural radiation and it's not a problem. I still don't understand why there's so much fuss about this pendant. From what I've seen it measures somewhere around 500 counts per minute. More than 10 times the background level. But what many people don't know is that potassium is radioactive and we have about 150 grams in the body. Potassium chloride (all potassium salts) are radioactive. And do you know how much 20 grams measures? 486 counts per minute..I think people are not properly informed about these medallions...Yes, they could represent a danger if they contain heavy elements and are swallowed..Otherwise I don't see where the problem would be.
Have you looked into what the strongest radioactive source you can buy on ebay/amazon is? I have a "thorium candle mantel" thing that I bought on one of those two, and its a great source. When I get the time I'm going to make my radiation detector portable and start going into antique shops to test for lithium glass. I can't wait for the reaction from the staff. I actually discussed my hobby with a local watch repair shop, looking for old radium dials, but sadly they shut down recently. I'll find others :) I love the idea of bringing a Geiger counter into antique shops to search for purchases :)
I work in radiography, but I don't think it should take a college education in the physics of radiation and its biologic effects to find this thing to be utterly absurd. What people are willing to believe and purchase never ceases to amaze me. Though, frankly, there is literally no world in which it makes sense for any company to be able to legally con people with an item like this.
I know better hand warmers, get old Soviet navigation map (like from 70-80), and current one. Take most rural points compare them and go for missing ones u possibly find best hand warmers u can get.
This amazes me, as a victorian oil lamp and glass dealer, we have issues sending uranium glass abroad.. alot of the time it gets confiscated.. yet this sh!t is allowed?!
You need to pick up one of the “old school“ thorium mantels for the Coleman lanterns. They’re about 10 times stronger than the two pieces you just tested. They’re downright scary! I don’t recommend doing the initial burn of these mantles inside!
I think he already tried those in an old video (about the same sort of product, a "health pen" with radioactive powder inside, if I remember correctly), indeed the mantles were impressive.
Ohhh quantum pendant! I needed one to ensure my Geiger counter is still working but they disappeared from Amazon Germany. Bought an uranium glas box instead which is rather expensive compared to the pendant. Apparently "quantum pendant" is the current buzz word for the esoteric nut jobs.
I'm sure the Chinese factory worker will be extremely worried about radiation exposure while he's spinning at 300RPM around a giant industrial lathe with no E-stop.
I'd always heard that bananas are radioactive. I finally got around to testing a bunch last week (using my civil defense era CDV-700, which is quite sensitive) and didn't detect anything. What is the deal with the radioactive bananas story?
@@allenlutins apparently some potassium is radioactive... each banana gives off "0.1 microsieverts" of radiation (source: www.epa.gov/radtown/natural-radioactivity-food) Now the "Sievert" is a very interesting unit as it includes the risk to humans specifically based on the type of radiation, and an empirical "quality factor"... so a "Gray" of radiation is joule per kg of meat, but a "Sievert" is also joule per kg, but accounts for how much harms you...
I've seen a picture, that states you have to eat more than 6600 bananas per seconds to get a lethal dose of radiation. It also says bananas contain radioactive cesium isotopes.
The dedication to actually make these quack products legitimately radioactive :0 and I am sure the factories producing them are not regulated properly at all, and workers will be exposed to this radiation just like the radium girls were :/ the pamphlet literally chronicling the effect on blood is wild
I have a Yashica camera lens which has thoriated, instead of leaded, glass. I keep the lens in one of those lead lined X-ray resistant film bags in a far corner of the basement.
That reminds me to dig out the geiger counter I made in a workshop at an EMF Camp (geeky hacker festival in a field) last year... been testing it on uranium glass and an old watch... now I can really start building up my collection of radioactive items 🎉🎊☢️
Because I like having super powers, such as having my DNA permanently altered, growing extra toes and imminent early terminal illness. But tritium beta lights... those are cool as $#!+ Been suddenly hearing about this Temu lately. Are they like another Wish? Like that's what the world needs LOL
Half decent radiation level, and possibly not a great idea to be wearing this for any length of time. It would be interesting to see the energy spectrum, so we could have a guess at the nuclide(s) involved. Worth remembering that the max. annual dose for a certified (registered) "Radiation Worker" in the UK is only 50mSv, so you "could" reach the limit with that pendant if you really tried, since you'd only need about 5 of them, worn continuously 😀😀
It's most likely thorium dioxide. The Thought Emporium did some testing on similar products a while back, that's what all of them contained if they contained anything at all.
At one company I did alpha particle testing on semiconductors. Did you know the old "side braze" white ceramic packages that used to be used for high reliability are radioactive? Anyway, I'd carry a hot source in my pocket... inside a plastic case. I could demonstrate, case closed, no clicks. Case open and aimed away from people, counter goes crazy. Now all I have is a tritium lamp on my keychain.
Depending upon what happened to be in those semiconductors you only managed to shield any alphas and weaker betas with that plastic case. All of the numerous gammas and X-rays spewed off by the source (that a GM tube would not respond efficiently to) would be getting nicely soaked up in your body.
@@bigclivedotcomData analysis showed a lot of data usage by the app when not in use, specifically sending of data which was put down to it harvesting data from your phone for sale later as they often sell for below cost. Feel free to google it for yourself.
I have a set of soup dishes I inherited from my grandparents that have uranium in the glaze. I have them on a shelf and don't use them except to look at, but my grandparents did and they made a lot of soup. Funnily (I mean not funny ha ha but funny awkward) enough my granda died from bowel cancer and I often wonder if it was the soup bowls wot dun him in.
I don't understand people who cry about 5g giving them cancer, while they are wearing their 'anti-5g' pendants covered in thorium... It would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic.
The blood test pictures show somebody who has accumulated positive charge from electro magnetic radiation and has not earthed, this causes the blood cells to 'clump together', like little magnets if you will. The second picture shows healthy blood cells at neutral charge.
They are honest.
Radiation Protection = less radiation for your body
Anti Radiation Protection = more radiation for your body
I didn't even notice that. Good catch of the phrasing.
😂😂😂😂
.150 Background either he has a low level waste dump under his desk or the monitor is not very accurate! Even if you wear this 24x7 for a year you will get less than half the yearly average allowable dose! About 2/3-1/2 what some people from being where they live! About half what an International pilot gets at work! About 1/6 to 1/12 of what you get from CatScan!
So context!
@@danquaylesitsspeltpotatoe8307 Sievert measurements from CPM are often super imprecise, while clicks tell you how many particles are hitting the tube, and is generally a good sign you probably don't want to be somewhere too long, it doesn't tell you how much energy those particles have. It could possibly have been that it was emitting a lot of low energy particles, which confused the Sievert reading.
@@danquaylesitsspeltpotatoe8307 0.15 μSv/h ambient is completely normal in lots of places.
That's actually brilliant way to dispose radioactive material, just ship it all over the World and make people pay for it. I love it!
A great way to create millions of orphan sources. You have to think the CCP knows about this.
The Otis radioactive lift buttons (google it!) incident really makes me think twice about buying things like cutlery and cookware that is made in countries like India and China.
Yucca mountain anti 5g pendants. Ya
@@WilsonPendarvis-tn3wm I mean, China is essentially sitting of mountains of thorium/uranium-rich waste, since they import and process vast amounts of Rare Earth Ores that can be up to ~1/10th thorium dioxide by mass.
All these idiots trying to figure out how to safely store radioactive material for untold generations when Temu got it figured out 😂
It's neat how objects actually can have an aura. Unfortunately, it's an "eat shit and die" aura.
DID SOMEONE MENTIONED ES&D???
@@kornaros96 We can now give it the beans!
@@FoxoBread *_THE BEEEEEEEEEAAAANS_*
duke approves this message
i would stick the phone sticker to the Talisman for better resonance.
And smear it in snake Oil for a more radiant glow
calling a radioactive pendant an "energy" pendant is so funny and so incredibly terrifying
It’s terrifying because the whole energy thing reminds me of people consuming and buying products with straight up radium…. Because energy cool.
I mean, they're technically correct. it IS energy. just not good energy
Just the kind of energy I want near me.
Smart meters and smoke detectors are both more radioactive than this pendant, smart meters are MUCH more radioactive. Thats why the wealthy keep their meters away from their houses. "If you don't have a meterhouse, yooooou might be a poor person!"
and also illegal!
The reason the bloodcell counts would be different is literally "Your body is trying to overcompensate in an attempt to not die".
so like keto
@@one_smol_duckeh, keto is more of a "If I don't eat my cake I can have my cake later" scenario, so long as you do have the cake later it works fine. If you don't, well, the cake eventually goes off (kinda like the DNA in your body when it starts being broken down by excessive ketosis).
Is it the same like for athletes training at high altitudes, increasing their haematocrit? Their bodies also don't want to die, to suffocate.
@@D.von.Nnot the same altitude increases red blood cell for oxygen bond this thing activates white blood cells cause there is damage and trauma that may cause infection
Seriously, my red blood cell count has been high for a long time and not one Dr. has seemed overly concerned.
Once again, I am baffled that the makers of quack products are committed enough to their bit that they would put genuine radioactive material into something.
Might just be the cheapest or easiest way to get rid of it ?
@@idjtoal Why would they have it in the first place? Thorium oxide isn't really a byproduct of a whole lot.
@@PhysicsGamerActually it is. China refines a lot of rare earth metals and thorium is present in the ore. Sometimes you can get uranium too. The better solution? Build thousands of thorium fuel cycle nuclear reactors to "burn" it for energy instead of giving people cancer with magic woo pendants.
Capitalism is pretty rancid. Its mostly scams, some harmless, many not so much.
I wish they would at least put in interesting isotopes, not some common thorium :c
“Temu radioactive pendant” is one hell of a phrase LOL
Makes for a nice saying: “About as safe and useful as a Temu radioactive pendant”.
i feel like that phrase just describes consumerism in 2023
Temu is basically the site to avoid, from what I've seen. It's like the "made in C h ina" version of the already "made in china" Amazon
So let me get this .... People who are afraid of phone radiation protect themselves against it by sticking a radioactive sticker to their phone?
Yup. Because they have no grasp of technology and are easily exploited by the conspiracy makers.
Snake oil doing snake oil things
I put my smart meter under my pillow and when I woke up the next morning all my fridge magnets started sticking together. I can’t get it to reverse now.
So all the anti-5G karens buy these things and die? Interesting. I believe it's called Darwinism, guys.
OR they're not afraid of radiation ...
and are attempting to self treat that pesky cancerous brain tumor they have.
That blood cell test is just like... "Look it gives you sickle cell"
Reminds me of seeing claims of essential oils curing cancer by “speeding up cell growth”. You know…. Because you definitely want uncontrollably faster growing cells when trying to fight cancer… such a great idea..
@@BMarie774omg I remember seeing an essential oil blend labeled" measles vaccine". Way back when I had Facebook. What's worse, it had quite a few likes and shares.
@@BMarie774 red light therapy seems to do that to cancer cells, yet they claim it's so good and healthy for you 😳
I'm actually kind of surprised that it contains radioactive material. It seems almost 'honest" in a way, as though they actually believe it works for its intended purpose.
They could easily have sent a completely inert plastic object, and most people would have been none the wiser.
Fear the "fake advertisement" reviews.
Yep. I don't understand why they do it. It probably costs them more money to produce, and if anyone even tries to test it (not that anyone would think of that), they will find out it's radioactive. So why do it?
@@bosmer3836it's a psy op from the Chinese government to harm our country by flooding us with plastics. Most clothing and items from there are just designed to break down and deteriorate and go into our bodies through the air and water poisoning us with toxic chemicals.
@@bosmer3836 to harm us. You might not be at war with china but china's at war with you. Lead in children's toy paint, lead in makeup products, poisons in toothpaste, dog food, melamine in candy. Long history of this. The OP here has it twisted in the most naive of ways. "ahh yes the chinese, wonderful people, they just don't know how radiation works, honest mistake hahaha XDXDXD" They're not irradiating jewelry to sell to Americans to give an "honest" product.
Maybe they took on radioactive material for a profit, and this is how they're "disposing" of it
Clive, your geiger counter has the Soviet SBM20 tube in it which only sniffs beta and gamma radiation, so it is detecting the few gamma particles from the Thorium source. Thorium radioactive emission is mainly alpha radiation, so a pancake type geiger tube with mica window and the count would go crazy with the same specimen. Also a cloud chamber would show the paricles well, especially how alpha particles only travel for such a very short distance..
+1 for Clive getting a cloud chamber!
However Alpha Particles are low energy and a piece of paper stops them and are not usually a problem unless you eat or inhale their source. Even the dead cells in the outer layer of human skin provide adequate shielding because alpha particles can’t penetrate it.
@@elizabethwinsor-strumpetqueen Hi, what purpose do you need it for? ( e.g.home, outdoor, lab) There are many different types available with vastly different pricing..
Nerd alert
@blitzroehre1807 I'd be interested in one myself, as a present for a friend who is interested in atomic energy. I understand these can't be used as a scientific source of data of any kind, but this particular specimen interested me, and I don't want to waste money for obvious Chinese fakes. I'm from Poland, so ex-Soviet military equipment is showing up for sale here and there, but it's mostly junk some 40 years after production date at best, and horribly overpriced for nostalgic value or out of a sheer will to get some money out of the naive people. If you possibly have access to the schemes, I'd be interested in building one myself.
Having visited a Chinese factory with my work I can assure you that replacing workers is cheaper than training people in health and safety.
It's the same everywhere else unless you need to deal with a labor union.
Temu is widely rumoured to use forced Uyguhr labour in the factories that supply their products.... no protection for the workers there, let alone union protection (which would probably be illegal in China anyway)
In china there is no labour union
You are replaced by the CCP when your use to the state is up
Rees mogg wants that for Britain too.
Like he said "if its good enough for India, it's good enough for Brits" when talking about scrapping employment rights and health safety.
@@hyeung1no it's not. Forced labor exists in China as does child labor, legally. These things aren't legal in the west.
I think we can safely say that Temu would sell its mother in law if it had one...
With free shipping.
I'm happy to sell mine...
only 4 left in stock... :p
Would she be of questionable quality?
Temu would sell its own mother... as a kit.
The most baffling thing about these is that the kind of person who buys into this stuff would probably never verify what material is used to make these, so they could very easily leave out the ThO2 and they wouldn't notice.
There's literally no reason to make these radioactive unless the manufacturer also buys into the energy field woo.
Avoiding false advertising claims.
I mean China has as much (probably more) quackery as the west. Given how much people spend to consume exotic animal parts for traditional Chinese medicine I wouldn't be surprised if there's a large group of people who actually believe this negative ion stuff and think their products have genuine health benefits.
@@poke548its already false advertising because it definitely doesn't protect you from radiation, that little flyer is probably filled with false claims
@@poke548it doesnt matter, they wont get sued for it. Just like they wont get sued for selling radioactive material for medical purposes
I think it's possible they have a source of material that's already contaminated and someone came up with one way to make money with it.
I have bought plenty of these products from Amazon for the explicit purpose of testing them and reporting my findings to the NRC. The irony is that it would be unethical to ship them back for refunds if they do come up hot, but I did get a bunch of things deleted. They seem harder to find now, and the last few things I ordered were not radioactive. I haven't bought that sticker design in particular though...
I'm not even going to try dealing with Alibaba, Wish, Temu, Shein, etc. All the NRC can do is ban stuff for sale to the US, and usually only on an item by item basis at that. I haven't tried the IAEA yet though... 🤔
If you’re actually doing that you are playing an important role in the world. So again if you really are doing that keep it up!
You're a hero
i thank you for trying, whatever happens
Fascinating how people keep buying them, many of them obviously unaware of what's really inside, and how the producers keep making it with thorium, even though they could just sell them plastic anyway.
They also want to sell their "Ion measurement" devices.
@@LarixusSnydes Plus it's another great way to recycle the dead plastics we dumped on them AND to get rid of their own radioactive waste AND we pay for it! While producing them no doubt lowers their reproductive rates without having to have the unpopular 1-child regimen amongst the unwashed masses. Win-win all round! 😉😬
it's just like the 1930s 'merica all over again!
The ONE time you really need a product to be a complete fake...
@@abs_nobody "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?"!! 😜
If the workers mixing the dosed clay die early, then the employer can save on not paying their pension. Temu are great humanitarians !
I doubt the pay any pensions in the TEMU factories
i doubt they have to pay pensions for Slave labor
@@phillippereira6468I understand this is a joke but China does have universal pensions. It's under pressure from an aging population much like western Europe right now.
Those pensions are the motivation behind policy that allows someone to sell products made with thorium. An aging population tends to buy into life extension and older people buy more of these "new age" things and are probably at higher risk of adverse health from exposure.
I'm glad I never paid for their ads. I'm glad I stuck to my gut on Temu. From the start once I saw their first ad I was like this is a scam and if not then their products will be as crappy as Wish. And look at what information we get recently I was so fucking right and glad I never tried their products.
The Thought Emporium has a great series of videos where he bought and tested a ton of items like this from Amazon. The US government ended up getting involved with it because some of the stuff was WILDLY dangerous like this one item that had a decent amount of radioactive dust(IIRC it was thorium dust).
Ah yes, the radioactive dust filled 'personal massager'
😮
Thorium have mostly alpha radiation - which that geiger tube cannot detect, so it is probably a bit more spicy. But since alpha particles are stopped by the skin perhaps it is perfect for adjusting that fancy blue aura.
The alpha wouldn’t penetrate the case of the pendant
Quantum Scalar Pendant sounds like something you need to have on hand if you want to use the Stargate.
The Dial Home Device won't work without it!
or a device in the roger moore version of quantum of solace
I want a Quantum Vector Pendant.
@@frizzen Come on! Let's go all the way: Quantum Matrix Pendant! Preferably with a picture of Keanu on the front.
@@KonradTheWizzardhow about a Quantum Pendant matrix?
Many years ago I went to a nuclear power station on some business, as one does, with a colleague who was wearing a very valuable vintage watch. It turned out, perhaps predictably, that the watch contained materials which set off the radiation alarms at reception, so it had to be left outside. Subsequently, the watch was sold owing to it being impractical in our line of work. Interestingly, apart from a few carefully guarded "hot" areas, the general radiation levels inside the main reactor hall, even directly over and beside the reactor vessel, were about half the natural ambient level outside.
I’ve always wondered whether anyone tried using watch crystals made of leaded glass…
@@markiangooley Lead glass is not normally radioactive, and would be too soft for a wristwatch. Some vintage camera lenses contain radioactive glass, however. These contain thorium dioxide.
Probably had radium on the hands and dial if it was one of the old glow watches.
@@cdl0 I think he is talking about using leaded glass to stop the radioactivity from the glowing arms or glowing numbers on the clock face, not saying that lead glass is itself radioactive
Also on the power station theme, I found that coal fired power station exhaust carries a fairly large radioactive load which in one case (at least) fell mostly on a pasture used for cows. I'm guessing the Chinese suffer more from that than we do these days. Then there's radioactive natural gas, a whole other bundle of fun!.
Not too long ago I went on eBay and bought some "negative ion powder". Sounded super sketchy and they even had a photo of someone holding the powder in their hands with an "ion meter" (obviously just a simple Geiger counter) on top, and I wanted to see if it was genuinely Thorium Dioxide or just some inert junk... safe (or unsafe) to say, when it arrived I stuck my counter near it and it went ballistic, confirming that this ziplock bag inside a box wrapped with what seemed like an entire reel of parcel tape was indeed just a BUNCH of ThO2.
I hope the person in the photo decontaminated themselves afterwards......
Now you can power your house for 10 years if you build a thorium molten salt breeder reactor. You may need to source some U232, U235 and Plutonium to start it but that's no problem for crafty people.
Dear Lord, that sounds too much like the Introduction to a Plainly Difficult-Video...
"The USPS Radiation Distaster"
Bot too long ago, xxx bought some negative ion powder from ebay. The seller shipped it in an Zip-Lock bag, inside a bubble-warp enevlope.
[...] Sorting Machine 123 had been known to occasionaly problems
[...] Puff of White Powder
[...] Drug enforcement sent samples to laboratory
[...] wiped machine clean, [...] but didn't wash their clothes
[...] Other Parcels covered in ...
[...] After negative Drug Test, USPS resealed the Parcel
[...] Shipped it to customer
[...] Strange sickness [...] Postal workers...
*shudder*
Lol going to get some for my collection
@@arneanka4633 no we don't need another nuclear boy scout
Wait, cheap enough you could buy it on a whim? This box made it through the post? And it just sits in your house somewhere now?
I hope it absolutely cannot get airflow to it. If that's concentrated thorium dioxide as a *powder* and you have like a sammich bag of it, that's uh, pretty spicy. I'd never feel clean if this were anywhere near me.
I lived my life from about 2 to 15 with a radioactive source in my bedroom.
A Big Ben alarm clock with green glowing face numbers and hands from Radium.
You've just made me realise my own alarm clock as a kid may have had radium paint.
I have a painting in my living room that will peg that counter :D
@@bigclivedotcom we had a big ben alarm clock, when i was young i took it to bits and scraped off and ground up the green glow stuff and mixed it with water and pva wood glue to turn it into paint ......
I think there were 2 or 3 growing up. I wouldn't be surprised if my parents still had them.
@@bigclivedotcomThe luminous paint on my 1966 Timex watch was just a phosphor that stored up energy in bright light, and gradually faded overnight. Unless your alarm clock was much older, I think it was probably similar - not radium based.
It amazes me there are no restrictions about putting this kind of thing in the post.
The radiation levels here are so low it does not really matter, people handle much more dangerous items all the time. The box is completely safe to ship etc.
Having said that I would not have this thing around my skin and definitely would not like to ingest or breathe in anything coming off it.
Its most likley dominantly Alpha emiter, even packaging reduces counts.
It whoud be interesting to mesure the thin whit Alpha pancake probe, this is beta/gama gaiger tube which can mesure just secondery emisions of them activated by alpha...
Why? It's not dangerous.
@@iatsd for the postman it isn't
post is much less controlled than most people think. There are mad lads importing all sorts of stuff just by sending it. As long as it is not drugs or explosives it's usually fine
It would be nice to check that against common every day household items that give off radiation, for instance, a stoneware coffee mug. There used to be a Museum next to the Zion nuclear power plant in IL, USA, and they had a window with a view of the containment buildings, with a Geiger counter pointed at the buildings. Then you could pull a lever that would move a coffee mug in front of the counter, and the counts went way up.
The Japanese are missing out on a shopping opportunity: they could be selling souvenir bottles of Fukushima waste water instead of dumping it in the sea.
At least you know what sh*t is in that seawater.
More than that, Fukishima water contains more than the usual level of Tritium (Hydrogen with three neutrons), which is in great demand for fusion experiments!
The water is not radioactive and overall far less radioactive than this nonsense.
I've got a bottle of " Peckam Spring Water " somewhere...
China is acting all pissed about it being released. Meanwhile, Chinese factories are actually buying it in backroom deals to mix with the clay slurry to make these radioactive pendants. 😂
I’ve often wondered if there would be any interesting surprises if someone scanned the fish counter at Asda.
That's probably where half of _"normal background"_ comes from... 🙄
@@drussell_ most of background comes from rocks actually. Radon gas for example is emitted by rocks and can accumulate in buildings. Fishies are more of the main source for heavy metals than for radioactivity. Mmm, tastyt mercury and cadmium
@@Matt_Quinn-CaledonianTV
_sounds like a euphemism for having spent time 'window shopping' in the red light district_
Amusing, but [rhetorical question] what sort of mind must you have to have even thought of that? ;)
Especially the Basa fish from Vietnam caught in the Mekong which is full of sewage and chemicals from industry
LOL !@@Matt_Quinn-CaledonianTV
Some top quality quackery there! The comprehensive twaddle on the leaflet literature is impressive in its' length. At least the number on it is lucky, as you irradiate yourself! Cheers.
As in "You'll be lucky if you don't get cancer"
Absolutely correct, this is pathetic as a radioactive source!
I would suggest reading "radiation hormesis"
Low doses of ionizing radiation, just above backgrond radiation are thought to be benificial, by stimulating activation of the bodies repair mechanisms that protect against diseases.
A commercial electrician friend spoke of installing wireless lighted EXIT signs occasionally, which used a "safe" radioactive source to light them. He said it was the strangest thing to open a box of them and they're glowing BRIGHTLY up at you!
Those were probably the old tritium exit lights.
I'd like to see it compared to a smoke detector or an old luminous watch. (When we studied radiation at university, the sample, sealed in a foil packet, that we had to handle with such care, gave a count considerably faster than background, but a luminous watch made the counter go crazy.)
At least thorium produces mainly alpha particles which unless inhaled are fairly benign... though it does let off a minor amount of gamma as well.
Clive's Geiger counter doesn't have an alpha window, so that's evidence that there are plenty of beta/gamma rays coming off that thing, probably from thorium decay byproducts.
@@flapjack9495 well, plenty... barely any.
Lol alpha particles? Besides, zero chances that sbm20 tube can measure alpha
@@crono331There are secondery beta/gama from alfa, pancake alpha probe whoud be nice. Alpha must be a magnitude higher.
Nice case of alpha burn with it sat against your chest after a while.
I just found you. I must say, I adore how you say "one moment please" it's so polite! Very nice tone of voice as well. Thank you for being so informative and knowledgeable!
Clive, you can make a simple radiation detector using a reverse-biased PIN diode or alternatively an alpha particle detector using a TO-3 type NPN transistor with the can removed. Might be an interesting video for those whose hobby is electronics.
Yes, in fact building an alpha spectrometer is very much an interesting project.
Been done and well documented, it's interesting to just read up on.
2N3055?
@@markiangooley uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1666320/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Yes, that works very well - good luck!@@markiangooley
An opened 3055 will also be sensitive to light, it should be said.
If you're going to get one for testing your Geiger counter, it's best to get more than one.
I bought two, and one is significantly more active than the other.
I'd guess the thorium content is a sprinkling of tiny grains, and each medallion may only get a few (or no) bits of it.
I really think Clive should build a cloud chamber and see if we can identify any "hot spots" on the thing. 😁👍
Seems weird in these times when 'Radiation' is a dirty word and mobile phones are allegedly bad for our children, that on-line stores actually sell radioactive products. Many years ago they sold a tonic with radium in it. This produced a condition called "Radium Jaw" which resulted in a person's bottom jaw falling off. Obviously he died soon after. Thanks Clive for posting, aren't we humans strange sometimes 😅
"Radium Jaw" was mostly a disease suffered by the girls that painted glow in the dark dials for watches and clocks. They got it by the ingestion and subsequent absorption of radium into the bones when they would put the brush used to paint in their mouths to make a sharp point of the bristles!
@@Capohanf1 The case that made me aware of 'Radium Jaw' , probably 20 years ago, was that of a man called Eben Byers. He consumed a product called 'Radithor' a tonic water containing at least 1 microcurie of radium isotopes 226 and 228. Bailey Laboratories sold 400,000 bottles of Radithor, and only 80 deaths were attributable to Radithor. Investigations have concluded that many others died of cancer which the link between Radithor and the death were not made apparent. Somewhat ironically the inventor of Radithor, William Bailey was one of those who died because of the use of his own product.
@@Capohanf1The radium jaw caused by radithor is slightly more infamous than that suffered by the girls who painted clock faces, just because in the case of Eben Byers we actually have a photo of him missing his jaw, it looks like the sort of thing you'd see in a creepypasta thumbnail ngl, and you can look it up if you want. The imagery is somewhat disturbing but not particularly gory, and it's a relatively low quality black and white photo from the early 1930s. I think his case was just particularly severe, given that he was drinking several doses of the stuff a day for years.
Also iirc radium jaw didn't cause the bottom jaw to just fall off as in the case of Eben Byers most of the time, usually it didn't quite progress to quite that level. There is a noted case of one of the girls (Mollie Maggia) having to have her lower jaw removed due to the damage caused, but for some girls they just lost a few teeth. Most affected would fall somewhere in the middle.
Strange but also predictable (usually)?
You need to remember, these are also the people who are so superstitious / clueless that they think that overpriced pieces of fungus or deer antlers can cure cancer...
"Perhaps those are cancerous growths " I love your quips Clive 😂❤
Clive 😂 " I have with me a little geiger counter ,. As one does "
Just absolutely classic!!!
CLASSIC!!
Bet that pendant is even hotter than your counter shows. Thorium emits a LOT of alpha particles, and that GM tube isn't going to detect them very well. You are probably only seeing the weak gamma rays it emits, as well as any beta particles from the thorium decay products. You should get access to a mica window GM tube that will detect alpha particles if you really want to see how hot that thing is...
Have you ever thought of making or buying a cloud chamber to see the alpha radiation these things give off? Would be interesting.
I tried making one a while ago unsuccessfully.
@@bigclivedotcom That's a shame but... "trying IS the first step to failure" - Homer J Simpson.
Would a kit be welcome? For a breakdown or to try again? (Not promising I'd send one but seriously considering it.)
Even The though emporium have one it's pretty simple to build.....
The leaflet seems to show it works like Ready Brek did.....
Maybe that is how ready brek worked.
So that's what the Scott's Porridge Oats man is holding, a sphere of U-235
Raddy Brek?
Reminds me of a school physics lesson. Teacher brought out the school's licenced-and-usually-locked-up radioactive source, and we measured it. Then he showed us his vintage watch, no restrictions necessary, which produced a considerably higher reading on the counter!
Reminds me of when my physics teacher brought a rock with uranium or some other radioactive ore in it. Was pretty active
@@mattymerr701 Reminds me of the physics lesson where the teacher said "Don't point these radiation sources at your gonads", followed by all the teenage boys sterilising each other.
I have a tritium watch. I'd love to have a new watch with new bright radium lume, but they aren't sold anymore. They were dangerous for the infamous "radium girls" because they would lick the paint brushes and ingested it. Radium on watch hands behind a glass case really isn't dangerous. Old WWII airplane dials and instruments also used radium to make them visible at night.
I remember that these glow in the dark watch faces were produced with radioactive materials back in the day
Radium 226. Long half life and a significant energy spectrum. Not something you'd really want to have anywhere near you I'd have thought!
I've been wanting one of these for a while. It is an interesting collectors item and excuse to build a radiation detector.
I feel bad for the factory workers who have to be constantly exposed to all that radiation but i guess when you have no other choice you take the job you can get
0.4 uSv/hr (above background) is considered a radiation area at most nuclear facilities. That's not an alarming amount of radiation by any means, but both of those items definitely would be controlled as radioactive material at nuclear facilities (in the US at least).
During a physics lesson in the 70's, the teacher (master in those days) accidentally dropped the Thorium source during his demonstration. After 20 minutes of fruitless searching, he abandoned the lesson. He informed us the following week that his wife had found the Thorium source a couple of days later. In his trouser turn-up.
gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "hot pants"
Did he make it to retirement?
@BreatheScotlandRight, not funny, apart from inside you,the last place you want to have that source is near your private parts. Reproductive cells are especially vulnerable to ionising radiation.
That sounds like something Dottle Charlton would say (Physics teacher at my school in the 90s).
Heh, just like in that simpsons intro
I'm kind of surprised you didn't take any precautions handling what you believed to be dangerously radioactive material prior to measuring how radioactive it was.
It's most likely an alpha emitter, and not the worst of what is sold online by a long margin. I store items like these in a designated safe area and wash my hands after handling to avoid ingesting any loose dust.
Danger is a function of how radioactive it is vs how long you spend around it. These aren't particularly radioactive, but they would be bad to wear right on your chest every day. Same reason when you get X-rayed the doctor is protected but you aren't - it's safe for you every so often but not for them when they're around it all the time.
That's some really sketchy stuff. Man! Thanks for sharing Big Clive.
It would be interesting to compare the radiation vs that of a smoke detector based on Americium-241.
I still have one of those on my landing.
I have one of those sources. Small sample very close to a small detector - 2,000 CPM, 0.5 uSv/h. A foot away (30 cm) it's lost in the background noise here.
My meter doesn't measure the alpha rays, so it's just the weak gamma I record.
If this is a problem... I have camera lenses that are way more radioactive. The scary bit is the dust that may come off it. And indeed, as you mention, in the factory for sure.
I’ve been wearing one of these around my neck for decades.
I think it gave me immortality, because I’m 145 and still look 21
What if you can wear it for decades, BECAUSE you are immortal?
By the way, have you seen Saint germain lately?
Pretty mild, I remember testing an old gas lamp mantle, from "Camping gaz" and the counter was beeping non stop.
They're also thorium based.
You can find similar ones, made of glass. They are good as test sources for Geiger counter. Easy to detect but completely inert and so safe to use and store - won't leave any particles around.
I find it really weird that these energy pendants and bracelets actually have some sort of radioactive material rather than just being a hunk of iron or something and no one would know. Like the creators must know it’s complete BS, why bother with adding anything interesting to it?
I mean, maybe they actually think radiation is good for you. But why market it as anti radiation???
This emits mostly alpha particles, hydrogen nuclei. These cant get past clothing or skin so its relatively safe to hold. Wearing it around your neck for any serious amount of time pretty much guarantees skin cancer, bone cancer if you are really unlucky (sternum/ribs) Alpha particles cant make it past skin cells, but you get enough of them trying in one spot for long enough and enough of them will find gaps between the dead skin cells to the living ones underneath to cause problems. More time or more particles = more chances for particles to find their way deeper. Its a hydrogen nuclei, its literally the smallest element on the periodic table. Gaps between atoms are massive compared to it.
Is it 'anti-radiation' in the sense of 'fight fire with fire'?
Or fighting fire with 7 gallons of fuel 😂
Radiation innoculation
You’re getting very close to a million subs.
This reminds me of the cough syrup and glow in the dark lights from the 1930's. Great video. Thanks 😊
Are those 2 separate products or glow in the dark cough syrup?
@@RichardFraser-y9t different types. 😂
You can't cough if you are dead.
Thorium oxide emits alpha and beta radiation which is pretty harmless. You want to shield your eyeballs and also not ingest or inhale the particles but external to your body alpha does not penetrate your skin and beta barely your skin so maybe clothing. I worked in nuclear power and we used to use those coleman gas lantern mantels for training. The radiation detectors we used for frisking when we came out of the reactor compartment were set to 300 CPM above background. A coleman mantle would set off their alarm. And as I think about it they did penetrate clothing some because the person acting as the instructor could hide them in a pocket or sock or whatever to see if the trainee caught it by doing a thorough frisk. I'm less sure about modern ones. I was just reading that while some mantels are still made with thorium oxide, many now use other materials. I still wouldn't go out of my way to wear such a pendant but I doubt it does much good or bad.
I wonder how those radioactive things can get through customs that easily.
And I would like to buy a luminous vial/keychain, however they are quite expensive and also I don't want to order one only to find that it didn't go through because of the radiation, let alone to get in trouble.
Probably not detectable by their standard detectors through the packaging.
I just tested a tritium vial keyring and it was barely above ambient levels.
@@bigclivedotcomThank's for that info.
@@Murgoh That's good to know, however if they randomly open the package to hand check it there might be some issues.
I'm not very good at it but I tried to find more information.. We are constantly exposed to natural radiation and it's not a problem. I still don't understand why there's so much fuss about this pendant. From what I've seen it measures somewhere around 500 counts per minute. More than 10 times the background level. But what many people don't know is that potassium is radioactive and we have about 150 grams in the body. Potassium chloride (all potassium salts) are radioactive. And do you know how much 20 grams measures? 486 counts per minute..I think people are not properly informed about these medallions...Yes, they could represent a danger if they contain heavy elements and are swallowed..Otherwise I don't see where the problem would be.
Temu: delivering you a warm glow with every pendant you receive! (That's not the warm glow of customer satisfaction...)
It would be interesting to see confirmation from a Chemist, concerning what material they actually use.
Have you looked into what the strongest radioactive source you can buy on ebay/amazon is? I have a "thorium candle mantel" thing that I bought on one of those two, and its a great source. When I get the time I'm going to make my radiation detector portable and start going into antique shops to test for lithium glass. I can't wait for the reaction from the staff. I actually discussed my hobby with a local watch repair shop, looking for old radium dials, but sadly they shut down recently. I'll find others :) I love the idea of bringing a Geiger counter into antique shops to search for purchases :)
I have an old mantle here that is highly radioactive.
I work in radiography, but I don't think it should take a college education in the physics of radiation and its biologic effects to find this thing to be utterly absurd. What people are willing to believe and purchase never ceases to amaze me. Though, frankly, there is literally no world in which it makes sense for any company to be able to legally con people with an item like this.
So if we stacked enough of them could we make a glow in the dark hand warmer?
I know better hand warmers, get old Soviet navigation map (like from 70-80), and current one. Take most rural points compare them and go for missing ones u possibly find best hand warmers u can get.
Clive. I know it's tempting, but don't make a power plant unless you have all the paperwork. 😆👍
Well you know what they say - "It's much easier to apologise later than it is to ask permission in the first place."
Trust me if nuclear boy was living in rural Texas or Arizona, that reactor been still in use now.
This amazes me, as a victorian oil lamp and glass dealer, we have issues sending uranium glass abroad.. alot of the time it gets confiscated.. yet this sh!t is allowed?!
Orange Fiesta Ware Has Entered
The Chat😊
You need to pick up one of the “old school“ thorium mantels for the Coleman lanterns. They’re about 10 times stronger than the two pieces you just tested. They’re downright scary! I don’t recommend doing the initial burn of these mantles inside!
I think he already tried those in an old video (about the same sort of product, a "health pen" with radioactive powder inside, if I remember correctly), indeed the mantles were impressive.
You know that the mantles are especially wicked when they have a faint blue glow in the dark
You know where to get them? I'd rather one than the Yttrium mantle for the Aladdin.
I don't know why this was recommended to me, but I feel like I'm watching an old school Ashens video with science and I'm so happy about it
How safe are the workers? I'm sure adequate safety measures are in place, it's not like workers are ever exploited, just ask the radium girls.
1:24 XD That's awesome
Scalar pendants: for when you really need your life to have no direction.
Ohhh quantum pendant! I needed one to ensure my Geiger counter is still working but they disappeared from Amazon Germany. Bought an uranium glas box instead which is rather expensive compared to the pendant. Apparently "quantum pendant" is the current buzz word for the esoteric nut jobs.
Wouldn't any pendant be a quantum pendant in some respect? After all, it is made of matter..
I'm sure the Chinese factory worker will be extremely worried about radiation exposure while he's spinning at 300RPM around a giant industrial lathe with no E-stop.
That's, like, 7 bananas worth of radiation!
I'd always heard that bananas are radioactive. I finally got around to testing a bunch last week (using my civil defense era CDV-700, which is quite sensitive) and didn't detect anything. What is the deal with the radioactive bananas story?
@@allenlutins apparently some potassium is radioactive... each banana gives off "0.1 microsieverts" of radiation (source: www.epa.gov/radtown/natural-radioactivity-food)
Now the "Sievert" is a very interesting unit as it includes the risk to humans specifically based on the type of radiation, and an empirical "quality factor"... so a "Gray" of radiation is joule per kg of meat, but a "Sievert" is also joule per kg, but accounts for how much harms you...
I've seen a picture, that states you have to eat more than 6600 bananas per seconds to get a lethal dose of radiation. It also says bananas contain radioactive cesium isotopes.
However, most sources I found, while googling radioactive bananas, say they contain potassium (K-40, Kalium in german)
The dedication to actually make these quack products legitimately radioactive :0 and I am sure the factories producing them are not regulated properly at all, and workers will be exposed to this radiation just like the radium girls were :/ the pamphlet literally chronicling the effect on blood is wild
"Let the inverse square law heal you" or something like that...
I have a Yashica camera lens which has thoriated, instead of leaded, glass. I keep the lens in one of those lead lined X-ray resistant film bags in a far corner of the basement.
Fun fact. Thorium and uranium can act as radiation shielding. For some time.
A premature death can protect you of decades of background radiation.
That reminds me to dig out the geiger counter I made in a workshop at an EMF Camp (geeky hacker festival in a field) last year... been testing it on uranium glass and an old watch... now I can really start building up my collection of radioactive items 🎉🎊☢️
Because I like having super powers, such as having my DNA permanently altered, growing extra toes and imminent early terminal illness.
But tritium beta lights... those are cool as $#!+
Been suddenly hearing about this Temu lately. Are they like another Wish? Like that's what the world needs LOL
DNA damage typically only produces extra limbs if applied before getting born .
Wish is basically a less secure and reliable version of amazon mixed with ebay. Temu is the less secure and reliable version of wish.
Temu: Shop like a billionaire, die like a neighbor of Chernobyl.
Half decent radiation level, and possibly not a great idea to be wearing this for any length of time. It would be interesting to see the energy spectrum, so we could have a guess at the nuclide(s) involved. Worth remembering that the max. annual dose for a certified (registered) "Radiation Worker" in the UK is only 50mSv, so you "could" reach the limit with that pendant if you really tried, since you'd only need about 5 of them, worn continuously 😀😀
It's most likely thorium dioxide. The Thought Emporium did some testing on similar products a while back, that's what all of them contained if they contained anything at all.
They still make thoriated tungsten welding electrodes; they work better in some applications.
Oh god, this is exactly the sort of thing my mum would buy. Forwarding the link now...
I got a Temu ad while watching this presumably because they figured I wanted to buy one of my own now.
I've just ordered some of those stickers. I want to test my Geiger counter but I don't have anything radioactive. Thanks for the info Clive. 👍
At one company I did alpha particle testing on semiconductors. Did you know the old "side braze" white ceramic packages that used to be used for high reliability are radioactive? Anyway, I'd carry a hot source in my pocket... inside a plastic case. I could demonstrate, case closed, no clicks. Case open and aimed away from people, counter goes crazy.
Now all I have is a tritium lamp on my keychain.
Depending upon what happened to be in those semiconductors you only managed to shield any alphas and weaker betas with that plastic case. All of the numerous gammas and X-rays spewed off by the source (that a GM tube would not respond efficiently to) would be getting nicely soaked up in your body.
The TEMU app has been detected as stealing data from mobile devices.
I didn't use it or give them my card details. Keep in mind that a lot of competitors hate Temu and may be spreading misinformation.
@@bigclivedotcomData analysis showed a lot of data usage by the app when not in use, specifically sending of data which was put down to it harvesting data from your phone for sale later as they often sell for below cost. Feel free to google it for yourself.
I have a set of soup dishes I inherited from my grandparents that have uranium in the glaze. I have them on a shelf and don't use them except to look at, but my grandparents did and they made a lot of soup. Funnily (I mean not funny ha ha but funny awkward) enough my granda died from bowel cancer and I often wonder if it was the soup bowls wot dun him in.
My dad died of a brain tumour. He kept a thorium mantle in the drawer next to his bed....
Hey Clive, I hope you didnt give Temu your credit card details because I have heard very bad things about Temu and selling your personal Details !!!
I use PayPal. I don't trust ANY of the international e-commerce sites with my financial data.
@@bigclivedotcomalso don’t use the app.. very invasive and they steal your data and sell it
Someone out there has unfortunately worn this for several years.
I don't understand people who cry about 5g giving them cancer, while they are wearing their 'anti-5g' pendants covered in thorium... It would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic.
IRC some ot this type is just basically thorium resin mix.
That "magic" pen was more secure than this
Those people are probs the same people who think vaccines cause autism
Perfect for parents to put around their kid's necks in case they need to find them hiding in the dark.
The workers' conditions makes me sad, but the idea that 5G conspiracy maniacs might be buying these makes me happy
you're so ignorant and full of hate, why?
The blood test pictures show somebody who has accumulated positive charge from electro magnetic radiation and has not earthed, this causes the blood cells to 'clump together', like little magnets if you will. The second picture shows healthy blood cells at neutral charge.
Authentic Fallout merch
Notice the Black Sun on the flip
Omg I love you thank you for your work. ❤