Makes sense, especially since everyone thought a nuclear war would emerge possibly during their lifetime; gotta make sure kids are inept to joining in their adulthood I guess haha
Everything in life tends to lose value over time. Your car, your house, your clothes -- unless you invest in upkeep. You think money should retain its value forever? Then people would simply hoard money instead of investing in assets.
@@cat2kill And yet people don't use it for investment and commerce any more. Because a non-inflating currency would get hoarded, not invested. To think you could base an economy on a currency that doesn't depreciate in value over time just because you'd personally be well off owning some of it is the _fallacy of composition._
it is not dangerous, you recieve very few radiation if you don't eat it or sleep aside of it every night... and very good to improve children's interest for science
I mean it wasn't a kit for toddlers, I assume it was aimed at older kids who are slightly more responsible. I also don't think kids were quite as braindead as they later became. Nowadays even grown adults see anything involving radiation and think "O MY GAD SO DANGURUS" when you're probably exposed to more radiation by flying in a plane then you would be from this kit.
People freak out when you tell them you had a radioactive source back then. Half of the watches and compasses back then had radium painted hands. They're still trivially easy to find.
My mother had a glow in the dark radium toy when she was a kid and she went to work in virology epidemiology as personal friend to Thailand royalty to tall stories of how soldiers came back with weird diseases. 1930s Pulps were optimistic about rooftop particle accelerators to focus cosmic rays on to Radium fuel shoveled like coal. "Dilbert" where a "pointed haired boss" freaks out at "nuclear".
It's less dangerous than most pieces about it would like to make you think... the biggest danger seems to be ingestion of one of the sample materials. The reason why the product failed had more to do with price and how boring a kit like that actually was for kids.
My grandpa has one! But he never let me mess with it now I see why. I open it before without him k owing and I saw the kid but I was confused with all the stuff but the book wasnt in there so I wasnt able to figure it out u till I saw this video, I'm pretty shock what it is now. It crazy!
Did you get radiation poison, or there wasn't any uranium rock in it. I really hope you don't get radiation poison, because that will be suck if that happen. Also how is your Grandpa, did he got radiation poison or not.
As a kid growing up in Moab Utah, we had several of these kits. First we always converted the uranium oxide to a different compound (uranium hexafluoride I think it was), which was a gas at our relatively low basement temperatures. We then fed the uranium hexafluoride into these makeshift centrifuges powered by the neighborhood children using our big wheels, the rapidly-spinning vertical tubes separated the uranium-235 from the slightly heavier uranium-238 isotope. We then converted the enriched U235 into this uranium dioxide powder and then pressed and heated it to make hard ceramic little 'yellow cakes', mostly in our garage, using a bunch of Easy-Bake ovens. It was a lot of fun. #justsayin
"separated the uranium-235 from the slightly heavier uranium-238 isotope. We then converted the enriched U235 into this uranium dioxide powder " Kinda funy how at the climax of your commentary you failed completly and contradicted yourself... would be even funier if you writing this type of gibberish and in the same time you have some scientific degree that is somehow conected to the topic.
In my early childhood in the USSR, such experiments were shown to us by a physics teacher in a school laboratory. It is a pity in the USSR in those days such kits were not sold. I would definitely make something fun out of it. ... Maybe that's why they didn’t sell it to Russian children?
@@TheReaverOfDarkness In the USSR, there was a completely different structure of prices and expenses, and therefore it is difficult to compare the quality of life. For example, there were monstrous markups on cars and they were very expensive, in fact they were a luxury item. Electronics or furniture, vodka or red caviar also had an extra charge. But on the other hand, rent and utilities were dated (1/10 of the minimum wage), any goods for children, most food and public transport or air travel were dated. As a student, I could afford to fly for the weekend to watch the volcanic eruption in Kamchatka and be back at the university by the beginning of the week. Add to this completely free health care and education, very high quality. As a result, in the USSR it was impossible to remain hungry or lose housing due to lack of money or losing a job. And in reality, everyone had the opportunity to go on vacation to the warm sea once a year. Almost everyone had access to recreation, culture, education and medicine at a high level. ...But not to the car. :-) I visited the USA in the nineties of the last century. Before the catastrophe of the reign of Gorbachev, and then Yeltsin, in my opinion, compared with the United States, most citizens of the USSR lived in a roughly lower middle class, in terms of the totality of opportunities. After the collapse of the USSR, approximately 90% of citizens became poor or impoverished.
The atomic energy lab was an amazing toy, too bad it couldn't be sold today. It gave kids an opportunity to learn about radiation by allowing them to observe it with their own eyes. The radioactive sources in the set were either ROCKS that you could just find outside or very low-level sources that are not hazardous by any means. This is just like growing bacteria in a petri dish. It takes something that is all around us and makes it observable. Before anyone says "MUH URANIUM CANCER", Yes It had uranium, but you know what else has uranium ? Granite countertops. Uranium is not fucking magic, touching it or even ingesting small quantities of it will not kill you. Where do you think Uranium comes from ? It is literally dug out of the ground. Humanity has lived with uranium for pretty much its entire existence. Sure, high radiation doses can cause cancer, but with low doses like natural uranium, human body can repair the damage caused by low amounts of radiation, otherwise we'd be extinct long ago
I'm so happy that someone else is mentioning that this isn't a dangerous toy. Eating the U-238 might not be the best for you, but otherwise, this is fine.
I think the experiments from this kit could all be reproduced pretty easily (and inexpensively) today. Small radioactive sources can be obtained completely legally as they are considered unimportant quantities below certain thresholds. They are also easy to find in many ordinary consumer products. The only danger from these tiny sources would be to ingest them.
I would have LOVED my very own cloud chamber as a kid. There was one in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago in the early 60's, where I would go and the tracks of the cosmic rays. Very cool; it inspired me to get a degree in Chemistry and spend 4 years in the Army as a nuclear weapons officer. Regarding the safety of the Uranium 238, I would point out that we have distributed a huge amount of pure U-238 around the world, in the form of armor-piercing ammunition fired at bad guys. I don't know how much, but there must be several hundred tons of the stuff now gracing sand dunes and destroyed Toyotas all over the Mideast and training ranges in the US. And unless a bad guy or his vehicle got hit with one of those rounds, or the bad guy was dumb enough to eat one, it's harmless. The risk of eating a U-238 slug isn't from radiation, either; it's from heavy metal poisoning from the Uranium Oxide on the surface of the shell, although nobody to my knowledge has ever died from Uranium poisoning. More on Uranium poisoning: www.symptoma.com/en/info/uranium-poisoning
"Bad guy", soldier on, zogbot. Depleted uranium leftovers and their effects on the local population has always been a concern, inconclusive as they are.
I'm a kid of the 80s. I thought the original Nintendo was the greatest toy of all time… I was wrong. This is the *GRESTEST* toy of all TIME! If I could get a time machine, I'd buy a dozen of these!!
Atlas, the sources were 7: four U minerals plus three low level elements (Pb,Ru,Zn for alpha beta and gamma decay experiments). The problem with this materials is not their radioactivity but the possibility of contamination if the containers are opened... (autunite tends to crumble for example). Keep in mind that any chemistry kit until the late 80s contained as much as dangerous elements such as copper sulphate. Any of these radioactive material can be bought on the internet in minerals' shops.
My cousin had this I remember watching it work on the kitchen counter around 1968 or 69 no idea what happened to it or how they had it to begin with but I’d love to have it today
Lol, as a kid who likes nuclear reactors and just started studying nuclear physics, you are totally right. Many people have completely wrong understanding of this subject, mostly because of stereotypes and mass media. Most people think that uranium is glowing green or think that all the radioactive waste comes from nuclear power plants (70% actually comes from the medical equipment and only 30% from nuclear power plants and that's globally). Also, when I tell people that I like nuclear reactors they're immediately like: "Oh Chernobyl" or "You just watched Chernobyl and now you're obsessed" Bro, I don't even like any kind of RBMK reactor and graphite used as moderator in general, plus, I didn't even watched Chernobyl, I watched documentaries AFTER I started liking nuclear reactors (fission and fusion)
A bit disappointed that the curie content wasn't mentioned anywhere; can't seem to find it on the web. Most things are "radioactive" (your smoke detectors are likely WAY more radioactive than this). Even most foods like potatoes and bananas contain measurable amounts radioactive potassium. Would be nice to know how 'hot' the sources actually were.
To be fair, americium containing smoke detectors are barely used any more and being replaced by non radioactive ones for a while now. Also the samples of the minerals are definitely more active than the potassium of bananas considering just how few atoms relative to their mass and size are in bananas.
Yup the AM 241 disk in them is much stronger than the samples in thus set. It made the sprintyroscope in the set glow like a field full of fireflies in June.😂
I am an old man now, 83, who grew up during the A C Gilbert and Chemcraft Chemistry set days in the 1940's and 1950's. I wanted one of these sets. However, they were very expensive even back then. $50 - 60 as I remember. BTW, I became a High School Science teacher...lol. Chemistry is my first love...lol.
My grandmother used to collect rocks and had a Geiger counter. She said she scared the stewardess with its clicks on a cross-country flight; they increased as they ascended.
@@sandal_thong8631 I brought one with me on a flight when I was still in high school. I muted the clicks because I knew they'd freak people out. The counter I had clicked about 13 times per minute from ordinary background radiation when we took off in Boston, got up to 200-300 counts per minute at cruise altitude, then dropped back to about 25 counts per minute when we landed in Denver.
Seems like the biggest danger has been the discouragement of childhood curiosity since the era in which this toy was introduced. Nearly 70 years ago, it was considered normal for a child to have a science kit like this and conduct experiments in chemistry, physics, electricity, etc. Today, small magnets are banned because some joyless bureaucrat thinks we're too stupid to not eat them.
When I was a preteen in the early 60's I got a geology kit with a collection of various rocks. AND one was, as I recall, serpentine, a source of asbestos. NOT as dangerous as the rocks in this kit BUT not harmless either. It wasn't until I was older and in High School that I realized what the kit had.
Just came across this video. And it was 2:35 that completely cracked me up -- a mail-order coupon for replacement radioactive sources. Seriously though, it states that the included sources will last from 1-50 years. So, would they all be neutral today?
History of The Gilbert Hall of Science is amazing. We had the Hall of Science in many cities back in the 1950s here in America. All the toys A.C. Gilbert made then we're displayed in the Gilbert Hall of Science. Toys like the Erector sets of all sizes and weight well over 100 lbs! There were Gilbert American Flyer Trains, The most realistic electric trains ever made. Many came with Puffing smoke, CHOO-CHOO souñds all design ed and built by engineering personal.
I think really the Glass Blowing kit they sold would probably be more likely to seriously injure or kill or burn your house down than this one, so I'd say the Glass Blowing kit was even more dangerous than this one, even the chemistry set they sold bc you could easily make poison gas or explosives with that one, this one might kill you in 20 or 30 years (similar to smoking) but the other two could kill you very quickly if misused.
My grandpa had one of those and the cloud chamber worked rather well. The sprinthyroscope worked well also, especially with the 241Am disk from a smoke detector. ❤
After watching this, I started to wonder if the late David Hahn, a.k.a. "The Radioactive Boy Scout", owned one of these sets. Considering his obsession with nuclear energy, it wouldn't surprise me.
I read the book some years ago, so I forget all the details. He had one of those radium clock dial painting kits with some radium paint, took apart a bunch of smoke detectors for the Am-241, and bought a lot of thorium lantern mantles. I don't think he did much more than make a local mess of his shed.
I had one of the Gilberts chemistry sets in the late 1960s. Had a little alcohol bunsen burner, some test tubes, a tiny measuring spoon, a whole bunch of smelly chemicals, and three really nice plastic shelf units to hold the chemicals and a manual for doing experiments. I didn't have it long before my parents banned me to the barn for the experiments. I dont remember any explosions.....
I remember getting this fantastic chemical set for Christmas - probably around 1971/72 - which had literally volatile chemicals in glass vials. There were similar instructions on how to grow copper sulphate crystals etc. but overall it was a death-trap! Needless to say that the first thing I did, on Christmas day, was to mix literally everything in a glass tube, plug it, shake it, and then ruin my grandparent hallway ceiling for over 20 years.
The most dangerous toy , I ever seen , was a Buck Rogers space ship toy from the 30's. You melted lead and pour that melted lead into space ship molds , I wonder how many kids got burned by that melted lead?
I remember getting some kit like this for Christmas. It was an alloy with a relatively low melting point, but still enough to do some real damage. I think it was aimed at teenagers, most of whom had enough common sense to handle molten metal with respect. I think I got burnt once, but I was screwing around trying to melt the zinc out of pennies and cast that.
Honestly, this may be the most "menacing" toy delivered-- visions of giant ants dance in the 1950's head-- but the most dangerous? Personally, I'd have to give that one to Lawn Darts.
I remember throwing the lawn darts straight up into the air and watching them thunk down into the ground only a few feet away from me. I did it repeatedly and was lucky to not get one in the top of my skull. That's one of the few toy bans I agree with.
@@joejones9520 Yeah, it was about that time period and I was 7 or 8. The part of the forebrain that thinks about consequences isn't fully wired yet. I cringe when I think of it now.
Amazing, what a beautiful time in history ahh the 50s. I was at a range other day ago and was told not to walk past the firing line because the Davy Crockett was fired there in the 50s ( it's basically the nuke launcher from fallout 🤣)
someone just woke up, thought "what if i put a dangereous radioactive element in a kids toy as the main thing?" and didnt think that maybe it's a not so great idea
Reminds me of an acquaintance who will not use a microwave oven because the first ones sold were called radar ranges and putting radar into your food will make it radioactive. Yep, real intelligent.
A lot of people tosay still regard microwave ovens as dangerous or unhealthy. I remembered watching a Bill Maher episode where he (or his guest) said microwave ovens are bad because they cause the molecules in your food to vibrate faster. I mean, that's basically what happens when something gets heated up... whether by a gas stove, induction stove, resistive hotplate, or a charcoal grill.
@@jonathantan2469 I was watching my food thru the glass window on my microwave the other day and suddenly remembered that Id heard you could go blind from doing that...I looked it up and it's not true, no microwaves escape thru the glass, it's perfectly safe. Never know tho with so many rumors.
The most Fallout thing I’ve ever seen
That's what I was going to say.
I came here just to say that :)
Makes sense, especially since everyone thought a nuclear war would emerge possibly during their lifetime; gotta make sure kids are inept to joining in their adulthood I guess haha
Imagine, in an alternate world, if everything had gone that way..
I need this
"In 1950, 50$ is the equivalent of about 520$ by today standards".
This is scarier than the toy itself.
Everything in life tends to lose value over time. Your car, your house, your clothes -- unless you invest in upkeep. You think money should retain its value forever? Then people would simply hoard money instead of investing in assets.
@@OolTube02even your money is loosing value due to inflation. But gold, gold is forever.
@@cat2kill And yet people don't use it for investment and commerce any more. Because a non-inflating currency would get hoarded, not invested.
To think you could base an economy on a currency that doesn't depreciate in value over time just because you'd personally be well off owning some of it is the _fallacy of composition._
I spent almost $4000 on my gaming computer a couple of years ago. It was a necessary expense but still just a toy.
and ur college education was like...200 $ back then right? (not accounting for inflation)
Jokes aside, this is pretty amazing thing to have, it shows you the alpha decay etc.
Entropy will out...
And it gives you death pretty amazing stuff
I love to have this toy, but it’s too expensive now a day.
I want one.
@@sazzahko9931 Ignorant.
Imagine waking up in Christmas and your dad told you, you’ll be building an A Bomb for Christmas
@Jake they probably meant an atom bomb when they said ‘A Bomb’
@Jake nice
I am the 70 like. Heh heh
@Jake literally nobody, when somebody says they have a baby, do you respond with nobody asked?
Wait those are two very different things.
Merry Allah-mas Ahkmed.
Love how its labeled as completely safe
it is not dangerous, you recieve very few radiation if you don't eat it or sleep aside of it every night... and very good to improve children's interest for science
That's because it was, if handled reasonably.
@@filiplinhart9034 ...buuuuuuuuut. People are stupid.
@@filiplinhart9034 I mean how safe is it to trust a kid not to eat or put something in their mouth?
I mean it wasn't a kit for toddlers, I assume it was aimed at older kids who are slightly more responsible. I also don't think kids were quite as braindead as they later became. Nowadays even grown adults see anything involving radiation and think "O MY GAD SO DANGURUS" when you're probably exposed to more radiation by flying in a plane then you would be from this kit.
For those wondering about the awesome music: Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, K. 478: I. Allegro, by W. A. Mozart. Hope it helps!
MVP
No I can say I really don’t give a shit
It was awesome. I knew it was Mozart, but don't know all his works by name. Thanks.
I had a cloud chamber kit back in the early 1960's. It too came with radiation sources, one being radium tipped needle.
People freak out when you tell them you had a radioactive source back then. Half of the watches and compasses back then had radium painted hands. They're still trivially easy to find.
I've got a hunk of cobalt 60 in my kitchen. So what?
Yup this had a radium needle with the cloud chamber in it.
My mother had a glow in the dark radium toy when she was a kid and she went to work in virology epidemiology as personal friend to Thailand royalty to tall stories of how soldiers came back with weird diseases.
1930s Pulps were optimistic about rooftop particle accelerators to focus cosmic rays on to Radium fuel shoveled like coal.
"Dilbert" where a "pointed haired boss" freaks out at "nuclear".
Bruh. Toys back in the days were wild.
It's less dangerous than most pieces about it would like to make you think... the biggest danger seems to be ingestion of one of the sample materials.
The reason why the product failed had more to do with price and how boring a kit like that actually was for kids.
XSportSeeker not many kids would care about nuclear reactions. They should have aimed this product at folks who wanted to go into that field.
"boring" I'd have loved this lol!
for *dumb* kids.
I would've murdered an elf to get my hands on something like this as a kid.
For me its amazing.
@@Muonium1 Just an elf?
My grandpa has one! But he never let me mess with it now I see why. I open it before without him k owing and I saw the kid but I was confused with all the stuff but the book wasnt in there so I wasnt able to figure it out u till I saw this video, I'm pretty shock what it is now. It crazy!
He probably didn't let you mess with it because collectors now pay more than $5000 for it.
Did you get radiation poison, or there wasn't any uranium rock in it. I really hope you don't get radiation poison, because that will be suck if that happen. Also how is your Grandpa, did he got radiation poison or not.
@@popcornpony8420 Radiation poisoning occurs when being exposed to radiation for a long amount of time
@@cmcphotography1 besides there wasn’t even enough to do that.
Amazing!
*Uranium™ "Let your kids play with it and become mutants!"*
No, no, the ad was
"TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA DISFIGURED HUMANOID ENTITIES!"
@@cmcphotography1 You deserve a subscriber for that.
It will probably give kids ligma
@@shrodingerscat8940 ligma balls
If I remember right, they have one of these on display at the Toys and Miniatures Museum in Kansas City!
Oooh! That would definitely be pretty cool to see in person.
@@turboturd7954It has been marked down to US $8.5k
As a kid growing up in Moab Utah, we had several of these kits. First we always converted the uranium oxide to a different compound (uranium hexafluoride I think it was), which was a gas at our relatively low basement temperatures. We then fed the uranium hexafluoride into these makeshift centrifuges powered by the neighborhood children using our big wheels, the rapidly-spinning vertical tubes separated the uranium-235 from the slightly heavier uranium-238 isotope. We then converted the enriched U235 into this uranium dioxide powder and then pressed and heated it to make hard ceramic little 'yellow cakes', mostly in our garage, using a bunch of Easy-Bake ovens. It was a lot of fun.
#justsayin
"separated the uranium-235 from the slightly heavier uranium-238 isotope. We then converted the enriched U235 into this uranium dioxide powder " Kinda funy how at the climax of your commentary you failed completly and contradicted yourself... would be even funier if you writing this type of gibberish and in the same time you have some scientific degree that is somehow conected to the topic.
How did you convert the uranium into uranium hexafluoride? Where did the fluorine come from?
This story makes no sense.
Yea, why would anyone just go outside and play football when this was around?
oh wow.....
@@antoniozavaldski
You did that too?@@Bialy_1
In my early childhood in the USSR, such experiments were shown to us by a physics teacher in a school laboratory.
It is a pity in the USSR in those days such kits were not sold. I would definitely make something fun out of it.
... Maybe that's why they didn’t sell it to Russian children?
Lucky you get to be in the USSR
in soviet russia, you no get nuclear toy.. nuclear toy get YOU!
Actually, it was probably due to poverty having been pretty much standard in the USSR, whereas back then in the USA, most families were middle class.
@@TheReaverOfDarkness In the USSR, there was a completely different structure of prices and expenses, and therefore it is difficult to compare the quality of life. For example, there were monstrous markups on cars and they were very expensive, in fact they were a luxury item. Electronics or furniture, vodka or red caviar also had an extra charge. But on the other hand, rent and utilities were dated (1/10 of the minimum wage), any goods for children, most food and public transport or air travel were dated. As a student, I could afford to fly for the weekend to watch the volcanic eruption in Kamchatka and be back at the university by the beginning of the week. Add to this completely free health care and education, very high quality. As a result, in the USSR it was impossible to remain hungry or lose housing due to lack of money or losing a job. And in reality, everyone had the opportunity to go on vacation to the warm sea once a year. Almost everyone had access to recreation, culture, education and medicine at a high level. ...But not to the car. :-)
I visited the USA in the nineties of the last century. Before the catastrophe of the reign of Gorbachev, and then Yeltsin, in my opinion, compared with the United States, most citizens of the USSR lived in a roughly lower middle class, in terms of the totality of opportunities. After the collapse of the USSR, approximately 90% of citizens became poor or impoverished.
@@АндрейНикитенко-ф4с Wow, I had no idea! They don't teach us any of this stuff in our schools.
I want one
Are you crazy OMG
me too
Do not exaggerate
Me 2
I will get the anti radiation nuclear lab coat
Lets nuke supernanny
👍 The Museum of Science and Industry is a "must see" if you're in Chicago... (Dosimeter optional)! 😎
I live in Chicago
@@CookingwithVROY1790 - You're in a 'super position' then...
for some idle day when you have no particle place to be...
:- )
Hands on learning. Would be a cool thing for High-School students to do in the lab.
Until an oopsie happens
The music here makes this feel like a video going over an antique furniture auction rather than a dangerous mid-century kit for kids.
The atomic energy lab was an amazing toy, too bad it couldn't be sold today. It gave kids an opportunity to learn about radiation by allowing them to observe it with their own eyes. The radioactive sources in the set were either ROCKS that you could just find outside or very low-level sources that are not hazardous by any means. This is just like growing bacteria in a petri dish. It takes something that is all around us and makes it observable. Before anyone says "MUH URANIUM CANCER", Yes It had uranium, but you know what else has uranium ? Granite countertops. Uranium is not fucking magic, touching it or even ingesting small quantities of it will not kill you. Where do you think Uranium comes from ? It is literally dug out of the ground. Humanity has lived with uranium for pretty much its entire existence. Sure, high radiation doses can cause cancer, but with low doses like natural uranium, human body can repair the damage caused by low amounts of radiation, otherwise we'd be extinct long ago
I'm so happy that someone else is mentioning that this isn't a dangerous toy. Eating the U-238 might not be the best for you, but otherwise, this is fine.
Contrast and compare with the Marie Curie story,,,
th-cam.com/video/mU0oOUTo5zo/w-d-xo.html
Ahh.... I hope it can sold it today so I can play With it cause I love science.
I think the experiments from this kit could all be reproduced pretty easily (and inexpensively) today. Small radioactive sources can be obtained completely legally as they are considered unimportant quantities below certain thresholds. They are also easy to find in many ordinary consumer products. The only danger from these tiny sources would be to ingest them.
@@nekilof-2363adults eat airpods today
I would have LOVED my very own cloud chamber as a kid. There was one in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago in the early 60's, where I would go and the tracks of the cosmic rays. Very cool; it inspired me to get a degree in Chemistry and spend 4 years in the Army as a nuclear weapons officer. Regarding the safety of the Uranium 238, I would point out that we have distributed a huge amount of pure U-238 around the world, in the form of armor-piercing ammunition fired at bad guys. I don't know how much, but there must be several hundred tons of the stuff now gracing sand dunes and destroyed Toyotas all over the Mideast and training ranges in the US. And unless a bad guy or his vehicle got hit with one of those rounds, or the bad guy was dumb enough to eat one, it's harmless. The risk of eating a U-238 slug isn't from radiation, either; it's from heavy metal poisoning from the Uranium Oxide on the surface of the shell, although nobody to my knowledge has ever died from Uranium poisoning. More on Uranium poisoning: www.symptoma.com/en/info/uranium-poisoning
Fascinating story, thanks!
"Bad guy", soldier on, zogbot. Depleted uranium leftovers and their effects on the local population has always been a concern, inconclusive as they are.
The most sophisticated toy I have ever seen.
I'm a kid of the 80s. I thought the original Nintendo was the greatest toy of all time… I was wrong.
This is the *GRESTEST* toy of all TIME!
If I could get a time machine, I'd buy a dozen of these!!
You do know it was $50 in the 1950? In today world, it would be around $520!
Love how the picture has the kid with a glowing aura
I can remember using alpha and beta sources along with geiger counters in physics class at school. This was about 1981.
This was my favourite thing growing up! They should remake them for kids of today or else
0:24 "radioactive materials are completely harmless!" Bruh
Atlas, the sources were 7: four U minerals plus three low level elements (Pb,Ru,Zn for alpha beta and gamma decay experiments).
The problem with this materials is not their radioactivity but the possibility of contamination if the containers are opened... (autunite tends to crumble for example).
Keep in mind that any chemistry kit until the late 80s contained as much as dangerous elements such as copper sulphate.
Any of these radioactive material can be bought on the internet in minerals' shops.
My cousin had this
I remember watching it work on the kitchen counter around 1968 or 69 no idea what happened to it or how they had it to begin with but I’d love to have it today
I envy you. So cool that it comes with a geiger counter. This would've been so exciting to have as a present.
Fun fact: the company that made this kit also made a glass blowing kit
Yes, and great chemistry sets.
cool
What a beautiful piece of history! Adults know less about physics than kids in the 50s today - me including.
Lol, as a kid who likes nuclear reactors and just started studying nuclear physics, you are totally right.
Many people have completely wrong understanding of this subject, mostly because of stereotypes and mass media. Most people think that uranium is glowing green or think that all the radioactive waste comes from nuclear power plants (70% actually comes from the medical equipment and only 30% from nuclear power plants and that's globally).
Also, when I tell people that I like nuclear reactors they're immediately like: "Oh Chernobyl" or "You just watched Chernobyl and now you're obsessed"
Bro, I don't even like any kind of RBMK reactor and graphite used as moderator in general, plus, I didn't even watched Chernobyl, I watched documentaries AFTER I started liking nuclear reactors (fission and fusion)
A bit disappointed that the curie content wasn't mentioned anywhere; can't seem to find it on the web. Most things are "radioactive" (your smoke detectors are likely WAY more radioactive than this). Even most foods like potatoes and bananas contain measurable amounts radioactive potassium. Would be nice to know how 'hot' the sources actually were.
To be fair, americium containing smoke detectors are barely used any more and being replaced by non radioactive ones for a while now.
Also the samples of the minerals are definitely more active than the potassium of bananas considering just how few atoms relative to their mass and size are in bananas.
Yup the AM 241 disk in them is much stronger than the samples in thus set. It made the sprintyroscope in the set glow like a field full of fireflies in June.😂
Wow . . . I wonder if I can get one on Amazon? Sounds like lots of family wholesome fun!
I am an old man now, 83, who grew up during the A C Gilbert and Chemcraft Chemistry set days in the 1940's and 1950's. I wanted one of these sets. However, they were very expensive even back then. $50 - 60 as I remember. BTW, I became a High School Science teacher...lol. Chemistry is my first love...lol.
I wish toys were packed like this nowadays
Wow i cant believe the tools that came with this like a working geigef counter! So awesome!
My grandmother used to collect rocks and had a Geiger counter. She said she scared the stewardess with its clicks on a cross-country flight; they increased as they ascended.
@@sandal_thong8631 I brought one with me on a flight when I was still in high school. I muted the clicks because I knew they'd freak people out. The counter I had clicked about 13 times per minute from ordinary background radiation when we took off in Boston, got up to 200-300 counts per minute at cruise altitude, then dropped back to about 25 counts per minute when we landed in Denver.
Seems like the biggest danger has been the discouragement of childhood curiosity since the era in which this toy was introduced. Nearly 70 years ago, it was considered normal for a child to have a science kit like this and conduct experiments in chemistry, physics, electricity, etc. Today, small magnets are banned because some joyless bureaucrat thinks we're too stupid to not eat them.
Thank you ☕
Some kids way tide pods nows
BINGO >>>> thank God You can still buy Uranium and other atomic samples and show Your kids the magic of the atom...cheers
unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_5&products_id=474
@lonkplay - Get a life, moron.
I'd get it just for that Geiger counter. [crackle crackle]
Wow! I want one of these - looks like a lot of fun.
Another amazing and super authentic video!
When I was a preteen in the early 60's I got a geology kit with a collection of various rocks. AND one was, as I recall, serpentine, a source of asbestos.
NOT as dangerous as the rocks in this kit BUT not harmless either.
It wasn't until I was older and in High School that I realized what the kit had.
Great video. Is it me or did the music sound a bit too loud? Other wise fascinating and yet scary stuff!
I'm not gonna lie, this looks absolutely awesome!
Say what you will, this toy looks absolutely class. If anything people are way too scared despite the minimal radiation
I want it. 😀😀😀😀
But I don't have $500
My only chance to get U238 😭
Just came across this video. And it was 2:35 that completely cracked me up -- a mail-order coupon for replacement radioactive sources. Seriously though, it states that the included sources will last from 1-50 years. So, would they all be neutral today?
Depends on the source element and the half-life for that particular one.
History of The Gilbert Hall of Science is amazing. We had the Hall of Science in many cities back in the 1950s here in America. All the toys A.C. Gilbert made then we're displayed in the Gilbert Hall of Science. Toys like the Erector sets of all sizes and weight well over 100 lbs! There were Gilbert American Flyer Trains, The most realistic electric trains ever made. Many came with Puffing smoke, CHOO-CHOO souñds all design ed and built by engineering personal.
Locomotives could pull as many as 40 cars. Some diesels with two motors also.
Sci kit so hot it shoulda been x-rayted
nice lol
I want one. How much would it be today to buy an original?
I think really the Glass Blowing kit they sold would probably be more likely to seriously injure or kill or burn your house down than this one, so I'd say the Glass Blowing kit was even more dangerous than this one, even the chemistry set they sold bc you could easily make poison gas or explosives with that one, this one might kill you in 20 or 30 years (similar to smoking) but the other two could kill you very quickly if misused.
Now I wanna see an actual kit get used as if it were 1950
My grandpa had one of those and the cloud chamber worked rather well. The sprinthyroscope worked well also, especially with the 241Am disk from a smoke detector. ❤
super cool! I would have been over the moon to get this as a child.
Never saw one but I had a pretty rad chemistry set with microscope. Great time to be a kid it was.
That is amazing. I wonder what that kit/toy would be worth on todays collectors market? Thank You for an interesting video.
After watching this, I started to wonder if the late David Hahn, a.k.a. "The Radioactive Boy Scout", owned one of these sets. Considering his obsession with nuclear energy, it wouldn't surprise me.
I read the book some years ago, so I forget all the details. He had one of those radium clock dial painting kits with some radium paint, took apart a bunch of smoke detectors for the Am-241, and bought a lot of thorium lantern mantles. I don't think he did much more than make a local mess of his shed.
“Hunny, stop playing around me, if you don’t your brother will have an extra arm”
I had one of these, although from a different company. I thought the chunk of uranium was so cool!
I like how you can recreate this with a smoke alarm
The "Sheldon Cooper" special!!!😂
I had one of the Gilberts chemistry sets in the late 1960s. Had a little alcohol bunsen burner, some test tubes, a tiny measuring spoon, a whole bunch of smelly chemicals, and three really nice plastic shelf units to hold the chemicals and a manual for doing experiments. I didn't have it long before my parents banned me to the barn for the experiments. I dont remember any explosions.....
Man, I wish I got this for christmas, holy cookies
I still my Gilbert U-238 set still like new....
This is totally up my street.
I remember getting this fantastic chemical set for Christmas - probably around 1971/72 - which had literally volatile chemicals in glass vials. There were similar instructions on how to grow copper sulphate crystals etc. but overall it was a death-trap! Needless to say that the first thing I did, on Christmas day, was to mix literally everything in a glass tube, plug it, shake it, and then ruin my grandparent hallway ceiling for over 20 years.
Best kit ever
Back in the day kid are so mature and working at industrials.
Where can i buy one?
Does look like a very interesting toy... Geiger counter to prospect for uranium to boot!
Uranium fever is speeding all around Uranium fever gone and got me down
Got a Geiger counter in my hand🎶
From the same generation that survived the Cold War and Lawn Darts....
😂
I was thinking Lawn Darts in my head when I clicked the channel! :-)
Looks fun id buy it
This “toy” , may come in handy these days.
It is a pretty great toy😊 You can learn something new and interesting 😀
The most dangerous toy , I ever seen , was a Buck Rogers space ship toy from the 30's.
You melted lead and pour that melted lead into space ship molds ,
I wonder how many kids got burned by that melted lead?
I remember getting some kit like this for Christmas. It was an alloy with a relatively low melting point, but still enough to do some real damage. I think it was aimed at teenagers, most of whom had enough common sense to handle molten metal with respect. I think I got burnt once, but I was screwing around trying to melt the zinc out of pennies and cast that.
This is neat as can be!!!
Honestly, this may be the most "menacing" toy delivered-- visions of giant ants dance in the 1950's head-- but the most dangerous? Personally, I'd have to give that one to Lawn Darts.
I remember throwing the lawn darts straight up into the air and watching them thunk down into the ground only a few feet away from me. I did it repeatedly and was lucky to not get one in the top of my skull. That's one of the few toy bans I agree with.
@@famalourian2463 I was in school with a kid who had a glass eye from a lawn dart accident, this was in late 70s.
@@joejones9520 Yeah, it was about that time period and I was 7 or 8. The part of the forebrain that thinks about consequences isn't fully wired yet. I cringe when I think of it now.
Ok but like, if I had one of these as a kid I would be over the moon with excitement
I would have gladly learned from it in 1961 I was 5 and building transmitters frequency, oscillators, and radio receivers !
Does it include a Tram,HEV suit and crowbar?
Amazing, what a beautiful time in history ahh the 50s. I was at a range other day ago and was told not to walk past the firing line because the Davy Crockett was fired there in the 50s ( it's basically the nuke launcher from fallout 🤣)
I would give me right arm for one of those, thinking about it that might be a true result, I still love the box :)
This antique atomic energy kid is better equipped than my modern physics laboratory.
Anyone else just want to see it in actual use and look at the cloud chamber and the alpha decay or is that just me?
simply incredible
Stewie Griffin's first toy.
ほんとにあるんや
That's pretty cool, actually.
someone just woke up, thought "what if i put a dangereous radioactive element in a kids toy as the main thing?" and didnt think that maybe it's a not so great idea
Yeah encourages kids to find radioactive elements fantastic toy
❤🎉 love these old toys
Thank you Ms. Lady 😁
I played with one of these as a child.
Reminds me of an acquaintance who will not use a microwave oven because the first ones sold were called radar ranges and putting radar into your food will make it radioactive. Yep, real intelligent.
A lot of people tosay still regard microwave ovens as dangerous or unhealthy. I remembered watching a Bill Maher episode where he (or his guest) said microwave ovens are bad because they cause the molecules in your food to vibrate faster. I mean, that's basically what happens when something gets heated up... whether by a gas stove, induction stove, resistive hotplate, or a charcoal grill.
@@jonathantan2469 I was watching my food thru the glass window on my microwave the other day and suddenly remembered that Id heard you could go blind from doing that...I looked it up and it's not true, no microwaves escape thru the glass, it's perfectly safe. Never know tho with so many rumors.
I don't care that it could be dangerous, I still want one.
I so want this.
Okay this toy is so cool
Id like to see a toy review of this on youtube..
I want to see scans of the books that came with it.
Mooooom, can I get this for Christmas
please das anyone of you guys knows if it's avabelibe set atomick energy Gilbert and where can I find
これを実物を解説してる人が少くないから解説してくれるのありがたい
Uranium 238 doesn’t worry me. Uranium 235? That’s scary!
They are both dangerous.