It's so sad,and makes one Angry when you find out you've basically been used for a task no-one else would ever want to do if they'd known the hazards,they should've at least given you guys respirators,and more Knowledge of the dangers of course,gloves, thyroid protection,etc.. The problem with cancer caused by such ionizing radiation,is that it has a 'Latency Period',most won't get sick until many yrs or even decades have elapsed, thus being a rather difficult case to prove it was your job that caused it. The Higher-Up's Know this and utilize it,as the nuclear industry in the past has Used Countless people,the 'Radium Girls' for instance,at one time it was a Very Dirty Industry,as one physicist who worked in the industry would later attest. I'm not against Nuclear,but I'm Definitely for 'Safety First ' in this industry,and Above All when one works in the nuclear field to Always Be Responsible!! First and Foremost,in the past there was massive irresponsibility! It's sad when i hear these stories, because it could've easily been prevented,but only if those on Top had been Responsible in the first place and told people the true dangers...ugh.

Alpha particles are only harmful if ingested

I worked in a recycling plant for a year, after going through all the sorting machines smoke detectors are usually smashed and or completely destroyed Those just go to the landfill, and there are no special procedures for handling that waste, we dont even get n95 masks because the particle count per million is low enough we dont need a respirator program under OSHA laws Which is bs because they slowed the belts whenever we got inspected to knock the dust levels down

Anyways. I saw easily 30 pounds of smoke detectors a day go to the landfill in just our plant which is one of two in the county

@@danstiurca7963”I haven’t gotten cancer yet so smoking most not be all that bad”

Hopefully one day soon this will happen.

That's an awesome idea,I'm trying to imagine how intense that would look!! Good call!!

​@@RadioactiveDrewwhen?

Was gonna say the same thing... Cloud chamber... Asap

Now? Lol

That’s some really interesting information. Thanks for sharing that. Where were the Pyrotronics offices located?

@@RadioactiveDrew The head office and perhaps the factory were in Cedar Knolls New Jersey but they had branch offices in most major cities. They were a leader back then, but no longer around as far as I can tell.

@@LM-fg7vi Cerberus pyrotronics aka pyrotronics was bought out my Siemens in the 1990’s

Now that's a bit concerning. Those sources used in soil testing are no joke. Have fun up in Utah exploring. Watch out for flash floods in some of those areas. I've almost been caught in a couple.

Those contain 10-20 millicuries of Cs-137 and also a neutron source

Dentists take many xrays a day for years and years. That kind of accumulated dose is not good

@@josh9673 yeah and he's making lots of videos too :P But I understand what you are saying it's just that I know I would not be able to do this. Kinda cool he's able to because I love the content :D hahaha

To be fair, your dentist does work in an environment where he could get a lot of exposure over a short period of time. So I totally understand his leaving the room.

I had a medical ailment that made me spend a long time in the hospital. They would give me chest xrays every day for about 3 months. I occasionally have to go in for checkups, where they will be constantly exposing me to x-rays during the procedure. The doctors and nurses are usually wearing lead aprons.

It's not unexpected when you realize that you are just there for 1 x-ray which is harmless. Meanwhile the dentist is doing it all day, and it adds up.

It’s a fun “treasure” hunt to get into.

Thanks. I’m always glad people enjoy watching these videos.

I try and put out videos as often as I can.

Good timing.

No problem. I try and make it as clear as I can.

I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I'm hoping to one day do a video about some of those sources used in the construction industry.

Thanks...will do.

Glad you enjoy them.

No problem...glad you enjoyed it.

The revigator video is going to come out soon.

I've only seen one Revigator in 12 years of antique shopping. It was behind glass in a display case and was detectable even through the glass. So, that model was putting out some gamma. They wanted about $250 for it. Nope!

If it was in good condition $250 is almost half of what I see them online for. I was lucky enough to pick mine up for $40 in a shop near Port Angeles Washington.

@@RadioactiveDrew Yeah that is crazy cheap. I don't want/need one anyway. Not enough space and too many hobbies.

Thanks.

No problem.

If you were one of these jackasses from Goiania Brazil you could've had a whole bunch of Cesium-137. Just find yourself an old teletherapy machine that uses it as the source material instead of the machines that switched to Cobalt-60. 😂 I kid, I kid... 😉👍

I saw that on KZfaq. People in the village were glowing painting their faces and fingernails. If you get into a nuclear war with Russia, I should get some very high reading of Cs-137 if I don’t get vaporized.

@@caveone-365nah cobalt 60 is way better

Thanks for watching.

They are pretty slick.

yes looks cool!! are all your detectors scintillator based?@@RadioactiveDrew

Thanks. It’s a very interesting subject.

Thanks.

All this material could be recycled / repurposed. The question is…can it be worth it for people to do so.

they are very radioactive for our standard, still quite unarmful unless you eat them or carry it in your pocket for months. and tbh, i bet there are many things in any household that would kill you if swallowed. real high radioactivity is something else. the F3/F5 only emits alpha. i have a couiple small Am241 sources and most of my GM wont even detect anything at point blank range

The reason why some of your GM detectors won’t see any radiation from a Am-241 button is because it can’t detect alpha or the low energy gammas coming off of it.

@@RadioactiveDrew yes exactly, because the mica window of some of them is too think even for alpha to go through. the SBT10A, which are supposed to be alpha sensitive, are completely blind, the SBT11A detectes them. pity they are becoming rare and expensive. they are the poor man (me) LND712. I once found one cheap on ebay and broke it like an idiot10 seconds after installing it. their mica window is reeeeeally fragile

Glad I could make you laugh a bit. Hope you feel better soon.

Glad you liked it. There are a lot of sources that get used in all kinds of jobs.

No problem.

Thanks for the sub…also glad you like the content.

Yeah, its pretty amazing what you can send in the mail.

I’d keep something not updated, kinda handy to have something very sensitive to look for stuff.

Exactly. Some people think all radiation is going to give them cancer.

Thanks for subscribing. Radiation is a very fascinating subject. I'm glad I get to make videos about it and learn more along the way.

No problem.

That's a good combo of detectors. You should look into one that also detects alpha and beta radiation.

@@RadioactiveDrew i know I keep getting scintillation detectors..was thinking about the gamma guard ct-007 its made in Canada. Detects alpha ,beta ,and gamma radiation.

@@RadioactiveDrew another thing is that one is out of stock..since I just got the raysid coming .I spent a lot of money .either need to wait a while and get one .or find a reasonable price. But come to think of it you won't find a affordable price detector that detects alpha.

@davidpirani7792 there are plenty of affordable detectors out there that can detect alpha, beta and gamma. You can always get a used Ludlum off eBay with a 44-9 probe. I have two in my collection.

@@RadioactiveDrew will look into that .thank you very much for the reply. 🙏❤much love

I remember that post. A Radeye B20 ER model would be very helpful with this source. Also I would hang onto that F3. Ever since I did that first video demand has gotten crazy.

Ah so you’re the lucky duck I saw on reddit who bought one of these from Drew!

@@RadioactiveDrew It’s been tempting to flip it and take care of some bills and the trip to Japan I’m planning in a couple months, but I tend to hang onto my irreplaceable radioactive curiosities.

A trip to Japan would be fun. It’s crazy to think how much these have increased in price.

For that I would use a zinc sulfide screen...looks way better. I've done it before in another video...I was going to do it in this one but the video was getting a little long. Might do a little video about it because it does look cool.

I am planning on doing a video about storage as I do think it would be helpful for some to see. The safe I keep these hotter sources in stays in the garage. So I'm not worried about radon. The venting system would be a good idea if all this stuff was being kept inside. The sources I have inside are usually uranium glazed ceramics and they produce an extremely small amount of radon.

I've thought about that. Might make a cool timelapse.

I think Thunderf00t has done this. Put some radioactive material in a container, put that in the soil, grew carrots but nothing special happened. I wouldn't put the radioactive material directly in the soil as the metals can be toxic and that could leach in to the vegetables.

@@bertblankenstein3738 yeah I saw that video...was pretty disappointed that he didn't grow the carrots in soil that had uranium ore mixed in.

@@RadioactiveDrew That wouldn't be difficult to do at all, but testing the carrots to an extent other than radioactivity and physical appearance (see the old Gilligan's Island episode "Pass the Vegetables, Please." Ep.3 of the 3rd season) might be interesting or not different at all.

​​@@RadioactiveDrew Fantastic channel. I have seen timelapse of something similar during a vet med degree but am sure is online. It wasn't particularly interesting until applied to sprouted plants with leaves, not seeds. Then using a comparison between different sources, from nothing happening through to plant wilting and dying, through to going crispy pretty quickly 😮. I don't remember any interesting differences to growth, just the crispy one - which was probably the point of the video.

Something like that detector would definitely put some dose on a badge.

I used the Android phone I have for the Radiacode 101 to update the detector. I open the app, set the connection method from bluetooth to USB and then hook up the Radiacode 101 to the phone with the USB C cable. If the app is up to date it should ask you if you want to update the detector.

Use to be a thing. The radioactive sources would ionize the air, theoretically making it easier for lightning to find a path. I plan on testing this.

No problem…yes, radon is very scary ;)

I would not want a Radon source.

It can be for sure.

I always check my work area for contamination afterwards.

@@RadioactiveDrew That is definitely best practice.

Work on a sheet of paper that could be disposed of afterwards?

​@@RadioactiveDrewa pancake probe isn't suitable for surveying for alpha contamination. It'll work alright(ish) for Ra-226 due to the beta emitting daughters, but with Am-241 in particular, you're playing with fire. Best not to do it on a table in your living room...

When I move my house will be just like before we moved in. There’s no contamination happening. Everything is contained.

@@RadioactiveDrew I know, I was joking with you. Great content keep it up. Love it.

I figured it was a joke. But answering as a serious question might help some people.

I’ve seen those floating around. Would be very interesting to check one out. Maybe one of these days.

Sounds like an interesting episode.

I'll probably share that stuff on my Patreon. I've been sharing my Radiacode 101 maps from different locations on there. I've only messed around with the app on the phone...I haven't gotten into the desktop version yet but I want to.

@@RadioactiveDrew it's pretty cool and easy to use ! And free!

That does sound like the right reaction.

Disclaimer, I'm not a pro. I understand there is some mild radiation but the main concern would be if you grind it (to create a tip) as that would cause dust. You want to avoid creating/spreading/inhaling this dust.

There is a study on that topic you can google to read up on but I would wear a P100 respirator mask when grinding the 2% rods. Keep the mask ziploc bagged when not in use so the filters last longer. Who cares if coworkers laugh, because my uncle recently died of brain tumor and had Parkinsons tremors for years before that. Had been a welder for most of his life and he suspected the rods caused his problems because they were never careful back in the day.

Yeah the new job I have moved to has a fancy tungsten grinder with coolent in in to keep any dust during grinding. Thanks for the input. 👍

The counts are higher on the Radiacode because of the scintillation crystal used as a detector. Scintillation crystals are much more sensitive to gamma radiation.

I don’t think it’s radioactive enough. Usually crystals or gems that react to radiation need a source like cobalt 60 to change color.

@@RadioactiveDrew Wait, are gems that react to radiation a thing? I was thinking more like those radioactive "healing" bracelets that actually just slowly give people cancer lol. But that sounds interesting too.

It would only effect the part you strapped it to.

Ionizing radiation isn't cumulative...if it was everyone that works as part of a commercial aircraft crew would die from cancer.

​​@@RadioactiveDreware you serious? What do you mean it's not cumulative? People working on aircraft don't die because their annual dose is still low, regardless of it being higher than the average person. A key aspect of radiation related cancer risk is that it IS CUMULATIVE (or at least it is if you believe in LNT).

It’s a very cool subject that I think a lot of people are interested in. You don’t need to be a scientist to learn about something like this.

That could be a fun video to do. I have something that does a great job at contaminating objects for a little bit.

"surfaces get contaminated by radiation" they shouldnt by just radiation unless is something really exotic like neutrons or high energy gamma or electrons

Surfaces can become contaminated from radioactive decay. I’m mainly speaking of radium decaying into radon and then into polonium. As far as something being radioactive and being near other objects, yeah that doesn’t make them radioactive…unless the source emits a lot of neutrons.

Exactly.

That’s very likely. The radon daughters can build up in a source like that. Also the gamma radiation from radium is going to give a higher dose due to the higher energy. I have a couple of those personnel markers and they are very spicy.

Its in a safe outside of the living area.

Ludlum Model 12 & 14C, both with 44-9 probes. Plus the others shown in the video.

@@RadioactiveDrew nice I have the bicron M just got it not long ago it was my first Geiger counter and I have the hp-260 probe

Gamma radiation would be better represented as a field. It’s on the electromagnetic spectrum, same as light and radio waves.

Its on my list of things to build. I've been looking at designs for powered cloud chambers. I don't want to build one using dry ice.

Gamma radiation follows the inverse square law. Might make a cool video if done right.

The backyard scientist has a video of that concept called "how bright is deadly radiation"

eBay.

I always check for contamination after handling items like this.

@@RadioactiveDrew indeed, but the part implying gloves aren't required annoyed me

All of these would detect Co-60. The gamma rays from Cobalt 60 are very energetic.

On the radium post there is a fair amount of radioactive dust from the decay of radon gas. It washes off with some soap and water.

@@RadioactiveDrew Thank you for responding! I kind of suspected you could wash it off. But I know some elements (don't know about radioactive stuff as I've never had to deal with them) act very differently when it's that fine of a powder. For example, if any static electricity is generated around it. Stuff you'd never expect to become airborne, even at medium/fine grits, suddenly takes on a more sinister characteristic when ground down to a small enough size. So when I started thinking about how the dust would be generated from radon decay, (and that it would probably be deposited a few atoms at a time?) the part of my brain that always wants to learn more just had to ask. I know I'll never come across one of these, most likely, but I was that kid that always asked, "But why?" especially if the answer the parents gave still left me curious. I love your content, by the way. It's not easy to take complex topics and relay the information in an easy to understand way. Yet you do it, consistently. I used to work around a cesium based soil density tester so I knew how crazy dangerous they _"can"_ be if the source were exposed. One of our testers learned the hard way, if you're in a fender bender don't tell the police about it, Unless You Have To. There are so many misconceptions surrounding radiation, and some traffic police will signal doomsday is nigh if they just hear that word!

The decay products from radon are negatively charged and will stick to you and your clothes. But since they are short lived isotopes they decay away very quickly…until it gets to lead 210 which has a 22 year half-life. Once it gets to that isotope it’s extremely hard to detect. Those soil density gauges are some pretty hot sources. But I could easily see people uninformed freaking out about it.

They are quite pricey, You can get something that will fill the same role (Contamination surveys) for a lot less.

SE International Ranger is half the price with the same tube and sensitivity and a bigger display

the Mazur PRM-9000 is a great alternative that has very close range and refresh to the B20 at a reasonable 660-700$ USD , the Better Geiger is good also but i tend to use it as more of a comparison geiger with it being a Scintillator and the B20 and Mazur being a GM it has a handy accumulated dose while it is on and running .

If I could work something out with Thermo Fisher I would sell them on there.

That's a good question. The Radeye B20 is a pretty good gauge to see which one is closer to being right. I only say that because the Radeye is used in the nuclear industry in a professional setting.

@@RadioactiveDrewbut that doesnt help here because it overloaded at 600k cpm :(

@@RadioactiveDrewnever mind, it showed 25microsieverts with the gamma filter. so the others were both very far away from the truth, imagine your geiger says the radiation is 1/20th of what it actually is 😮

all 3 "measurements" were incorrect - because of wrong geometry, so you just ignore all 3 of them - this is how you should understand "that". also "nuke-lar", that's SO funny to hear, multiple times : )))

He collected Americium 241.

About 500mCi of 137Cs or about 100mCi of americium mixed with beryllium.

What do you mean by "looked like it was in a bubble chamber"? Very skeptical...

Since alpha particles are just helium nuclei without the electrons, they pickup 2 electrons from the air and turn into helium. So all the helium that is created comes from radioactive decay. That why I laugh whenever I hear people say we are running out of helium. Helium is a renewable resource.

@@RadioactiveDrew Thanks!

Hahahaha...that still wouldn't do anything for you. There are pelvis shields that can help people in very high radiation areas. The idea is that the pelvis area doesn't get a fatal dose of radiation blood cells can still be made and replace all the ones that are dying from the exposure. That level of exposure would be about 10,000 times more intense than what that radium post was putting out.

I’ve been trying to mix my videos a little lower and have been using headphones as well.

Carrying I’m my pocket wouldn’t be my first choice.

AFAIK, the household detectors that have the Am-241 'buttons' inside are smaller in size compared to the detector that Drew has in this video. I am not sure if the concentration of the actual isotope is less in a consumer grade one as well, but I would guess that it probably is. I'm guessing he was getting the consumer grade detectors because they're more readily available, and much cheaper. I'm pretty sure from what I read about the story, he first got a deal on a whole lot of like 100 detectors, and then years later he was arrested stealing the detectors out of his apartment complex/ building where he lived.

Well, David Hahn didn't really have his head on straight and maybe he didn't know about these industrial smoke detectors. I'm sure if he did he would have used them. The difference in material between a residential smoke detector vs the industrial ones can 160x more material.

@@RadioactiveDrew True, he was definitely not 'playing with a full deck' so to speak LOL 😆 I think the availability of the 'industrial' type detectors would've most likely been the only factor that may have stood in his way from being able to use them. To play devil's advocate though, he was smart enough/ convincing enough to obtain his own isotopes, and information from the government, companies, and laboratories. Our 'security/ confidentiality' was awfully lax back then apparently. 😆😔

Not sure if David was smart or those people he interacted with were totally clueless. I think it was a mix of both. Personally I think the tale of the Nuclear Boy Scout has been over sold to the public quite a bit. There are a couple things that don't make any sense in the story. Also I believe he was made an example of.

@@RadioactiveDrew Totally agree man. It is no doubt an over exaggerated story for sure. The media loves to spin things indeed. We truly live in a world where 'bad' news sells, and those people were more concerned about ratings, reputation, etc. They most definitely made an example out of him. Now that chemistry book is outlawed because the experiments were too dangerous. To think they would actually be worried about this generation reading a book and wanting to learn!!!! Talk about HILARIOUS!!! They're more worried about Playstation, TikTok, Facebook, etc. LMFAO 😆😂

Not really. The damage from radiation is damage to the DNA of your cells which can cause cell death or cancer. Your cells have protections against some damage, ways to kill themselves if they get too damaged, flag down the immune system if they get damaged and finally some of your immune cells are essentially always on patrol for cancerous cells. Most of the concern for radiation exposure is for constant low dose, which would essentially mean your body might not be able to fix or repair everything in time, sudden high dose, which would just kill tons of cells out right (which is basically what nuclear medicine does) and uptake by the body, which happens when radioactive isotopes get absorbed into the blood and get stored in the body (usually the bones or the thyroid) and irradiate the body from the inside out. Drew is getting pretty low doses, which he has little chance of ingesting and he likely is spacing his encounters pretty far out. His chance of cancer is probably higher than the average person but way lower than someone who smokes cigarettes or probably even just drives a diesel truck

@@danielsancarter great explanation, thank you.

@@StarStarParty it's important to remember that chance / luck is still a key part of this. Some people get cancer at very young ages despite having no risk factors, while other people have crazy radiation exposure, smoke like chimneys, and live a nice long life.