Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years - Gizmodo Comments

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

takoattack — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:34:37 EDT

hey it sure beats condoms

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

strider_mt2k — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:52:55 EDT

'Nother update.

My order arrived no problem.
It took a little while as you can see, but they arrived no problems and are now living glowingly on our keys.

I like it.
I like it a lot.

strider_mt2k

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

strider_mt2k — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:59:50 EDT

UPDATE: Order has shipped, so no hassles here.
It took a little while to go through, but appears cool so far.

Will update when they arrive. (I ordered two)

strider_mt2k

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

PynkFloydd — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:34:46 EDT

@EBone: mmmm...good ol' military. lol

I will DEFINITELY agree with you since they made us takes malaria pills that had a high chance of burning your brain stem and making you go psycho. ...but, when we'd play with Geiger counters, the compasses wouldn't set them off unless you'd put them next to the sensor. It took quite a bit of the material to get a solid reading.

PynkFloydd

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Trav47 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:37:43 EDT

@jTexans:

A microcurie of tritium would not be close to enough activity to cause any glow. The tritium contained in exit signs is around 20 curies.

The NRC does not track everyone who buys products with tritium in it. Last time I checked Home Depot didn't do a background check when an exit sign was purchased.

With a 18 KeV beta there is little to worry about as far as exposure. The comments made of clothing or the dead layer of skin being enough for shielding are correct as are Geiger-Mueller detectors being unable to detect tritium. Liquid scintillation is the most common way of finding tritium contamination.

BTW, the ALI (Annual Limit on Intake) for tritium is 80 millicuries, which means if 80 mCi were ingested in the body it would result in the regulatory limit of 5 REM.

Trav47

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

munan — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:10:24 EDT

There have been night sights for hand guns for years using tritium. Nothing bad has happened to me as a result of using those. JUST A SECOND MOM!!
I've carried them on my gun for... I'M ON THE PHONE!!! anyway, for a number of years and... You know what, I have to go. The bats are back and I need to get help since I just dropped my fingers.

munan

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

superbryant — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:42:48 EDT

Where I work I think this thing is the least of my worries.........Thats all I can say....

superbryant

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

gizmodohomepage — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:26:38 EDT

@bandit: Because America is full of a bunch of pussies. I managed to get one through via ebay and singapore.

gizmodohomepage

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

riqgeez — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:22:06 EDT

This gives new meaning to the term . . . Blue Balls!

riqgeez

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

AlabastaJoe — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:18:28 EDT

Now all I need are 4 robotic arms that can interface with my nervous system and I'll be able to harness the power of a sun. I mean, an long as the inhibitor chip doesn't get damaged everything will be fine.

AlabastaJoe

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

avconsumer — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:37:43 EDT

"Tritium is widely used in nuclear weapons for boosting a fission bomb or the fission primary of a thermonuclear weapon." -wiki

Yeah.... I'm thinkin' I'm gonna pass on this one.

avconsumer

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

jTexans — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:26:40 EDT

"RE: Well, Beta radiaiton can't penetrate skin so I doubt anything is even escaping the plastic that encapsulates the tritium. (Except photons)

Still, I do wonder what happens when you run tricorde.... i mean Geiger counter over it. Could mean hours of fun at the airport if the TSA weenies go all JoJo the Indian Boy over it."

1st part is somewhat true. Low beta radiation will not penetrate the skin, but you can still absorb it through pores in your skin.

2nd portion: B/c again it's low energy, Geiger counter will not pick it up.

The problem I have with this key chain even though it's low energy radiation: what happens if you break the key chain. Now you have radioactive contamination that could possibly be there for 12+ years. But I'm thinking that the activity is less than 1 microcurie.

jTexans

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

strider_mt2k — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:04:00 EDT

No trouble with my order thus far...

strider_mt2k

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Knirfie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:28:25 EDT

These have been around for years, I have one :)

Knirfie

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

MadCrazy — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:02:14 EDT

Clearly not for people who have a habit of gnawing on key chains, pens, etc or have family members who do so.

MadCrazy

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

YtuMaMaTambien — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:56:50 EDT

@fireshaper:

It's legal here, but those that sell items with it here (exit signs, watches, etc.) have to be registered with the Nuclear Regulatory Comission, and must provide them with info on every person that buys items containing them. Most dealers don't care for the red tape, so they opt not to.

YtuMaMaTambien

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

WEGGLES90 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:38:57 EDT

@MacBastard:

Ahahha! Yes! The F-Ray.

WEGGLES90

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

ideaman2020 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:15:35 EDT

John Banner here.

Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry...

ideaman2020

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

fireshaper — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:56:05 EDT

Isn't tritium illegal in the US because of it's dual-use nature?

fireshaper

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

forrsmg — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:58:59 EDT

I've had one of these on my key chain for years now, and have sired 2 kids during that period. My children's super powers have yet to reveal themselves, but they (the kids) are super smart and wonderfully cute, and the glow stick has enabled me to find my keys on more than one occasion, so I would say it has been a great purchase.

forrsmg

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

jkr — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:35:03 EDT

plasma sperm

jkr

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

scarbrtj — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:02:51 EDT

Terrorists are buying these, swallowing them along with some Dulcolax, and then 24 hours later visiting public restrooms....
Dirty Bombs! Death to America!

scarbrtj

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

MacBastard — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:59:10 EDT

@WEGGLES90:

Woo! Futurama reference FTW!

MacBastard

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Curves — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:58:48 EDT

I see a good market potential in these being gifts from X-Wives and X-Girlfriends. She always said she hoped your "junk" fell off, and now she can make her dream a reality.

Curves

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

bandit — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:43:58 EDT

I seem to recall reading somewhere that these were illegal to import into the US. Here are the googlez:

[wiki.answers.com]
Tritium devices can be purchased in the UK and Australia, but are illegal for import to the United States, however they are available in the US as gunsights and for military applications.

[outdoors-magazine.com]
Beta lights (tritium filled glass tubes) haven't been available in the US and are currently illegal for import due to NRC regulations.

bandit

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

getz76 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:39:45 EDT

@portugue: Wrong, but very funny. Hope you have a credit in the karma bank to offset the t-shirt. :)

getz76

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

RumRunner5 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:17:48 EDT

They've been using tritium in watches for years...in fact last time I checked my dive watch hadn't eaten through my wrist yet...Besides glow in the dark junk might be a good conversation starter :-P

RumRunner5

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

EaGle1337 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:12:15 EDT

@DeadWriter: you sure, i tend to hide mine i can't find them in under 20 minutes...

EaGle1337

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

--Tito-- — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:57:44 EDT

Cool, fun look find and ball shaver!

--Tito--

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

portugue — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:27:42 EDT

@The Lab: The army is a nice touch, but I have one that says jihad I use specifically for flying because I want people in the air to know who not to take hostage.

portugue

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Midnightoutlaw88 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:26:40 EDT

sweet mini-WMDs

Midnightoutlaw88

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

The Lab — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:25:00 EDT

@StarWhores: It would be very easy to get this through TSA as they can't detect it. Furthermore, I have been traveling for a couple years now wearing a shirt that says "army" in arabic. You'd think that'd get me stopped but it hasn't raised an eyebrow. Did I mention I'm white?

The Lab

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

John Laur — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:06:52 EDT

Wow $10 each! I bought a whole bunch of these tritium keychains off of ebay about 4 years ago for about $20 total, shipped from Singapore, even.

The tritium gas is an isotope of hydrogen and sealed in a little borosilicate glass (ie Pyrex) vial that is coated on the inside with a phosphor. The phosphor absorbs all of the beta radiation and gives off light. The color and brightness depends on the particular phosphor used. I keep a yellow one on my keyring, but they come in about 10 different colors.

It's bright enough to see glowing through a jeans pocket in pitch black and you can read by it in a pinch. Bright it is not but considering that it will glow like that for a good 10 years or so it's still not bad.

One time my wife dropped hers and the plastic housing came open and the vial came out -- fortunately it was not broken and I superglued it back together.

John Laur

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

foureight84 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:06:14 EDT

i got one of these a few years back. i don't know why but my testicles are grapefruit size now.

foureight84

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

fuzzycuffs — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:03:57 EDT

Man, if the TSA has a fit about nipple rings, I can't imagine what would happen if you traveled with this.

fuzzycuffs

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

BaseVilliN — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:00:28 EDT

Hm, I was under the impression these were not allowed in the states... at least last time I checked.

BaseVilliN

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

DeadWriter — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:00:02 EDT

How long before somebody brands this with the Simpsons logo.

DeadWriter

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Bridon — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:56:25 EDT

the keyring is safe, but they used (is?) restrictions on there export from the UK as Tritium is a fuel for use in nuclear weapon warheads.

but you would need a few thousand keyrings for that ;)

Bridon

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Stalhandske — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:45:28 EDT

@EaGle1337: duh, they will find your keys anyway.

Stalhandske

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

EBone — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:44:16 EDT

@PynkFloydd: Yes, because we know if the military uses it, it MUST be safe. Like all those guys standing in a foxhole in the 1950s just outside Yucca Flats...

I know, it's safe. I just like commenting about my junk.

EBone

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Stalhandske — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:43:46 EDT

For you cowards that thinks this radiation, don´t make any airline travels without a suit made out of lead...

The amount of radiation on a round-trip cross-country
from New York to Los Angeles and back would expose you for about 3 mrem cosmic radiation... Think again, lol.

Stalhandske

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

MrBlahBlah — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:38:45 EDT

due, my balls already glow in the dark

MrBlahBlah

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

robstamack — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:35:58 EDT

No offense, but where have you been? These have been available since 2002 and even earlier. The first variants came in 7 different colors and are now only available in 3. Do a search for "nite glowring" on google for more results.

robstamack

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

EaGle1337 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:34:56 EDT

no no and know if some guy breaks into my house i don't want them to find keys to my car easily.

EaGle1337

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

YtuMaMaTambien — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:33:14 EDT

@PynkFloydd:

Yes what he said. Radium (or whatever they used to use to make things glow back in the day) = dangerous.

Tritium = not so much. You could literally ingest the material inside this small tube and you'd be exposed to maybe half as much as you get during an x-ray.

Your junk is not going to fall off. Unless your name is Spitzer. His will fall off for a different reason. Unless singing myspace callgirls are radioactive...Maybe Tom should post a warning.

YtuMaMaTambien

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

JoOngle — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:32:21 EDT

Just for kicks..you may want to know that these are illegal in many countries for the radioactive content - including Denmark, also the compass and fishing lures that contain this.

JoOngle

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

gizmodohomepage — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:26:06 EDT

I bought a green glowring about 2 years ago. Lost my keys twice but found them with this thing. A lot harder to find in daylight though.
Not enough light to light your hand though. All you wimpies out there, your junk will be fine. Your tampons might glow though.

gizmodohomepage

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

SirDrinksalot — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:20:05 EDT

I'd get one of these but I really like not getting a body cavity search when I cross the US/Canada boarder which I do often.

Altho I may grow to like it, you never know.

SirDrinksalot

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

PynkFloydd — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:16:10 EDT

Tritium has been used for many, many, many, many years and it's very safe. When I was in the military, Tritium was in the compasses. It's also used in gun sites. ...so far, no adverse *coughs* reactions *coughs*.

PynkFloydd

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

ppeetteeyy — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:15:15 EDT

WAY late gizmodo! Dealextreme has been selling these type of key chains for a very long time.

ppeetteeyy

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

strider_mt2k — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:14:27 EDT

@yaesumofo: My first order with 'em, so I guess we'll see.

strider_mt2k

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

StarWhores — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:11:58 EDT

@The Lab:
Try getting that through the TSA

StarWhores

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

StarWhores — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:10:29 EDT

@Marty
" provided the hair on your junk does not fall out."

You say that like it's a bad thing.

StarWhores

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

mtopper — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:06:31 EDT

@Kaiser-Machead:

two demerits for that blight on humanity remark

mtopper

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

mtopper — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:05:04 EDT

I dont want to have a glo"stick" ;-)

mtopper

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

thechansen — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:01:44 EDT

@nutbastard:
But you can't get abortions for herpes. I would say its the second worst.

I bought like 10 of these to attach to my mooninite light brite set, now we'll have a real panic.

thechansen

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

getz76 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:58:48 EDT

I have had generally good experiences with DX, actually. Some stuff is crap, just like everywhere else. They are pretty upfront with their shipping times and they do actually respond to email. Better than some vendors stateside, in my opinion.

getz76

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

BoinK — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:57:10 EDT

These things have been around for years and years and even longer as indicators in watches. It's safe (unless ingested as noted by the fellow above).

BoinK

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

yaesumofo — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:55:41 EDT

The problem with this is that Dealextreme sucks.
They are slow and the crap they sell is crap.
There are other versions of these which are much better.
BTW Tritium is pretty harmless in these smal quantities.
The radiation is very weak. so weak it doesn't even go through the glass envelope the gas is contained in let alone the plastic case the little glass envelope is held in.
There is NO danger in this as a keychain.
In general these are a fantastic idea. Like when you drop your keys at the movie theatre. they are easy to find due to the tritium marker.
Again DX sucks.
Yaesumofo

yaesumofo

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

The Lab — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:49:23 EDT

Just finished my radioactivity training a couple weeks ago. Safe unless broken and then eaten.

@av8thor: Won't penetrate the glass window of a Geiger counter. Have to do a swab test and read in a scintillation counter.

The Lab

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

nutbastard — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:46:49 EDT

@Kaiser-Machead:
Yeah pregnancy is the #1 worst STD.

nutbastard

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

nutbastard — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:45:23 EDT

WARNING: May Adversely affect persons originating from Krypton. Do not Use in Conjunction with Yellow Sun.

nutbastard

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Sloth — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:44:06 EDT

I wonder if anyone at the company actually keeps these in their pockets and are practicing what they preach.....

I think I'm OK having to relace a $3.00 watch battery VS having my nuts & bolts fall off!

Sloth

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

strider_mt2k — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:43:57 EDT

@Kaiser-Machead: Youth is completely wasted on 'em. ;)

strider_mt2k

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

strider_mt2k — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:43:08 EDT

I just ordered a couple.
Hard to resist shit like this.

Kinda why I hang here. :)

strider_mt2k

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy! — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:43:06 EDT

@92BuickLeSabre: If someone else waves their precious jewels in front of your face, you may be inclined to refer to it as junk :P

I'm not too worried about my sperm. Children are the blight of humanity anyway.

Kaiser-Machead's Chips Ahoy!

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

getz76 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:40:48 EDT

@Stalhandske: I was going to say the same thing; this material has been used in scopes for years.

getz76

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

av8thor — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:37:29 EDT

Well, Beta radiaiton can't penetrate skin so I doubt anything is even escaping the plastic that encapsulates the tritium. (Except photons)

Still, I do wonder what happens when you run tricorde.... i mean Geiger counter over it. Could mean hours of fun at the airport if the TSA weenies go all JoJo the Indian Boy over it.

av8thor

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

92BuickLeSabre — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:36:29 EDT

@EBone and Monty: Men, men! Once upon a time these precious parts of our bodies were considered treasure! Jewels! Family Jewels! Have we fallen so far that we denigrate it so easily, calling it "junk" as though it belonged in a gutter?

No kind sirs. Take pride in your "junk." Lift it out of the gutter with the other "junk" and lift it back up to its rightful place!

92BuickLeSabre

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Stalhandske — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:36:13 EDT

Links to the brand (nite) thats been around a couple of years.
[www.glosticks.co.uk]
[www.tizertech.co.uk]
Got one on my keyring, it´s great if you lose it in snow or grass, also have a couple of other on other important stuff.
I also have a traser watch with tritium it´s just great with that perfect glow.

And other products with tritum in is the ACOG scopes which loads of military branches use.

And the half-life of tritium is about 12 years, so in 12 years the glow "power" will be about the half as well.

Stalhandske

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

WEGGLES90 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:34:53 EDT

Ow! My Sperm!

WEGGLES90

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Zgradis — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:34:24 EDT

Some of the pictures make it look like it barely glows... Am I the only one who thinks this is just that glow in the dark stuff you get from sticking it in the light for a while?

Zgradis

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

Monty — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:29:01 EDT

Is it supposed to look like a Green Lantern ring?

I suppose the radioactivity is just another fun coffee table discussion waiting to happen, provided the hair on your junk does not fall out.

Monty

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

strider_mt2k — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:28:19 EDT

@EBone: I was gonna make a snarky remark about anyone else but you wanting to find it in the dark, but I'm not gonna because I'm a NICE GUY! :D

strider_mt2k

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

strider_mt2k — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:26:56 EDT

I think I kinda want one.
-and one for my wife, because she can't kill me if I hand her one of her own, right?

strider_mt2k

Radioactive Tritium Makes Keychain Light Glow For 10 Years

EBone — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:26:53 EDT

No thanks. I don't want my junk glowing in the dark.

EBone