What Are the Benefits and Risks of Tritium?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the benefits and risks associated with tritium, particularly its use in applications such as glow sticks and watches. Participants explore its radioactivity, safety concerns, and comparisons to natural sources of radioactivity, as well as the longevity and efficiency of tritium-based luminescent materials.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants inquire about the authenticity of tritium in products and its cost, questioning whether it is indeed real tritium used in applications.
  • It is noted that tritium is radioactive and decays via beta decay, with one participant mentioning that the emitted electrons have low energy, insufficient to escape containment.
  • Concerns are raised about the potential for beta radiation to ionize materials within the vial, leading to further radiation emission.
  • One participant expresses interest in the longevity of tritium vials, suggesting that the half-life of tritium (approximately 12.5 years) may affect their luminescent properties over time.
  • Another participant discusses the conversion of beta radiation energy into visible light, speculating on the efficiency of this process and the visibility of emitted light from decaying tritium.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a mix of curiosity and concern regarding the safety and efficacy of tritium in consumer products. There is no consensus on the safety comparisons between tritium emissions and natural radioactivity, nor on the longevity and efficiency of tritium-based luminescence.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention various assumptions regarding the energy levels of emitted radiation and the efficiency of light production, but these aspects remain unresolved. The discussion also reflects uncertainty about the specific quantities of tritium in different products.

Gerenuk
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Is this real tritium in there? Is tritium expensive? Is it radioactive? How does it compare to natural sources of radioactivity?

http://www.time4tritium.com/benefits.cfm
 
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It won't be surprising if it was real tritium, it is used in such applications. You can buy small tritium powered glow sticks on eBay.

Yes, it is radioactive, it decays by beta decay, emitting an electron. From what I remember energy of the electron is too low to get outside of the vial or (in this case) clock, it is stopped by thin paper.

Edit - that's what I meant:

http://thecoolgadgets.com/nite-glowring-tritium-glow-ring/
 
Oh, thanks for the technology update :)

And there is no chance that the beta radiation will ionize something which itself will emit radiation which can leave the vial?

And what about the Bremsstrahlung?
 
I'd like to see comparison pictures of the vials when they are 10 years old. I know they say that they are good for a quarter of a century but tritium's half-live is like 12.5 years or so. On my Speedmaster, after 12 years, the tritium is worthless. I would imagine they would really have to pack in the tritium or have found a much more efficient means of luminescing.
 
Gerenuk said:
And there is no chance that the beta radiation will ionize something which itself will emit radiation which can leave the vial?

Actually - that's how it works. Energy from the beta radiation is converted to light which leaves the vial.

I suppose your main question/concern here is how safe these things are and how does the amount of energy they can emit compare to that from natural sources. No idea. First thing to check would be to find out how much tritium each vial contains.

Electron from the decay has energy in the keV range, that is converted to visible light - eV range. One decaying atom gives enough energy to emit thousands of visible light photons (probably much less in reality), so even such a single event should be easily visible and several per sec could give the impression of continuous light.

But I am just guessing here.
 

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