Place Your Bets: Exactly How "Radioactive" Are These?

[@ModernRogue]

Free giveaway! Sign up at gimme.scamstuff.com, no purchase necessary, giveaway ends 2022-05-19. We are giving away ONE Misfit Labyrinth Puzzle Box! ( www.scamstuff.com/products/labyrinth Misfit items may include small cosmetic blemishes, but are fully-functional.) Blain Smith, William Bruzdowski Jr, Devon Robinson, Daniel McCormick, Ryan Zahradnik, Ethan Haengel, and Michael Maynard won last week's packs of Miracle Fruit giveaway. We will contact you via email within the next two weeks.

[@unlockeduk]

there is alot of "negative ion" product from china that have thorium or similar in them how about a look at those and how radioactive they are

[@RyanStonedonCanadianGaming]

Question about the cosmetic blemishes, Could they be caused by the injury counter being reset? 😉

[@RyanStonedonCanadianGaming]

Try scanning Chopped up ping pong balls encased in a non chopped ping pong ball and wrap aluminum foil and with a fuse. 🙄

[@TacticalNel]

Radiation exposure from Tritium Pew pew sights! (Just the sights)

[@summerking3605]

scan brian

[@JackBarlowStudios]

I can confirm that Brazil nuts are radioactive. As part of a nuclear engineering course, I did a group project where we used a radiation meter to guide the chemical extraction of radium from them. You can mark Brazil nuts down as “interesting.”

[@thestigj-9635]

huh interesting...

[@justinbanks2380]

So refreshing to hear someone with knowledge/expertise say flatly, 'I don't know' and 'I'm not sure, we can see' Wish this type of science and scientist's got more traction on media and web than the know it all (usually completely unqualified to be talking about the topic they are) this is the way it is, type of 'science and scientists'

[@starfirebird3099]

I hope y'all do a video looking into "negative ion bracelets"- it turns out a lot of them are actually radioactive, to the point of being potentially unsafe for long-term wear

[@Sinaeb]

most of them are just plastic bracelets.

[@izzaaay]

@@Sinaeb some are, but a surprising amount of negative ion wearables have thorium in them. The Thought Emporium has a couple interesting videos talking about them, and has even gotten a few companies shut down because of them.

[@jek__]

i mean, that has probably nothing to do with those things being negative ion generators and more to do with being cheap junk made by people with low standards. Negative ion generators are basically just high voltage transformers hooked up to thin needles or carbon fibers, theres no inherent reason those should be radioactive

[@Just_Sara]

@@izzaaay I came here to make sure someone had mentioned those videos, so thanks, because I couldn't remember who did them.

[@JackSilver1410]

I find myself grandly unconcerned about the safety and long term health of people who believe in magic.

[@GreenJeepAdventures]

If you take your Geiger counter to antique stores, you can often find several "hot" items, such as Vaseline Glass, dark orange plates called Fiesta Ware, and revigarators, which were water vessels that contained radium. Many radium watches and thorium camera lenses can easily be found there as well. You could also try detecting on metal objects found in stores such as Walmart and Target. Often times, radioactive metals are recycled accidentally into other metals, and end up in our consumer products, such as silverware.

[@n_art_cissist]

And a lot of McDonald’s toys used to contain radioactive paints

[@dinoduelist2219]

Jasons reaction to fake salt was exactly mine. Just pure confusion.

[@Castheknotted]

low sodium salt is so confusing.

[@dinoduelist2219]

Yeah it ALMOST tastes like salt

[@coyotedomino]

it’s potassium chloride, does an entirely different thing to the taste buds and it’s wild. doesn’t substitute for sodium chloride but it’s cool.

[@Cthulhu013]

People are more scared of radiation these days than ever. Thank you for busting these myths as we desperately need more nuclear power, especially here in the U.S.

[@D33r_Hunt3r_]

Nuclear power is good! If people can only get over the fear.

[@chrisbolland5634]

I think most people were more scared of it back in the 50s and 60s. Idk tho

[@kev3d]

It's true. If someone complains about climate change or the "energy crisis" or the health of the planet in general, but simultaneously dismisses or demonizes Nuclear Power, they should not be taken seriously.

[@itguy6547]

@@chrisbolland5634 you'd be surprised! I had an argument with someone recently about the cost to benefit ratio of nuclear power and they were adamant that nuclear was the worst energy source, even more so than coal powered generators.

[@allstarwoo4]

Crazy 5g and cell tower people aside. A lot of radiation fear comes from the advent of the microwave. People are afraid of what they don't know so they demonize it instead of learning.

[@VoIcanoman]

I would assume that the main reason stump remover is less radioactive than the salt substitute is because stump remover is KNO3, and NO3- has a molar mass of 62 g/mol, while Cl- has a molar mass of 35 g/mol. This means that potassium makes up ~52% of salt substitute, but only ~38% of stump remover (obviously, this assumes that the chemicals in these products are unadulterated by anti-caking agents, or significant impurities, which could exacerbate or diminish differences in the amount of potassium in a set volume of powder). Oh, and I have a funny story about NaCl salt vs. KCl salt. Both of these are naturally-occuring minerals, and so they are covered in mineralogy courses in geology departments around the world. When I took such a course (I minored in geology), *I learned that the most effective way to tell them apart was by tasting them (KCl has a bitter taste that is not present in NaCl).* So in my final lab exam (these exams have up to 100 "stations" each with a mineral sample, and you get 1 minute per station, rotating to the next station down the lab bench when time expires...you need to identify each mineral and give its chemical formula*), when presented with a sample that I knew was one of these minerals, I did what any reasonable person would do - I broke off a tiny chunk and tasted it (it was KCl, by the way). Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that someone who handled that sample before me in the exam *_LICKED the sample (!), including the part that I had tasted._* Know how I know? I got freakin' MONONUCLEOSIS about a month later...which is exactly the incubation time you'd expect if I'd contracted it during exam week. And as I was doing no kissing or other body fluid-sharing at the time...I can be pretty sure it was the rock I tasted that caused me to acquire mono (when my family physician found this out, he laughed until he cried). *We had to be able to identify 127 different minerals and know each chemical formula.

[@ModernRogue]

This is an amazing story! -Brian

[@gakulon]

As a Geo student I can confirm whoever directly licked the sample was a certified dumbass. They're probably the kind of person who holds the glass plate when doing a scratch test too

[@Aaron48219]

Another radioactive source is camera lenses made pre-1980. Thorium was used as an antireflective coating. I have a couple with one in particular being quite strong. An easy was to tell if something has ionizing radiation is to put the object in question on top of a piece of undeveloped film in a dark closet for a day or two. Afterwards, if there's a "spot" where the object was on top of the film, it's radioactive.

[@Just_Sara]

Reminds of the Veritasium video where he talked about how Kodak film getting spots on it before use showed where nuke tests were done.

[@DeliveryMcGee]

Not a coating, it's in the glass itself like the uranium in the bowl, up to 30% by weight (which is a LOT of thorium, considering how heavy glass is and how big some of those aero lenses were) changed the refractive index. In layman's terms, it made the lens more ... lensy, I guess? by changing the angle that it bends the light rays.

[@cassandra2860]

Thorium was also used as a dopant for high-index lenses

[@Aaron48219]

@@DeliveryMcGee Really? Interesting. I was always under the assumption it was an actual coating. I'll have to look into this more, thanks. I don't use those lenses often, so thankfully I don't have to worry too much about exposure. Because let's be honest, you're holding a camera up to your face. Eyeballs are not exactly an ideal candidate for radiation exposure.

[@Aaron48219]

@@cassandra2860 This ranks on the scale as "Very Interesting". I was unaware, thanks.

[@Codex_of_Wisdom]

From what I've heard, there were issues in the past with bananas in shipping containers. So many of them, that they were detectable by customs as radioactive. Not dangerous, but annoying to anyone looking for legit dangerous contraband. You guys should see if you can get ahold of Kyle Hill to do some kind of collab.

[@nobody8717]

If doing your job results in security, maybe " annoying" shouldn't be how one treats that job...

[@jerm2332]

@@nobody8717 Well it’s something harmless, and said something keeps setting off what’s essentially a danger detector. Sounds pretty annoying if you ask me.

[@GogiRegion]

@@nobody8717 “Annoying” within security usually means that you need to do a more though manual review which takes away resources that would otherwise be able to review something else. If this is true, I could easily see a situation where a large influx of bananas could backlog security and force security people to rush a bit more through potentially dangerous packages, increasing the risk of radioactive material getting through. It’s probably not a major problem, but I think “annoying” probably does have use within the field.

[@thelistener1268]

YESSS! KYLE HILL!

[@GameCyborgCh]

I love the story about someone asking his friend working at a nuclear power plant if it was safe swimming in the pool of water they they cool down spent fuel and he said "Absolutely, it's perfectly safe unless you dive very deep. Though you would die from gunshots in your back before ever reaching the pool"

[@CacklingAntagonist]

Love these videos with Jim. He's game for a laugh and knows his shit

[@michaeldaigle7207]

Jim missed his calling as a stand up comedian. Love his jokes and reactions, hes got me here rollin.

[@ViviSectia]

You should try some of the anti5G and anti-radiation stuff. A lot of it has turned out to be radioactive.

[@Roshkin]

That's ironic.

[@pablofigueroa1505]

So in other words that nuclear scientist that used bananas to measure doses of radiation was using a banana for scale...Ill let myself out now

[@justinbanks2380]

I love that we get another episode with him! Such a delightful guest. And love that he is good natured about and seems to be even slightly amused by the rogues antics, but faar to smart to join in on silly things like, hey let's try this salt substitute straight. Lol He just stands there like an adult watching their kid try/learn something the hard way. Makes sure they don't hurt themselves, but also allow them to explore and figure out why people don't do things like whatever they are trying. 😂

[@vertex546]

There is actually a large market for "Self healing" products on Amazon that are largely radioactive. Things like Balance Bracelets and Healing Rocks. Amazon is actually having a hard time keeping the products off their site.

[@Halbostfriese]

You should try some of that esoteric "negative ion" stuff. Claims to remove "harmful radiation" from electronic devices. More often than not highly radioactive themselves. They come in all sorts of varieties, necklaces, bracelets, stickers...

[@piemonster11]

Peanut butter also has phosphors in it, try hitting it with a UV light for a few seconds to "charge it", and then see how it shines!

[@Cthulhu013]

I own a radium compass from the Army Corp. It's very 'interesting'. 1 milisievert per hour (which is the rough equivalent of an entire years dose of background radiation).

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

I love this guy, he is awesome. We need more videos with him!

[@stevesmith7339]

You should have done a pack of cigs. The story I've heard is that the fertilizer used to use was radioactive and it poisoned the land that they still use. I guess it's minimal enough to not be the worst thing about them, but it would have been interesting to test.

[@5avan10]

You can find uranium glass in many vintage shops. It fluoresces under black light, and it is very radioactive. Also, some vintage plates and mugs such as Fiestaware (especially the pre-1970s red ones) contain uranium.

[@DeliveryMcGee]

Look up David Hahn, a teenager who used the guts of stolen smoke alarms, tritium lantern mantles, and tritium paint (apparently you could still get it for paining on gun sights in the early '90s) to try to make a nuclear reactor in his mom's backyard shed. It probably didn't work, but he did succeed in creating a Superfund site when the Feds caught him in 1995. He died in 2016 aged 39, from overdosing on a combination of drugs that was even less smart to try than his reactor project

[@seanlemaster19]

If you wanna refresh your memory on this search radioactive boy scout

[@justinkasica]

There is an experiment where you make like a cloud box where you can see certain types of cosmic particles pass through. A couple other channels have done this and I feel it would be a good video for your radioactive series you are doing.

[@abelzsok7457]

Try a tig welder rod, some of them contains thorium. It would be good subtitude for the lamp mantle

[@MattFowlerBTR]

I was very happy to see the smoke detector in the lineup - I have ALWAYS thought it very cool how that works, ever since I learned about it at school.

[@HaralHeisto]

They got pretty lucky that it was an americium one - most cheap modern smoke alarms are entirely optical (same principal, shine an IR light across a dark chamber with the sensor off-angle to the beam. If it detects IR, it must be reflecting off smoke particles)

[@Denkar11]

Found a device in an antique shop that was used to fit shoes to kids by x-raying their feet. Wasn't that harmful to the kids apparently (due to the one time exposure), but the salesmen were getting cumulative doses that caused problems. Wonder if it had any residual radioactivity?

[@HaralHeisto]

A "shoe-fitting fluoroscope"! Residual radioactivity would depend on whether the x-ray source in the base was still present. As long as that is removed, them all you really have is a wooden box with a phosphor screen - not radioactively "interesting".

[@thebackchannel1641]

Please scan some Hershey bars. The Hershey chocolate factory was downwind from the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.

[@karateman1988]

This dude's like seeing an eod guy sprinting, if he says "Wow, that's fascinating!" RUN

[@icecreep109]

So, I am both a nuclear engineer and a hobbyist. A while back I acquired some old thorium lantern mantles as a curiosity, and they are by far my strongest source. The tiny amount of thorium doping them gives off over 5000 CPM. Technically speaking, however, an the Americium 241 from an ionization type smoke would likely be the same order of magnitude (if you were to remove it from the casing of the detector), in my experience with lab grade Americium sources of similar size you get about around 2000 CPM. Due to the sensitivity of GM tubes, they *can* still detect alpha radiation, you'll just be detecting significantly less than what is actually being emitted.

[@SlyerFox666]

I think I've seen that on the back of a t shirt I'm a hobbyist nuclear engineer ... If you see me running ....😂

[@adamw2785]

Should have tested thoriated tungsten electrodes for TIG welders, especially since the electrodes degrade, meaning they could be breathing it in.

[@MrBogie4646]

True and they have exposure dose factors you can figure out for people that weld with them. They're the red rods and I think they're more common to be used.

[@WolvenSpectre]

The covers of Comic Books, Magazines, and Catalogues. They use a clay that is slightly Radioactive, although I read about a decade ago they started using a substitute to be more recyclable, but AIUI most still use the clay to make shiny gloss covers.

[@kcmule]

Thanks for the ideas fellas. The local geology museum has an active geiger counter display and I can't wait to mess with the staff :D

[@coyotedomino]

that salt is potassium chloride, as opposed to table salt which is sodium chloride. if the potassium salt is synthesized from potassium it would make a lot of sense to find a lot of radioactive potassium in it.

[@thatjonguy103]

So certain tiles like granite also put out small amounts of radiation, but it is detectable. The same goes for granite counter tops, etc. This has caused some confusion on one of the US Navy ships that is nuclear powered when they were frisking routes used to transport radioactive material or RAM (Yes this is routine), and would find levels above background where there was in fact nothing left behind from the RAM.

[@izzaaay]

granite specifically releases radon gas, and it can reach somewhat dangerous levels, it generally varies from piece to piece. this is why it's recommended to have radon detectors if you have granite countertops or tile.

[@MattCoversTech]

Look up the story of David Hahn. Built a nuclear reactor as a teen in his backyard shed, and used old smoke detectors. Pretty wild. He was caught btw.

[@holdyerblobsaloft]

I saw a documentary about food production once where they showed a nacho chip factory radiating the packed bags of chips to kill off any remaining bacteria.

[@rationalbushcraft]

I have a older military compass that has the radioactive symbol and a warning right on it. It can be in the pack for months in the dark and it still glows.

[@andrews4321]

A great follow up would be a discussion of the Radioactive Boy Scout (and why to not do what he did)

[@fyredoesidiotgames8451]

David Hahn, the atomic boy scout. Yes he was ambitious but quite stupid.

[@jamesfair9751]

As an avid watcher of House MD I can say the Brazil nuts are definitely radio active. They almost killed a CIA agent because his job had him on such a secret mission they didn’t tell house where the guy was stationed and so he missed the Brazil nuts at first.

[@akakscase]

You didn’t finish the episode did you? Brazil nuts share an appearance with another nut in the region which is high in arsenic. The agent was dying of heavy metal poisoning, not radiation poisoning.

[@tylerlowder2338]

I have a long time friend who was in the coast guard who said toilets set off their Geiger counters on cargo ships.

[@willb.383]

I really enjoyed Brian shouting “Nana” at me.

[@carlz0r]

Similar to that greenish glassware, you could also look at Fiestaware plates from between 1936 and 1972. Something in them was pretty radioactive, and they were eventually changed. The plates are still made to this day, but with different stuff.

[@fyredoesidiotgames8451]

Uranium glassware.

[@kennethmoyers1396]

Although I doubt it would move the needle past 'something' and into 'interesting', I'm told that cinderblock is a little more radioactive than you'd think.

[@roymollenkamp991]

Y'all need to test the old school Fiesta Ware. The Nuclear Museum in ABQ has some on a turn table that rotates past a geiger counter, and the counter goes nuts every time the plate goes by.

[@raa6504]

Try thoriated tungsten tig welding electrodes, the red tip ones. You can play with one vs the whole box. You can also try an old uranium painted plate. Steal a fuel rod, a nuclear waste barrel or a piece of the Chernobyl reactor.

[@bradlybellant3975]

I love going to all the Modern Rogoe ads just so the advertisers see the traction

[@willmfrank]

Mal: Define "Interesting." Wash: "Oh God oh God, we're all gonna die!"...? -- Joss Whedon, "Serenity"

[@KarbineKyle]

👍 Nice video! I always enjoy watching your videos when I can! They're quite interesting! Thank you! Radioactivity is my favorite hobby! I collect all kinds of sources! I've measured a lot of radioactive sources, and have found some rather interesting ones too! I've found smoke detectors with americium-241, radium-226, and even plutonium-239. When the source is removed, it is still a "sealed source", meaning that the active material is sealed, but the radiation can escape, which is a good thing. These can cause counts that can be well over 100,000 CPM at contact. A sheet of paper will block the alpha particles. Radioactive isotopes have been used in many applications that a lot of people don't know about, like radium-226 in radioluminescent toggle switches. The tips contain a glass shell, and the activated zinc sulfide (which produces light when exposed to alpha particles) and radium-226 mix is sealed inside them, so the tips can be seen at night. I have about 3 dozen radium-226 switches from the USA and USSR. I could go on, but this comment would be incredibly long! 👍

[@laaslassen6928]

Because you guys are from the US thats probably not an option but over here in Europe we went to some Woodstores and Hardwarestores with a Geiger Counter and we got some quite interesting results. Same with going to east European countreis and measuring mushrooms.

[@lokithecat7225]

I'm shocked Grandpa Murphy isn't trying to feed Spiders "Radioactive" Bananas in an effort to make "Radioactive" Spiders, in his continuing quest to become Arachna Man.

[@samott5043]

They should talk about the radioactive Boy Scout who wound up building a reactor in his back yard and it is now a superfund sight

[@KillerSpud]

immeasurable is not the same as unmeasurable.

[@mattyd6978]

Am I the only one who said “salt-ernatives” at 3:40?😂

[@fakjbf3129]

The entire point of the Banana Equivalent Dose is that it's so tiny you don't actually need to worry about it, it gives you a point of reference to know what is dangerous and what is not. The only people worried about the radioactivity of bananas are people who heard about the BED without understanding what it's conveying.

[@mikenichol4040]

First yay awesome video and wow that salt is crazy.

[@htmagic]

Use thoriated welding rods. Still used for aerospace and nuclear welding applications. Vaseline glass which it appears you had but didn't really discuss it. Also Feistaware had uranium in it to give it its red color.

[@ModernRogue]

Watch last week's episode!

[@FlareDarkStormGem]

I live near a nuclear power plant and I've had people online express concern for how close I live, but I'd always been interested in nuclear physics and have researched enough to understand the risks (and lack thereof) plus I know someone that works at the plant who knows even more, and they also talk about how safe it is. I would feel MUCH less safe if it was a coal or oil power plant in the same spot

[@Dangothammagic]

we used to use Yellow Fiestaware to see a meter response while training our new HPs

[@ryla22]

Funny thing about nuclear material in fire alarms: There's been multiple instances of people trying to make homemade nuclear power generators. Mostly in Canada since it's legal here (but not recommended)

[@Millzieeeee]

i heard the geiger counter noise from the beginning of the video and hyper focused on it so now i cant watch it , thanks hahaha

[@sambroadhurst0]

Have a look at some of the negative ion stuff like a nume card for products being sold on amazon which are currently being banned for how dangerous they are. The Thought Emporium has some good examples and explanations about what you should be worried about and how to get stuff banned if you want to do a Collab or get some inspiration on relevant items. Don't breath in the white powder in the items.

[@wolfrig2000]

Buy some of the "Negative Ion Stickers" off Amazon and eBay and check out how radioactive they are!

[@UnhingedBear]

Thoriated Tig welding electrodes are still quite common. I would be interested in seeing how much those put off.

[@promiscuous5761]

Thank you.

[@Dr_Monitor]

I remember a RussianBadger video where one of his buddies brought up "there's a certain amount of potassium that's radioactive. We worked it out, and it would take approximately 40,000 bananas to kill you," to which another one of his buddies, Bing, responded "oh yes, THE RADIATION would kill you," implying that the radiation isn't what would kill you first, it's trying to consume 40,000 bananas in one sitting.

[@jonnyd8399]

I know a mountain in AZ that has "hot " rocks.... could give you a GPS.

[@trevorrobinson6001]

I have a suggestion, Tig welding electrodes and some other welding adjacent stuff

[@akakscase]

If you can find it, old leaded paint and glass has detectable amounts of U243 in it.

[@VICTORYOVERNEPTUNE]

Tritium Compasses are still made. Watches with tritium lumes are also still produced.

[@Kobay350]

My dad worked in nuclear power for most of my life. He also had a banana most days of the week. In his yearly radiation labs they could tell he was eating them. Obviously these were very sensitive tests.

[@lordorion5776]

try some granite over here in NH granite is thought to contain trace amounts of Uranium

[@LostButBroken]

Should do a collab wit Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't, and find out types of plants at MR HQ

[@zackchapman8701]

A military lensatic compass... and a acog scope both I believe are alpha emitters

[@parasite159]

so i've heard if you rapidly unroll a roll of sticky tape(Sellotape/Cellotape here in the UK), it produces X-rays.

[@IceMetalPunk]

From what I understand, the health science behind salt and blood pressure is that if you already have high blood pressure, sodium salt can make it worse, but if you don't, it won't cause it.

[@maxmoller]

Fake salt is 6 times as radioactive as a smoke detector. 🤔 Guess it's time to start some scary fake news on twitter. 😁😁 On a serious note. That was indeed cool, and unsuspected. Great show, boys 👍 Ohh. And they still use tritium in watches. I'm actually wearing one of them right now. 😄

[@Kaepsele337]

Idk if it's "fake" news... everyday radiation is usually fine as long as you don't ingest radioactive material. I'd actually be careful with it.

[@maxmoller]

@@Kaepsele337 I know. Just in case you didn't catch it. It was a joke. Cause that's usually the kind of bullshit some actually posts about. 😄

[@Jdogblingbling]

Orange ceramic plates you can find in antique stores can be really spicy

[@jacobyspurnger8488]

What about florescent light bulbs?

[@Urayuss]

1:45 Chext Essray lolol

[@PAPO1990]

I knew bananas were radioactive, one day long ago, I got curious and decided to ask google how many bananas you would have to eat to get radiation poisoning… it was a comical amount, I stopped worrying about it after that… I still don’t LIKE bananas, and I will still gaslight people with “OMG BUT THEY ARE RADIOACTIVE!!!” But I do it for teh lulz 😛🤣

[@jincyquones]

Try cigarettes! Try cigarette butts separately too because maybe the filter catches some of the radioactive gunk. Veritasium did a video on radiation a long time ago and concluded it by saying that smokers' lungs are the most radioactive places on Earth or something like that.

[@stevenutter3614]

7:18 Come on Doc you know as well as I do that the companies employing the radium girls knew damn fucking well the dangers of working with radium like that everyday, and they not only continued to employee them and hire more girls, but then turned around and refused to pay for the medical costs and shit. That's why it was a whole big thing. Think of how many times, something was dangerous and we didn't know until it was too late , (in the thousands of occurrences) now think of how many times the massive companies were aware and failed to warn their employees and or customers, or the world( in the tens or hundreds at the most) Leaded gasoline, radium girls, climate change, smoking, asbestos, the list go on, but the point is that is why there even is a listing on wikipedia for radium girls, and it's not just lumped in with the radium listing.

[@iteragami5078]

That reminds me of the video by Veritasium on how leaded gasoline came about.

[@willmfrank]

Thanks to Mr. Murphy "an Irresponsible amount" is now an official quantity designation.

[@ghostking6838]

to quote the joke from the russian badgers channel "if you ate 40'000 bananas in 10 minutes you would die of radioactive poisoning"

[@washinthewind]

I dunno if it is something you can test, but I recall an episode of Leverage where they used the presence of a radioactive isotope to prove/fake that a bottle of wine was pre-WWII. I bet Daniel and Rex probably have some whiskey bottle you could...alright, I'm just looking for an excuse for Brian to drink old expensive whiskey.

[@emartin7166]

It has to do with the concentration of the Carbon 14 isotope in the item. Nuclear testing around WWII measurably raised the concentration of carbon 14 in the atmosphere, so the theory is that items produced pre-WWII will contain less C14 than items produced post-WWII.

[@ericvaninwegen6384]

Other fun thing to try would be to see the difference in shielding. Alpha particles get stopped so easily - couple of sheets of paper will drop levels by an order of magnitude. (This is kinda what Jim was talking about with the fire detector and the plastic casing.) Beta particles and gamma rays need much more shielding. IIRC, the Thorium in the old mantles is mostly an Alpha emitter. Also, the Radon in some basements is problematic because it's a gaseous alpha emitter - which means the inhaled Radon can emit the Alpha particles aren't attenuated by the skin. (Also, it decays via series of reactions, so it winds up not being just Alpha, but, ya'kno, what's so harmful about inhaling a radioactive gas? /s)

[@WoahItsWoozy]

Summary: Brian and Jason are science adjacent while adjacent to a scientist

[@urban1337]

I like this guest.

[@pavelmichalek108]

how about if you take that toy into the store's food section and buy all the products which show as "interesting", blend them together and see what kind of interesting mixture we get

[@GumbyTTL]

There are two ways to use a paper plate. The right way and the Brushwood way.

[@toasterboss9147]

NANA?! INTERNET, NORD VPN, MAKE BAD GUYS WHO HIDE IN YOUR COMPUTER GO AWAY 🤣

[@GeorgeT0504]

You guys should get a helmet from the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, those things are crazy radioactive and get stolen by stalkers and sold without people knowing the danger lmao

[@Mr_Phox]

Of course as we all know, nowadays tritium is mostly used for fusion reactors.

[@Zelmel]

What else would be interesting? Some old surplus depleted uranium ammunition or casings from them?

[@boid9761]

Since you talk about radium a lot, perhaps get your hands on antique glowing watch hands

[@blaise007films]

Honestly have been waiting for this episode for so long. Now can we get them to visit Chernobyl.

[@WrightWorld]

I suspect that it will be fairly complicated, logistically, to visit Chernobyl at the moment.

[@fyredoesidiotgames8451]

No go on Chernobyl due to the war with Russia, just because it's dangerous and the idiot Russian soldiers dug trenches in the still radioactive soil stirring up danger spots in the area.

[@MichaelHuikeshoven]

Banana for scale for inmasuarable, i like it

[@thekikendallsautoandrandom1271]

Milspec lensatic compases still utilize tritium.