Uranium is safe compared to this...

In this vial, is a concentrated form of uranium called sodium diuranate (Na2U2O7), and it's extremely radioactive. What's kind of weird is that this little box, is even more radioactive, but it isn't filled with a bunch of pure radioactive material, and it's just some old watch hands. However these watch hands, are painted with something called radium, that's 1000000x more radioactive than uranium.
#shorts

[@RJ-kb3qf]

“It’s kind of scary that people used to wear these around” *has a whole box of them in his house*

[@RemoteCamper]

I'm going to make my own box now. First I need a Giger counter, and I shall hit all the antique stores.

[@malter87]

i dont think that's his house 🤣 or his watch hands

[@-yeme-]

even scarier when you think that they were manufactured by painting the hands with radium-containing paint. and the women who did it used to get their brushes to a fine point by licking them. they all died, basically.

[@chrisreagin8184]

@@malter87 it very clearly is his stuff🤡

[@chrisreagin8184]

@@malter87 ether way he’s grabbing it and shit lol

[@bendkok]

You know you're in trouble when the Geiger counter makes a continuous tone.

[@EdKolis]

It means you're about to flatline 😁

[@notanusualmango0064]

bepbepbep bebebebebep BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE E E E EP

[@libertylad1868]

Not really though

[@ayuballena8217]

@@libertylad1868why not

[@Matt_History]

​@@ayuballena8217depends on the model and setting. If it's trying to detect trace amounts or deviations from background levels it'll go to a solid tone at anything above background, giegers designed to protect personnel are way, way harder to get that far.

[@BoldOne8760]

My grandparents both moved to England from Ireland and both worked in a factory making watches and speedometers and things like that in the 50s and 60s. The met each other there and returned home to have a family together. They both worked a lot with radium and uranium paint. Sadly both of them would eventually die of cancer decades later. In college I was studying a module on medical physics and in it we were taught about radium watches. Our lecturer showed us some pictures of a factory in England manufacturing these things and in each picture I saw a woman who looked like my aunt and a man who looked like my uncle. It was my grandparents.

[@Zirui_Ma]

I'm very sorry to hear that, I'm sorry for your loss.

[@fanBladeOne]

What a story. Thanks for sharing.

[@babyramses5066]

Holy shit that story went from 😊 to 🫢 to 😢 to 😮 back to 😟 life was so hard back then. Rip to your grandparents

[@0DTEVIXCALLS]

​@@babyramses5066 Companies would STILL be using it if they weren't forced to stop

[@dsksworld7118]

That's so painful to hear, my comrade 😢

[@elonchan4883]

What’s scarier is to think that people manufactured those watches with no protective equipment whatsoever, then their employer gaslit them that their sickness and cancer was unrelated

[@abbyelectric]

the fact that they were encouraged to lick the brushes to keep them pointy, too. Gross what people used to get away with.

[@timecode37]

And the employers knew about the dangers at an early point

[@nicodesmidt4034]

@@abbyelectricthat’s capitalism for you 😢

[@1969robe]

Watch the poisoner's handbook it tells a lot more about this story

[@TheTundraTerror]

​@@nicodesmidt4034what the fuck are you talking about?

[@Slushboy64]

What's even scarier is that if consumed the body thinks it's just calcium and sends it directly to your bones where it literally decomposes your bones from the inside out.

[@NageelaMom]

Yeah. Radium Girls is a wonderfully terrifying book

[@borkiboi2667]

Huh, neat

[@thekak2627]

That's just a old feature from the developers

[@iwishic0uldw1n24]

Yum

[@davemiller638]

The better calcium, tastier too

[@u238productions]

“It doesnt sound very happy” the tombstone reads

[@ShreyasGaneshs]

That box is not blocking any of the radiation trust

[@angterrastriker6535]

I would love that on my tombstone

[@DTAM-Aviationshorts290]

1.5k likes and 2 comments? Lemme fix dat

[@dragonashly3383]

Well, better not cremate the body and spread the ashes in the park

[@preppertrucker5736]

@@dragonashly3383☢️☢️💀💀

[@silverserpent420]

Let us remember the women that worked and died painting radium onto the watch hands. Literally taught to lick and twirl the paintbrush in their mouths to keep them pointed. Imagine usually doing this every couple dips. It had catastrophic results. RIP Ladies.

[@AezlyndWanderin]

They were even encouraged to use it in their makeup routine to prove to the public how safe it was. So much for safe - one girls jaw came out when the dentist was just trying to pull a tooth. Their bodies were so radioactive that they had to be buried in lead coffins.

[@awm19delta]

Radium girls! 😢

[@timmullen8951]

I understand woman did the same thing to paint glow-in-the-dark numbers on rotary dial telephones.

[@ulbuilder]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWmaZneMecmgpKcsi=syua1JJaajqdMA-0

[@bird65413]

Hi 🐦

[@ZhaojuEphastine]

It's pieces for the Big Fucking Guns before the 9000th one

[@pavax2865]

Is that a doom reference? 😂

[@ZhaojuEphastine]

@@pavax2865 You got it! Congrats! :}

[@yolothestronz2267]

Was waiting for this comment

[@schlomokomo]

Finally someone recognises the three letters!

[@commander-km6fh]

Finally someone noticed the name

[@GeographyFacts1]

What’s even scarier is that that’s concentrated uranium compared to some radium paint

[@fj5434]

Wow

[@Animation_neo]

Oh no

[@wiandryadiwasistio2062]

*some* 💀💀💀💀💀💀

[@acdc4537]

It's not a lot of radium tbh. Not only that, a vast majority of radium decay is stopped by something as simple as a piece of paper. Wouldn't be too worried. A piece of glass/acrylic that watches used to be made with prior to artificial sapphire glass, and the multiple metal pieces of watch movement it used to be a part of would have been enough. The real problem is the hands are now separated from that vessel and are basically concentrated in one area, hence the spike. Just a little education on that, too: some professional series watches from companies like Ball and Marathon have hands that still have radioactive material in them (now they switched to tritium tubes, though).

[@Battlezepro]

Ever heard of plutonium😊

[@maymkn]

You know it's dangerous when NileRed doesn't taste or sniff it.

[@Hectorious_]

or drink

[@VariouslyCommon]

Or eat

[@supreme_xenon]

or lick

[@homemadeluty3590]

Or boof

[@devanwentzel4590]

I did very yummy

[@catlover7015]

If you want to learn something a little disturbing, look up the radium girls. Basically, in the early 1900 there were a few watch factories that hired young girls to paint watches with luminous paint. However, the brushes were so small that, to get the brushes thin enough to paint, they needed to keep licking the bristles every few strokes (similar to licking a thread before putting it through the eye of a needle). The paint was made with radium. The people in charge of the factories knew this and handled the paint with proper care, but actively encouraged the girls to use their lips to keep the brush sharp.

[@Corin-v3c]

supernova really gave us some of the best and worst material ever

[@Dane_Latimer]

Didn't one of them paint their nails "glow in the dark" and had some bad health problems after

[@daveyboy8320]

Yeah some painted nails, necklaces, earrings, one even put it on her teeth for some reason or another. The amount of stories where someones "lower mandible falls off" related to the radium girls is a terrifying prospect to think about ☠☢

[@tw8464]

Yep. This is why corporations CANNOT be trusted.

[@marktwain2053]

Just like the leftists in the government, they didn't really care.

[@evalopez1454]

You know you're in trouble when the Geiger counter stars playing "Staying alive".

[@OfficiallySnek]

Even scarier is the fact that the amount of radium found there is absolutely miniscule

[@Tibbs_Farm]

I had that realization too. The amount of uranium was massive compared to the radium.

[@tantalizingtiddies7387]

Have you heard the story of the radium girls?

[@guymanguy5208]

Yeah, I guess I'll be reducing wearing my old G-Shock 😅 Turns out the watch with the actual radium was long gone, iirc granddad quickly got rid of it after we bought a geiger c. and noticed radiation coming from the box where the watch rests.

[@aoki6332]

Today i found this crazy thing it called a demon core look what it does if i put a brick on top of it

[@iwanttwoscoops]

@@aoki6332 stay in school kid, and give your mom her phone back

[@beasty4545]

Marie Curie: I discovered a new element and it's making me sick Scientists and businessmen: Put that stuff on everything!

[@MongooseTacticool]

Also, paint it with lead paint and fill it with CFCs!

[@infernaldaedra]

radiation only affects people and has almost no ill effects on the environment. In fact its better for the environment to irradiate an area than it is to let people just walk around being humans. That's pretty fucked up.

[@castleanthrax1833]

@@infernaldaedra I'm not gonna "Google" this but I'm sure it's not too good for animals either. 💥🐈👈👎👎

[@ronandevlin1479]

@@castleanthrax1833 You're correct, though I think the point is more about what a lack of humans does to the local ecosystem. Chernobyl and the fishing exclusion zone of the deepwater horizon spill demonstrate this. Both of these have also had a lot of negative impacts on the environment, though. It's really interesting to read about exactly what the ecological impacts have been for things like this.

[@castleanthrax1833]

@@ronandevlin1479 Sorry to disagree with you but my comment was disagreeing with the statement about radiation only affecting people. I was pointing out that radiation hurts animals, as well as humans. My comment had nothing to do with people vacating an area.

[@eternalstudios4502]

Nile: its scary people were wearing these around. Also Nile: Has a box full of it

[@IronFist.]

Good thing that can has a clear radioactive warning label on it otherwise someone might think these are just delicious little trinkets

[@larryd9577]

Even more scary is that the girls which painted them licked the brush after each clock arm. There is a movie about that "Radium Girls"

[@StereoPixelMusic]

I came here to say this, most got cancer and died really young

[@kasugaifox8571]

There ate a few documentaries on KZbin about it.

[@MrGreen57838]

I was forced to watch that movie in school by my teacher

[@jamesg7371]

The high school I work at is doing that play this year.

[@Jackson-vg6rz]

Bones had holes

[@mendonesiac]

RIP to the women tasked with painting those watch dials

[@mh6276]

WOW I did not think that so many people would know about that.

[@alexc6263]

Learnt about it in school so I’m sure a lot of others did too

[@TCHcardinal]

They were taught to lick the brush tips to get them to stick together better too. Terribly sad story

[@Tunkkis]

Yes, this was the real issue behind the radium paint. Not the little bit in a metal case on your arm, but the industrial quantities handled by the manufacturing workers.

[@Sasuhinagirl1]

Real

[@colleennobbs7218]

I read an article in the NewYorker Magazine about a teenager who wanted to create a “fissionable”reaction. He collected old paint used for clock hands ….it was a fascinating tale.

[@Benoit-Pierre]

An other one used smoke detectors ...

[@digginggopher]

​@@Benoit-Pierreif I was rich I'd order 1000 smoke detectors from Amazon just to get the knock on the door

[@petermacmillan2428]

Crazy that people were putting radium not only in things like watch dials to make them glow, they also put it in toothpaste and stuff.

[@BetaDude40]

Don't forget Radiathors, which were "male enhancement" codpieces that were supposed to make a man more verile. This was back in the day when we didn't know that your balls are 100% the most dangerous place to point ionizing radiation towards

[@abhuday7294]

Nile: it’s very radioactive and dangerous Also Nile: Proceeds to toy with all them

[@gardmyhr6121]

In old time, they fought radioactive material was good for your body, since they did it in small doses and saw cancer cells dieing and not other cells(after time it did tho). They littlerly made raidumwater for daily use if you are sick because as I said, it kills cancer cells and bacteri cells.....

[@Cheesecannon25]

It's perfectly safe to handle for small periods

[@Alhumdulila786]

Nile secretly has superpowers

[@kenyalmb]

Like a boss

[@watcherofwatchers]

Dead meme is dead.

[@flydumbah]

"i can test this by putting a geiger counter near it..." Fucking thing flatlined my guy...

[@CinnamonWalt3r]

Same thought here

[@johnhenry2837]

I'm dead 🤣

[@melo-7904]

@@johnhenry2837 so is the counter apparently

[@gamefreak2016]

Casually says “it doesn’t sound really happy” you fuckin think???? 🤣

[@emceechupitheundying5692]

The first 2 numbers were 69

[@regtaylor1163]

I play electric guitar. One day, I was playing, there was beeping sound coming out of my amp. I started checking my signal chain, and narrowed it down to my quartz watch emiting an EM pulse every second, thru my arm into the pickups. I wear a self winding watch now.

[@bwhog]

Try putting your TV remote control over your pickup and then press a button.

[@DeruwynArchmage]

Don’t stress dude. It’s perfectly safe. Electrical engineer here. If your watch wasn’t running on fiber optic cables using ultraviolet light, you’re fine. (It wasn’t, that was a joke.) You’re surrounded by EM radiation constantly. We always have been, ever since we first became single celled life 3.x billion years ago. Light is one type of EM radiation, and while UV is powerful enough to hurt you in enough quantity, that’s because of the energy associated with its high frequency (30 - 800 PetaHertz (Peta means multiplying it by 1,000,000,000,000,000)). Your quartz watch operates at 32,768 Hertz. Those are extremely different numbers in terms of energy: Your watch: 2.17*10^-29 Joules UV photon: 1.99*10^-17 Joules In other words, a photon UV light is a trillion times stronger than a photon of radiation coming from your watch. UV light is called ionizing radiation, while stuff less powerful than that, say blue light, is called non-ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation means that it’s strong enough to kick the electrons off of your atoms which can cause damage to your cells. Non-ionizing radiation cannot do that… ever. It doesn’t have enough energy to do it. That doesn’t mean that *HUGE* amounts of lesser wavelengths can’t do anything bad to you, but they can’t cause cancer like high frequency EM radiation can (UV, X-ray, Gamma, Cosmic). For an example of lower frequency radiation, microwaves run at about 3 GHz which happens to be an excellent frequency for vibrating water molecules. (Vibration we call heat.) Enough infrared light can burn you (heat from a campfire). But again, we’re talking about massive quantities. Believe me, in the lower frequencies, if you’re getting enough to hurt you, you’ll notice (staring at the sun for example, though that has a broad spectrum of wavelengths). Incidentally, visible light falls in the range of 405 - 790 THz. Anyway, your quartz watch is entirely incapable of hurting you with the microscopic amount of radiation it emits. Not in a million years. Your guitar puts off way more. It also can’t hurt you, I promise. Keep enjoying your guitar. The pickups are just very sensitive. I’d find it neat, not scary.

[@chromestarGameVid]

And the background stories of these radium watches are about many poor "Radium Girls", in which they all died from making these watches

[@easybakeoven15]

If you research the “Radium Girls” you’ll learn a lot about why they painted the watch hands, but in short it’s because Radium glows in the dark. The Radium Girls would use little paintbrushes to paint the watch hands, and they would wet their brushes with their mouth. All of them, unfortunately, died of radiation poisoning very young when their bones essentially deteriorated.

[@zayd4078]

Or that one guy (Eben Byers ?) who drank multiple bottles of Radium-infused water until his jaw fell of

[@outdoorfrenzy]

Don’t forget to add when the Radium Girls used it as make up and painted their nails with it.

[@Chris47368]

Radium within the paint was not actually what caused the paint to glow in the dark - not directly anyway. The paint consisted of the radium based compound with doped zinc sulphide - the radiation from the radium would bombard the zinc sulphide and cause it to fluoresce. Fun fact(s): Many of these old radium watch dials no longer glow anymore, despite still remaining very radioactive. The radiation emitted by the radium actually degrades the zinc sulphide pigment over time - thus losing its ability to glow when exposed to the radiation. Radioactive materials can actually cause a glow on their own if strong enough emitters, they emit a blue glow around them caused by the radiation ionising the surrounding air. Metallic Radium may actually do this(faintly), Technetium metal does this too and Caesium 137 compounds also emit quite a glow. If you were to encounter a strange blue glowing material with no apparent energy source IRL - might be a good idea to get away from that material as fast as possible 😂 Blue glowing alpha emitters might not be so bad provided you are some distance away from the source - but if it emits beta, gamma or even neutron radiation.... *RUN LIKE HELL!!!* ☢️💀 Regardless, I think the average person should run like hell if they were to encounter a strange blue glowing material 😂

[@adamsmasher9769]

@@Chris47368 that reminds me of the tragic story of the 3 guys who found a radioactive thing (i think it was part of a generator?) Somewhere in africa that used to be part of a soviet machine and decided to bring it with them for warmth. 1 lived, one fell apart from the back all the way through his organs because he leaned on it, and one died after 18 months of agony. Remember kids, if there is a hunk of metal with a ring of steam coming up around it in the snow, dont fuckin touch it!

[@Chris47368]

@@adamsmasher9769 Yelp...also reminds me of the case in Brazil where radioactive caesium 137 was spread all across a town without people initially realising - turns out these groups of men broke into an abandoned hospital and they found an old radiation source used to treat cancer patients....they cracked the shell open and released what appeared to them at the time as this "magical" and "beautiful" glow powder One guy even dipped his finger in the stuff and drew a cross on his chest with this powder....as you can imagine people died and many people got sick...the whole town was essentially contaminated and their was a *HUGE* clean up operation. Kyle Hill did an excellent video on this, actually: "One handful contaminated a city..." is the title TBH: If I was to end up in a situation where I were to receive a very severe radiation dose that I knew was 100% going to kill me slowly and horribly, I would probably just kill myself before my body went necrotic and started falling apart..lol

[@redhayden]

Him- "it's hard to believe people carried these around" Also him- owns a full box of the watch hands

[@lucaskp16]

that he has in hand for a few moments for the video. radiation is level in how much you should take in your whole life not in a day. he is taking nothing compared to someone carrying 2 of those hands in their pocket for decades. maybe the same that having one of those clocks for a day. i have one of those clocks in my house in a lead box that my father made when he learn about the radium in it. we could just sell it but is my GGF clock.

[@redhayden]

@@lucaskp16 I know, I just thought it was funny

[@SilentRacer911]

Those hands are beautiful. I’d clean and sell them

[@RJ-kb3qf]

Oh damn I thought my idea was original 😭 kinda glad I’m not the only one who thought this way tho

[@toucan6109]

Yea and considering how much radiation the geiger was picking up, and he was holding both in his hands...

[@Future_Pheonix]

Makes me wonder what kinda stuff could be in antiques and how potentially dangerous it could be..

[@xxskizzumxx]

Anything old that glows in the dark is likely radioactive

[@MysteryUser-Who-Is-Mysterious]

Gotta get a Geiger for antique shopping.

[@sebxs.-.]

there was this golfer and he got prescribed radium as a painkiller after an incident where he fell and injured his arm, and it literally decomposed his jaw from the inside out and his jaw fucking fell right off, his name is eben beyers, if you look him up do so at your own risk the images are pretty gruesome.

[@saschamayer4050]

Radium Girls.

[@MysteryUser-Who-Is-Mysterious]

Thank you. Time to traumatize myself before bed.

[@js70371]

For those who are unaware; radium was once mixed with paint to make things which would glow in the dark. Such as watch arms and airplane instruments.

[@mickangio16]

I remember as a kid all the watches and alarm clocks glowed in the dark and I thought they were so cool.

[@HowsYourFaceFeel]

and it took 20 years to figure it out that its bad.

[@TheGingaWeirdo]

Let's not forget about the Radium Girls. May they all rest in peace

[@JUMALATION1]

@@TheGingaWeirdo I was just about to mention them. Having licked the radium paint brush when painting those clock details for so many years and then end up losing your lower jaw because of radiation damage is HORRIFYING

[@dantemariscal8679]

So many things of the past were deadly to people. I think the worst being asbestos because it was in EVERYTHING. Drywall, tile, break pads. Oven mitts, blankets, flue pipes etc.

[@the98goober]

“sodium diuranate” the Uranus of chemistry class

[@cheylovesgod]

I was gonna say that 😂

[@Flesh_Wizard]

"sodium death pissing"

[@sledger2066]

As a person in chemistry I never heard of this until this short

[@kamitsuki.6127]

So do you, umm, die urinate? (urinating)?

[@Pale_Edits]

It's yellow too 💀💀💀

[@tobybartels8426]

As soon as you said ‘watch hands’, I got chills.

[@hindurashtra63]

Well, That explains why we don't see many Old Watch Collectors anymore..

[@Lynbeats]

“ oh boy would you look at the time” dies from radiation sickness

[@itskindofemily]

HAHA

[@damncat2793]

HAHA

[@ryarod]

Thus reimagining the line, "Time to die."

[@QSBraWQ]

Radiation sickness is not that fast

[@prematuredgravy8033]

It's radioaction time

[@barakhall8970]

People didn't just wear them around. The women who painted the whatch tips used to lick the paint brushes which obviously caused all sorts of radio poisoning symptoms.

[@jerkycam]

Yep, there's a movie about it.

[@urubudopix976]

😋mmmmmradium

[@TheCrowFrend]

​@@urubudopix976gfuel:❌ gamersupps:❌ radithor:✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅

[@DeathmetalChad]

those were called radiumgirls... They licked the brush to give it a nie pointy end, like some artists do with (properly cleaned) brushes.

[@TheCrowFrend]

@@DeathmetalChad and they weren't paid?

[@Wqlfsbetter]

Casually pulls out extremely radioactive material

[@dbcooper030]

Maverick: “I have tone!” Radium: “Hold my beer.”

[@thesupremeduck]

"Hey Beavis, he said urinate."

[@cintowin]

I feel thoroughly sad for the ones who do not know what this is in reference to.

[@luheartswarm4573]

ehe he ehe eh eh eh eh

[@ZZZZZZz-_-]

Ehe he ehe “urinate” ehe he ehe sounds like balls ehe he ehe he ehe

[@L00D__]

uh huhuhuhuhuh that's cool

[@I_AM_DOGGO]

I am Cornelius I need tp for my bunghole

[@coffeejack7458]

"Oh what a lovely wrist watch you got there!" "Thanks.. It stops cell devision 💋"

[@onyedikachinwachukwu6379]

this 😂😂💔

[@yuxian20]

It makes my cells divide like crazy though. Got these strange new lumps on my lymph nodes

[@realeyes4734]

Radiation causes rapid cell division.

[@theotherasianguy8249]

@@yuxian20 damn. Nice mike wazowskis you got there, sir 😳⁉️

[@abelvanburen3057]

Since it's alpha radiation most of it gets stopped by the watch itself and the rest by a skin layer of dead cells so it's not that dangerous

[@sgtbrown4273]

"Man dont drop that yellow cake in here" 😂

[@python27au]

People used to wear them because they weren’t told how dangerous they were.

[@incognitomode940]

Honestly it’s a miracle this man hasn’t been severely injured just for our entertainment

[@robertharris6092]

Uh. Look up the radium girls.

[@jonahthrane812]

Luckily he probably stores it safely, and he doesn't stay near it for long. He definitely knows not to be exposed to it for too long.

[@hunterbaywolf577]

Really Look into the History of the Women who made those watches.

[@MCCLENNYJT]

The highest exposure he potentially took from the radium was 506.7927 mSv, which is the allowable short term dose for rescue workers taking life saving actions. Considering that he was exposed to this level for less than a minute, he's completely safe.

[@S0ULXZ]

"This is extremely radiocative" *proceeds to open it*

[@0x1EGEN]

The plastic container gives barely any protection against the radiation anyways.

[@bostonrailfan2427]

and leaves out that they’re safe unless ingested by licking them or inhaling dust particles

[@farqilion8747]

@@0x1EGEN it gives a complete protection though, alpha particles can travel only few centimetres IN AIR, and even less in any matter

[@0x1EGEN]

@@farqilion8747 Your skin also block alpha particles. Except radium emits all 3 types of radiation: alpha, beta and gamma. You saw him use the geiger counter over the container while it was closed and it was beeping like hell. Clearly does not provide protection.

[@farqilion8747]

@@0x1EGEN this is actually kinda weird if you think about it. This definitely should be radium-226, since other isotopes should have already decayed. And 226Ra is an alpha-emitter. Sure there is some gamma radiation also, because some nuclei are excited, but it shouldn't be that active under plastic cover 🤔

[@mailstorminurbox]

The fact that it stops beeping is scary

[@Timotei500]

Damn the BFG sure has evolved.I mean really from a box to a gun than can two shot a Cyberdemon

[@OptimusPhillip]

As soon as he opened the box, I knew where this was going. The stories I've heard about radium watches still make my skin crawl.

[@magnusbeast9194]

I have some of them

[@Alexander_l322]

Tell me or point me to some good stories please?

[@deepaknair6071]

Look up Radium girls

[@popphoenixh]

@@Ferix__ they arent that rare bruh

[@Michael-qv7pn]

Whats the problem?

[@fotoschopro1230]

What's even scarier is that the women who painted these *LICKED* their paintbrushes, which lead to their teeth falling out, facial bones melting and eventually death.

[@HereticDuo]

And the occasional super power.

[@fotoschopro1230]

@@HereticDuo No. They all got cancer. They probably still glow in their graves to this day.

[@thehollyraven]

@@HereticDuo No superpowers, unfortunately. These women actually died.

[@Anthracite_coal]

​@@thehollyraven the power of "forever sleep" you mean

[@uku4171]

​@@thehollyraven Yes. Except for the ones who turned invisible or gained the power of flight of course.

[@thegodking2759]

The gieger counter be like: I am making the sound of u in the hospital if u are around this stuff for too long!

[@Virtx0929]

So many things used to be radioactive. Radium was used to make glow in the dark watches, uranium was used to make glow in the dark glass, and cadmium was very commonly used in "food safe" orange paints

[@vguyver2]

The Radium Girls story is pure nightmare fuel. Both in body horror and how inhumanly companies treated them.

[@j.griffin]

Ebenezer Byers,as well. (golfer and industrialist) Unverified health supplements are not a good idea…

[@vguyver2]

@ButtPlugPacifier Well, when your entire jaw snaps in half and starts disintegrating at a routine dental visit, I would claim that as nightmare fuel. Do an image search if you think you can stomach it.

[@90sHONEY]

​@ButtPlugPacifier Your body falling apart while you're still alive IS a nightmare to most us.

[@Phearsum]

​​​@ButtPlugPacifier It really is though. Your bones turning to mush and falling off while you slowly rot to death helpless in your own skin is absolutely terrifying. Very few deaths as slow and painful as acute radiation sickness. Even the strongest morphine drip won't help. Makes even the most aggressive cancer look like a walk in the park. Maybe if WWIII pops off you'll get firsthand experience.

[@Idlepit2]

And you think companies treat people any differently these days? I wouldn't be surprised if in 100 years people look back in shock and horror at some the stuff we ingest or handle now..... Just because we think it is safe doesn't mean it actually is, smoking was considered safe and healthy for you at one point and were even promoted and in some case prescribed by doctors

[@shyrolax6244]

“Haha uride” *entire genome gets evaporated*

[@memkakes1514]

Good joke, 10/10

[@Zombie_Candyman]

Good joke, 10/10

[@prosperstarling3513]

Good joke, 10/10

[@vintage-art]

Good joke, 10/10

[@russel6541]

Good joke, 10/10

[@BobMonster037]

STAY BACK! I AM ARMED!” “Wait no your not?” I have a watch from the seventies.”

[@ilect1690]

when you said they were watchheads i knew exactly where they were from

[@beryllium1932]

BFG 9000: I'm a plasma cannon from DOOM! BFG 866: I'm your doom.

[@ethzero]

Massively underrated comment

[@RyanElkaakati]

I love it. Wasn't there one in duke nukem as well. BFG= Big Fucking Gun, LOL

[@Cohen-su5fs]

Fr

[@kotujun]

im sorry i cannot see bfg the same without seeing the 50 at the end.

[@theautisticdoomgod]

I LOVE DOOM!!!!!!!

[@terribleexampleofacat]

“The radium girls” the dubbed name for those who painted those watch heads. (The workers were all women because they had more “delicate and detailed” hands) They were encouraged to keep the brush pointed by putting it between their lips. This of course caused all sorts of health issues including (but not limited to) ‘honeycomb-like’ brittle jaws, lower jaws falling out and of course death. It didn’t at all help at the time that radium tonics were presented as a cure all.

[@goodmandiad2713]

You are old like me. We remember this or were told by our older friends. We have a duty to keep all these stories alive so the world does not repeat them. There is no legacy in the world now.

[@kruks]

@@goodmandiad2713 - Or they're someone who reads KZbin comments or Wikipedia.

[@choog5650]

@@goodmandiad2713 I'm pretty sure legacies become even easier to continue when you have a platform that stretches across the world.

[@gaetanodepaola2ndchannel179]

@@choog5650 it can be, but it can also turn for the worst. and part of it kinda did, sadly. but another part of it didn't. The Internet is a tool, and like other tools, it can be used for the good and for the bad. to an extent, we got massive amounts of both knowledge and misinformation from the Internet. the bad: bad people, mostly the companies behind social medias, have been trying to exploit us and make us worse for whatever reason. as such some of the mechanisms in them have been deemed destructive by many; especially the explicitly-programmed addictive nature of them. horrible intents could be masked with ease, and that puts us all in danger. but frankly, humanity has been in way worse dangers. the good: we've been given websites FULL of knowledge, stuff you would potentially need to go around the globe to get "IRL", as well as the ability of being able to communicate with people all around the world within seconds with no weird processes or costs. we were able to create virtual communities in which we could potentially do anything, share media, and live together, even if through a screen, thus inherently making our lives infinitely better.

[@IveGotItTwisted]

@@goodmandiad2713 I'm only 31 and I will pass the knowledge onto my daughters so things like this are never forgotten. I just happen to love history and docs of all kinds and I really hope my kids do too. Always try to keep learning 👌🏻 This will not be lost if we keep teaching it to the next generations 🙂

[@ManOfScience-fh9vw]

The people naming that chemical knew damn well what they were doing

[@natalias50]

Owners and management of the watch companies knew very well about cancerous effects exposure to radium.

[@josephhurst4902]

The reason radium was common in old watches was because it was used early on to make the Watch parts GLOW so they could be seen at night.

[@Adhjie]

Natural glowing substance in wikipedia has entered the chat

[@SSADO-]

@@Adhjie error: chat does not exist in the past

[@stuartmacdonald9289]

After two weeks exposure, youre entire body glowed in the dark. 🤣🤣🤣

[@batrachianbill9760]

Now they use tritium (or glow in the dark paint, but that needs to be charged by light)

[@gavmansworkshop5624]

Yep, the war wanted these.

[@smile--]

Just casually has a cursed box of watch hands

[@EEEEEEEE]

E‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

[@RetroReal01]

Didnt know a Single old watch is that radioactive

[@FrankFive30]

the cakes of glaggleland

[@christopherrogers303]

​@@EEEEEEEEthat's the sound the Geiger counter makes :)

[@RetroCaptain]

​@@RetroReal01 One, isn't. There is 50 sets of wristwatch hands in the tray. Back then many devices employed Radium for night use. Watch hands, bedside clock hands (worse) I believe aeroplane gauge hands or military vehicles gauge hands. So imagine having the watch, the clock, then spending hours in a military vehicle staring at the gauges

[@hannahmore9118]

If we had been told those luminous dials were radioactive, we wouldn't have worn them around.

[@cartersanson2329]

Imagine being stabbed by all those watch hands at once, scary

[@richardwelsh7901]

“It’s extremely radioactive” “So anyway, I mixed in the explosives because I wanted to see what happens”

[@apolosilver2054]

Don't give me ideas 😂😂😂.

[@SadMarinersFan]

@@apolosilver2054 me? Someone's bout to get raided by thr FBI

[@Jack-mt3fw]

@@SadMarinersFan Can’t get raided if my house is too radioactive to raid

[@hassanbeydoun2460]

"I started blastin'"

[@_Cfocus]

@@Jack-mt3fw lol

[@therealgyro]

"Mom my head hurts" " it's all because of that damn watch"

[@ksfishchannel]

Underrated comment

[@kord2003]

Haha, true

[@chaosbuilder1531]

Lolok

[@theunbeatable728]

The first time mama's right

[@joseluisreategui1573]

Finally they ain't blaming PS console or cellphones.

[@1993VolkswagenPassatGLXVR6]

When the Geiger counter begins to sound like it's flatline, you are probably screwed

[@R2Bl3nd]

I had no idea it was literally a million times stronger than uranium. Which makes it all the more ridiculous that it was hand-painted onto clocks and watches.

[@YourPalKindred]

I'd like to let everyone know what the safe levels of CPM cap at around 150 These get up to 88,000

[@PoopLoop202]

well, that also depends on the type of radiation it's putting off. Like uranium ore for example, is perfectly safe as long as you don't eat it or inhale its dust.

[@OnlyKaerius]

@@PoopLoop202 Yeah uranium is extremely toxic. You'll die from poisoning well before you'd suffer any effects from the radiation. Also uranium's main radiation type is alpha, and alpha particles rarely have enough power to penetrate skin. And of course having an extremely long half-life means that it's not very radioactive in the first place, the longer the half-life, the longer between decay events that emit radiation.

[@roronoazoro1668]

Ayoo 69 likes

[@ikcikor3670]

Isn't that safe amount for something like you can wear such object as a neckle your entire life and never get cancer?

[@squishybrick]

Ah 150, yes.. Not great, not terrible...

[@lahar2412]

“doktor, turn on my geiger counter.” “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”

[@theshellderinslowbrostail5422]

Radium... Raiden... Raidiem

[@ricardososa6579]

Joe

[@ricardososa6579]

@FilippoAndMind 6pm 798

[@siyacer]

Standing here

[@reviewman72here72]

@FilippoAndMind what

[@joshuadouglas1755]

Any phantom forces player is terrified of the BFG 866tge BFG 50 was crazy enough

[@lildumbguy]

This guy casually owns Radioactive material.

[@Abdullah-mn6sw]

Idk why on hearing Sodiumdiurinate I immediately thought "haha, radioactive pee"

[@helenevrevik6330]

Same duds

[@alvis2580]

We do be the same

[@dinos_preston]

Lol

[@kingmold_]

piss ultimate

[@iamsimp3069]

Same

[@gmailaccount880]

I like how it’s labeled “BFG” on it like that bigass weapon in doom that put a hole in mars

[@canny1913]

Since BFG uses some sort of nuclear power this makes sense lmao

[@VoidBastard]

My thoughts exactly my friend Lol

[@dimitrijekrstic7567]

"Big Fucking Gun"

[@marksmithwas12]

Big Friendly Giant?

[@Pahthum]

@@marksmithwas12 big fucking giant

[@1man1year150]

Women used to be the painters of the watch hands, when they would need a very thin tip, they would use their lips to "spin the tip" of the brush .... it eventually lead to many women suffering from radiation. Causing numerous tumors and cancers. One of which had her jaw fall off....

[@joshstinnett9815]

If anyone's concerned about vintage watches, know that radium hasn't been used since the 1950s, so most watches people collect are radium free. As for the older ones, the radiation from the trace amount of radium has to pass through multiple layers of steel and ends up just above background level in most cases. Just don't open the watches or mess with the paint and they're generally safe to wear. P.S. most of us went to middle school, so we already know about the Radium girls, thanks.

[@TheDramacist]

"Your watch is gorgeous. Is it gold?" "Yup, 18crt and plated with malignancy."

[@roobeedooo]

this baby not only shows the time, but shortens the amount of it u have left!

[@booyakashaboy7250]

@@roobeedooo where can I get one?

[@prawngravy18]

@@roobeedooo epic copied comment bro XDDDDDDddDDXDfFXXXDXC

[@HotboxedCoffin]

@@prawngravy18 CRinge

[@kookie_krissy6728]

Sounds like something albedo would say

[@sneakyfox4651]

-What time is it? -Ten to Death.

[@docriley79]

Oh god!

[@sneakyfox4651]

@@docriley79 Yes. Better swap your granddads' wristwatch for a contemporary one. (I have an Omega Seamaster that uses a non-radioactive florouscent substance to tell the time in the dark).

[@Kirillissimus]

Sometimes it is not very important how much time is left for you to live and what really matters is how many enemies you manage to kill while you are still alive. During the time having radium impregnated dials is not only acceptable but is even preferable as the constant light emittion allows for a more precise and convenient timing and the tiny margin may end up being just enough to make a difference between a victory and a defeat in some important battle. Today we have tritium and it gives the same performance while being significantly safer but back then radium was the next best thing.

[@sneakyfox4651]

@@Kirillissimus True. Besides, the biological side-effects of radiation were very poorly understood then. I mean, you could buy radioactive water to drink in those early days, and you could go too the shoemaker and get your foot X-rayed in a potential new pair of shoes to see how well they fit. And yes, having f.x. a commanding officer with a watch that could show the time in darkness could mean the difference between life and death to a whole battalion, not least under precisely timed artillery exchanges. Which reminds me of: Slava Ukraini!

[@awx5598]

💀😂

[@DP-wf8ws]

"But it's glowing, are you sure it's safe?" "Yeah sure it's to see in the dark, don't worry about it"

[@WiseGuy777]

The reason the watch hands were covered in radium was to make them glow so that you could tell time in the dark.

[@johnryan1386]

I’ve been a watchmaker for over twenty years and I can tell you just how often we encounter this, our workshop has a lead box to put them in.

[@akiraackerman4780]

Hows ur health

[@karozans]

@@akiraackerman4780 It's just fine. The radiation that comes from the watch hands does not have enough energy to make it through the watch crystal.

[@akiraackerman4780]

@@karozans Kinda off topic, but I've always wondered if our phones emit harmful radiation

[@karozans]

@@akiraackerman4780 They do. And your microwave too. And granite countertops too. But the question should be, is the radiation h4rmfvl enough to cause a problem for people, and the answer is for virtually everyone, no.

[@akiraackerman4780]

@@karozans I sure hope so, because I hold my phone a lot (as I'm sure most people do) and I worry about this 😬

[@Ninjafossils]

The Radium girls were a famous example of workplace hazard reform because so many of them got cancer from licking their paint brushes (per their bosses’ instruction) to paint the watch hands.

[@ragnarreudig2574]

for real? Which country? That sounds like the devil was there chef

[@CYXXYC]

@@ragnarreudig2574 they had no clue that it caused cancer before that happened, as well as such attitude toward workers has been a relic from the past

[@Benisuber1]

@@ragnarreudig2574 In Midwest America not 100 years ago.

[@MrKor4k]

Sure. Radium paintings on watches was fancy because of shining effect in the dark. Factory owners had knowledge about bad impact on health, however nobody stopped that, because of $$

[@karla7470]

@@CYXXYC at first maybe but companies continued on and hid the truth from their employees when they found out it was dangerous. Former employees protested for many years and these companies fought to stay open by denying the truth even by hiring scientists to lie about benefits of using radium.

[@django3422]

What's scary is what happened to the workers employed to paint the radium onto the watch hands. Especially after their bosses learned what was happening and kept it quiet.

[@user-bx7jw7cw2l]

They used to lick the brushes, but you knew that

[@nortonman5238]

Ah, yes, the 50s. Back when radium was good for you! And "Doctor Recommended"

[@damiencouturee6240]

Nah they knew it was dangerous af. The people making the paint wore full hazmat suits, then told the women that painted the hands it was safe. The girls would wet the paintbrush with their mouth and a lot of them just straight up had their jaws rot off. Some evil shit, it wasn't at all "not knowing" it was "lying to the workers". I know all those higher-ups are probably dead by now, but if not, I hope they're miserable.

[@tomokokuroki2506]

@@damiencouturee6240 Worse still, it was done just so they could disrupt the entire industry. They purposely poisoned people then blamed "capitalism" when the problem was just them. There's a reason all the companies in the USA are owned by like 10 people.

[@Tushar_Talwar_09]

​@@damiencouturee6240 kinda like with cigarettes.

[@pedrolmlkzk]

I hope doctors never recommend something truly dangerous for their patients ever agaib

[@kenetickups6146]

Sure bud

[@remveel2443]

"it's scary that people used to wear these around" What's even crazier is YOU having those around knowing they're radioactive af.

[@oumardiop1]

everyone knows nile is immune to toxic and radioactive chemicals

[@bower31]

It's really not, Radium emits alpha particles which can't pierce human skin. It's makes having them near you essentially harmless. The inverse is true though and if you ingest radium you will die as the alpha particles can't escape your body and will cause severe internal damage.

[@conar-jaybenner1472]

What do you mean have these around I fucking hope not explain please

[@Counter-Chicken]

@@conar-jaybenner1472 by “you” Rem is referring to RedNile, the guy who made this short

[@conar-jaybenner1472]

@@Counter-Chicken ah I see

[@Lewbugsyeetgang6098]

Geiger counter: *continuous tone* NileRed: *opens box anyway*

[@nintenx1235]

So THAT'S what powers the BFG in DOOM.

[@knightslayer8759]

"69491" Dang it that was Close! Could've gotten a Legendary Radioactive numbers

[@19videogame]

Beat me to the comment. Damn you 😂

[@ledos392]

Yeah I was gonna say 🤣 it was 71 to high

[@bulk1173]

69420

[@Sly_Maverick_31]

@@bulk1173 The funny number

[@gregoryf4186]

I was gonna say the same thing

[@tdcfc]

A box labeled BFG. Doomguy enters the room.

[@ViliamF.]

I like to think it's Big Friendly Giant 😅

[@MEMEHELLiv]

Big fucking guy

[@CTP0544]

BFG 866 was the prototyping phase, the gun was powered by radioactive watch hands

[@romeroa5343]

@@ViliamF. big fucking gun

[@Mister_BIack]

"Attention everyone! NileRed acquired the BFG!"

[@veroxid]

For those that don't know, the hands were painted with radium because the full compound that they were coated with _(not just radium)_ would glow in the dark.

[@omaromar50111]

what everyone sees: radio active element what i see:MANGO JUICE

[@randaranatunga7259]

“And for today’s video I’ll be recreating a watch from a couple of decades ago, which is basically a mini nuclear reactor”

[@dimethylether7179]

NILEGREEN REFERENCE

[@Romeren]

i basically heard Nile's voice say your comment

[@dustenekoes28]

“I’ll even paint the watch hands myself, and it’ll take three layers of paint to achieve the right amount of glow. I just need to make sure that the hairs of the paintbrush are nice and straight, and I’ll do this by licking it before painting the next layer.”

[@Romeren]

@@dustenekoes28 That sounds "Rad"!

[@dustenekoes28]

@@Romeren it’s a “jaw-dropping” idea!

[@decemberist177]

Him: Says big sciencey word Me: Laughs at “urinate”

[@mrmeme1426]

Lol same

[@SteggDaug]

Me too cuz its yellow

[@rell4sho]

😂🤣💀💀💀

[@mkvector9539]

So Yum D i e Urinate.

[@jerrypeppler1484]

…or uranium death pee.

[@Zippy_Zolton]

Everything clicked with me when you said "watch hands"

[@spherius2account]

People thought that radioactivity has healing and magical powers

[@droneshots6192]

What’s even more scary is how, the girls working in the factories, paining radium on to the watches, would lick the paint bush between dips into the radium paint. They thought that the radium wasn’t bad. Lost of people even said that it was good for you and could actually help with many different medical problems. Then they found out how bad it was, and all the girls working with it would get sick and most die at an early age. Scary

[@neatzebra2895]

And I’m pretty sure they either had to get surgery to remove their jaws, or they fell off, I recently watched a school play about them, it was horrible what happened

[@valentine1178]

The fact companies once used radium in everyday products, that use of radium was around the time of the radium girl too

[@MrBauleBeter]

Thanks for this answer. Somehow there was some wisdom missing in the comments

[@johngalt5205]

They also used to paint their bodies with it for fun in the dark.

[@murderyoutubeworkersandceos]

I wouldnt lick water paint, but those ppl licked public brushes in a factory?

[@DLewis-kt9ok]

I learned from video games that anything with the initials “B.F.G.” Isn’t good for your health bar.

[@Nash_Benson]

Waiting for the doom comment lol

[@dph4944]

Hahahah

[@crusaderdoomslayer7055]

;)

[@jparaujo3934]

Big fucking gun 866 (bfg 10k prototype)

[@Chipchap-xu6pk]

Oh yes.

[@rainbow_angel8225]

Even worse when you think about how the workers who painted them used to lick the brushes

[@Jeremiah-q9e]

Army: alright, bring me every watch we're starting a new project

[@notimportant914]

* Radium girls have now entered the chat. However, their jaws have not. *

[@WarPrimus773]

💀💀💀

[@nathansonnen9407]

Cane here to talk about them.

[@user-ww4oc5cp2n]

Thats jaw dropping news

[@andyruse4670]

Yep. Even the watch hands have an almost negligible effect by themselves. EPA even says they’re usually safe as long as they’re in good condition and you don’t take them apart. (Which is still being overly cautious.) Radium girls though would use their mouths to point the brushes, since they were told the paint was harmless. So of course they did things like use it to paint their nails, lips and teeth.

[@takeswithtrina]

Feel like I had to scroll too far down to see the poor gals names mentioned.

[@joeye1015]

I performed in a play about this twice actually, “Radium Girls” a story about the dial painters and the effects they had from the long term exposure, terribly sad story, both times

[@Hurrrdurrrrrrr]

My school also did a production of it but i was in costumes and make up.

[@usually_unusual3920]

Sameee! I played Dr.Martland, Dr. Knef, & a customer

[@jonahmiller5881]

Oh nice! I played Charlie Lee back in HS, really enjoyed the play.

[@friendly4465]

A movie was adapted of it with some notable actresses like Joey King, I thought it was nicely done. For the longest time it was a film studio thing but because of covid they uploaded it online after a few years.

[@cesargonzalez6651]

Oh, interesting, I heard of this in a podcast; "The dollop" but a play sounds like something I would watch.

[@Nikioko]

In the 1920s, people used to bathe in radium and drink radium water.

[@falkez1514]

scientists: **discover extremely radioactive uranium substance** scientists: hmm... urinate.