The Traser Keychain (http://cnb-host2.clickandbuild.com/cnb/shop/cashncarrion?listPos=&op=catalogue-products-null&prodCategoryID=19). Unfortunately, the means of construction makes them unavailable for purchase in the U.S. Anyone overseas want to ship me one? :D

Trasers are laser-sealed borosillicate glass vials which are internally coated with phosphor injected with gaseous tritium which then reacts with the phosphor to create a cold energy which produces a low level light source with no filaments or heat dissipation and no risk of fire or explosion.

Quick question for the science geeks: isn't tritium wickedly expensive to produce?

:m: Peace.

You aren't allowed Trasers? Jesus, why? It's not like you can explosively compress them and start a chain reaction!

I have a torch with two Trasers built in. This is so when it's dark, and your torch isn't on, you can locate said torch. Cool huh? They're pretty bright in their own right too. I can read my watch from the illumination from the Traser alone. I need a little Traser keychain to attach to the safety ring of my new torch, an aluminium bodied 10 LED retina destroyer!

PS if you want one, PM me your address and I'll send you one. I can't deny a fellow geek cool toys.

You aren't allowed Trasers? Jesus, why? It's not like you can explosively compress them and start a chain reaction!

Matters not. The U.S. does not allow civilians to use radioactive material.

And thanks foor the offer, though my request was in jest. In these post-9/11 days, all I you and I need is the hassle of proving we are not involved in some kind of conspiracy to extract tritium from the keychain in an effort to create a dirty bomb.

:D Peace.

So if I wore a watch with active lume on it, I would get busted on entry to the US?

So all of your smoke detectors are photoelectric ones? In the UK, we largely have ionisation types, which detect smaller smoke particles. Ironically, the radioactive element used in ionisation detectors is Americium-241, which it appears, Americans aren't allowed to own!

As far as I know, I also cannot posses one of those :(
But perhaps there somewhere is a way though German law....
There are so many holes.

Ah well, I suppose I can just buy one of those things when I am in the UK the next time, the controls at the borders are not very restricting. :D

start a chain reaction!

you mean keychain reaction

Radioactive emission induce florescence is not a new thing.

http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/tritium.htm

Isn't there a small amount of tritium in watches? And some radioactive material in old clocks?

Tritium is used in some watches to make the hands and hour markers glow (many watches have luminescent paint on the hands and hour markers, but this requires charging with sunlight for it to work, Trasers are powered by radioactive decay, obviously, and will glow for about ten years without exposure to sunlight ever being required). One of the brand names that uses Tritium markers is called 'Traser', and they make military style watches.

Old clocks and watches used to have Radium powered markers, but this is no longer used, as it poses a far greater health risk that Tritium.

Don't forget some military riffle use tritium induce florescence dots on the sights.

Americium smoke detectors are legal; my family has one. One kid (Boy Scout) went through the trouble of making a breeding reactor out of about 100 smoke detectors, antique flourescent paint, and some other stuff. The government wasn't to happy about that... :)

One kid (Boy Scout) went through the trouble of making a breeding reactor out of about 100 smoke detectors, antique flourescent paint, and some other stuff. The government wasn't to happy about that... :)
I remember reading about that somewhere. :D that must be a smart kid.

Bullshit! I would love to see how you make a breeder reactor out of a few grams of americanum.

It was in the Reader's Digest some year's back. He used radium from the paint to bombard the americium to make it into something else, and I think thre was one more step and another material. Look up "The Radioactive Boy Scout." I think that this (http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/radscout.html) is the story.

Goofy Fish says that the means of production was the problem, not the product. Hmm...

David Hahn is now in the Navy, where he reads about steroids, melanin, genetic codes, prototype reactors, amino acids and criminal law. "I wanted to make a scratch in life," he explains now. "I've still got time." Of his exposure to radioactivity he says, "I don't believe I took more than five years off my life."

The last chapter of the radioactive boy scout. :p Wonder when he's going to make his first radioactive monster?

Probably as soon as he gets his cloning kit from the FDA... :)

lol you americans cant have anything fun, sucks to be you, im gonna go to niagra falls(which are in CANADA NOT AMERICA) and laugh at the new yorkers

Bump.

Trasers are perfectly legal to own in the US. We can own radioactive material of all sorts, just not huge, huge amounts. Note that their site says they cannot ship TO the US. Not that we can't OWN them in the US. I own some Trijicon night sites for my Steyr M handgun that use tritium to make them visible in low light conditions.

What's more, I have some Cesium-137 in my workshop. Cs-137 is one of the most energetic radioisotopes you can find:

http://webpages.charter.net/rylandpage/cs-137.jpg
http://webpages.charter.net/rylandpage/counter.jpg

Yes, we also have ionization smoke detectors.

The trace amount of Tritium (which is indeed pretty expensive to produce) contained in those vials neither represents any sort of threat nor is a notable quantity as far as the NRC is concerned.

Here is a site that sells Trasers in the US: http://unitednuclear.com/traser.htm They're sold out at the moment but as you can see, you can otherwise buy them.