I have two

GL

GL

Bronze Member
Mar 2, 2008
1,595
39
South Central, NC
Of these:
radbar1.jpg

I found them a few years ago in an abandoned house on a shelf. They make me think of this:
blackcat50.jpg

So I keep them outside just in case they are real. I figured they were fakes because...well...look at it.
I was reading the brass gold ingot thread and was reminded of these weird bars I have.

Well? What do you all think?
 

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Not sure if typed correctly. The 'bot' bit is a little bit of bot worry :icon_study:
 

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"Radium is over one million times more radioactive than the same mass of uranium"

Hmm, well I don't think that I would care to be a-holding either one of them-thar' bars of yours on my hand, :icon_pale: not even for ONE second! :blob8:

Of course with a half-life of only 1600 years, it will be down to half-radioactive in only 1600 years! :icon_cyclops_ani:

Do keep that away from the groin-area though, that is if you had any ideas of future generations to follow you? :icon_sunny:

::) :o :'( :offtheair:
 

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I read all about them a while back and decided to keep them outside just in case they were real.
My question is why would they be just sitting on a shelf in some house? Was there a legit use for radium in the civilian sector? I picked them up thinking they were fakes. They are very heavy.
I was going to get rid of them. Like finding a jug of hydrochloric acid, it's a cool looking thing but you don't really want to keep it around.
 

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If it is in fact an old chuck of raddium "A"... it may have been there for the reasons above... in the late 1890's folks were just learning about Radium! As radium use in medicine became wide spread through he early 1900s it was more fashionable and used in many goods of the day.

Here is a very interesting article... maybe it was part of a radium perculator?

Radiation Protection Dosimetry 79:1-4 (1998)
© 1998 Oxford University Press


Radium: A Miracle Cure!
M. Genet (INVITED)

In 1896, the general population had little enthusiasm for the recent discovery of radioactivity by Henri Becquerel. There was certainly much less than for X rays which had appeared, 3 months earlier, as a 'magic radiation'. However, polonium and radium, discovered by the Curies in 1898, aroused new interest in 'uranic rays'. The first weighable amounts of radium, prepared at the beginning of this century, were used for medical applications. Immediately, the therapeutic properties of radium rays against cancer were recognised. The use of radium in medicine became so common that every kind of disease was treated by radium therapy: not only breast cancer, but also, diabetes, sciatica, uraemia, rheumatism, and even impotence! As a consequence of this tremendous success, the radium industry grew rapidly during the 1920s and numerous goods, especially cosmetics, doped with radium were on sale. It was even considered that in order to be in good health, one should drink a glass of radioactive water every day, prepared by using a radium percolator. This period lasted for more than 25 years, then, just before World War II radium use was considered dangerous and the number of its applications decreased. http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/79/1-4/1

I would date your radium around 1920 and say it is considered dangerous. :)
 

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I don't know who in the world would take radium off your hands. It could be a problem to dispose of properly.
 

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Montana Jim said:
BuckleBoy said:
I don't know who in the world would take radium off your hands. It could be a problem to dispose of properly.
Click to expand...


Call a local university science lab... ???
Click to expand...

Good idea!
 

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GL said:
So get rid of them. Gotcha.

Now how do I do that without making the evening news?
Click to expand...

Try typing "radium disposal" into Google without the double quotes. There appears to be specific guidelines for radium disposal by state and something called "THE RADIUM DISPOSAL PROJECT".

The CDC has some useful info on toxicological effects and even disposal info on this page:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp144.html

In the mean time, if you have some lead sheets around, you might want to drape them over those things.


F.
 

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Just a suggestion before you do get rid of these bars/ingots, if you can find a friend who has a geiger counter I would suggest that you get him/her to check it with that instrument. If it is in fact Radium A, the geiger counter will let you know in a hurry - if it is not, then you have a very interesting bit of history! Still, until it is checked I would not stash it under your pillow! :o ::) ;D :D
Oroblanco
 

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I think the ingots ARE lead. They are very heavy.
Thanks for the link and now I know where the extra fingers and toes are from!
 

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I was going to say 'sell it', but then realized how stupid of an idea that was. :icon_jokercolor: No sleep equals bad ideas.
 

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When I was a kid, I had Uranium Ore in my rock collection. Got it from the museum. It was yellow. I finally tossed it in the trash many years later when a friend strongly suggested I get rid of it..
 

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This article is dated Feb. 1914:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...fJVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u-ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6693,2194063


GL said:
I think the ingots ARE lead. They are very heavy.
Thanks for the link and now I know where the extra fingers and toes are from!
Click to expand...

Radium is very heavy too, and turns black, like yours when exposed to air. Lead on the other hand, has a white patina when it ages.

I've spent about an hour researching for 'fake' radium bars, but couldn't find anything. The Hewitt Metals Corp. from MI was in business back in the 40's and perhaps longer. There are Hewitt Metals now located in various other states. My thoughts are: Your ingots are the real deal and were made back when people thought radium was a miracle cure. As the others have said, I'd call the head of the science department at the largest university in your area, and have them removed from my property.

Here in NC we have quite a few poisonous Copperhead snakes as well as Rat Snakes (not sure if that is the correct name, but it's what we call them.) When I'm MD or gardening in my yard, and see a snake, I don't stop to analyst if it is a Copperhead or a harmless Rat Snake. It's off with there head! Breezie
 

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