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Author Topic: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?  (Read 43809 times)

Tito L. Oracion

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Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« on: March 23, 2009, 11:02:33 AM »
Hi everyone good day !

i'm currently in need of a chemical named RADIUM OR RADIUM CHLORIDE is there anyone there know how to find it?

or like for example if i go to hardware store, what material that has a radium chemical?

or where can we get a source for it?

please help me  i need it badly!


thank you in advance God bless

otits

Goat

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2009, 03:21:47 PM »
Hi Otits

I'm not an expert on this matter but the name brought back a memory of seeing described somewhere and it was from it's use in the old clocks or watches that were self luminous, I guess it depends on how much quantity you're looking for but you could scratch it off old clocks.  I also remember religious statues made of plastic in the 1960's that used to glow in the dark which had this in them.

I confirmed this by looking it up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium

Hope that helps.

Edit:  Disregard the luminous statues statement above as they probably used something else.  Also, the luminous dials of clocks containing the Radium were discontinued "Radium was still used in dials as late as the 1950s." so you'd have to get some really old antique ones to be sure.

The Radium material is dangerous which is why it isn't used anymore so please use caution.

Regards,
Paul

Paul-R

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2009, 04:01:36 PM »
I think that certain smoke alarms contain something radioactive which may or may not be useful.
It may be Americium-241. Does that get you anywhere?

Tito L. Oracion

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2009, 04:17:21 AM »
@ Paul and Paul R


Thank you very much for the info

i read this one why i become interested in radium, i have a suspect that sm made use of it.


God Bless
otits

IotaYodi

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2009, 06:11:10 PM »
It requires a license. In order to get the license you have to put up a bond or show financial means to properly dispose of it. A local college might let you perform an experiment but I doubt it.

jadaro2600

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2009, 11:39:21 PM »
It requires a license. In order to get the license you have to put up a bond or show financial means to properly dispose of it. A local college might let you perform an experiment but I doubt it.

A local college my let you do your experiment, while they record the results..report you to the authorities as having acted strange, while turning around and patenting anything you may have discovered.

amigo

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2009, 01:35:00 AM »
Radium is a controlled substance and you will not get it anywhere in North America as a private individual, especially not after the 9/11 event, and even before it never the less.

Unless you are "lucky" to live in some other (normal) country not engulfed with paranoia or the "terror" threat levels, then you might be able to source minute quantities even through normal channels.

Americium in the smoke detector is an Alpha source and I somehow doubt that's what he needs, thus the need for Radium.

Just my 2c. :)

jadaro2600

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2009, 04:48:01 AM »
What use is there for radium - personally at that?

hansvonlieven

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2009, 09:46:16 AM »
@ Tito L. Oracion,

I don't know if they are still using it these days but the best source of radium in the old days was from a radiologist or someone working in the radiology department of a hospital. Radiologists used radium needles in the treatment of some cancers as well as radioactive salts. I am not certain if they still do.

It'll have to be done on the quiet of course but there is always a way.

Americium is a poor substitute, for a start there is only 0.2 micrograms in your average smoke detector and at that level you only get alpha radiation, so weak it can't penetrate glass or even a sheet of paper. You need gram quantities to get gamma rays. Critical mass is, from memory, 60 kg. That is why they don't use it for bombs.

Hope this helps

Hans von Lieven

AbbaRue

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2009, 10:20:33 AM »
You can buy Thorated Tungsten welding rods at a local welding supply shop.
They contain Thorium 232 which decays to Radium 228.
Check it out at the following link.

http://www.matpack.de/Info/Nuclear/Nuclids/T/Th232.html

Quote from link:
{{
# Half life: 1.405E10 Y ( 0.4270 % )
# Mode of decay: Alpha to Ra-228
* Decay energy: 4.083 MeV
}}


You may find the following diagram of interest.


Tito L. Oracion

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2009, 04:14:41 AM »
@ hans and Abba


thank you very very much sir!  ;D



God bless
otits

Koen1

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2009, 04:10:29 PM »
Otits,

if you really want radium, you may be able to buy old watch-dials (the "hands" on the watch)
via E-bay. Sometimes there is still someone who has a box of old Radium-painted
luminescent watch-dials siting in storage in the attic. (don't ask me where they got them,
perhaps grandpa had some in his garage or something ;))
I know this might work because a friend of mine actually managed to get hold of some
that way.
Mind you, official production of Radium and Radium-products was stopped in Western
countries in roughly the 1960s, after it was found to be carcinogenic. (gives you cancer)
Perhaps production was continued for some time in non-western countries, but my
Russian is as bad as my Chinese so I can't be sure. ;)

If you "only" want some form of radioactive material for use in experiments, then I am
not sure if Radium is the thing to go for.
There are a great many radioactive isotopes out there. Most are controlled as in cannot
be bought unless you are a military or academic official with a research license.
Some companies, especially in the USA, sell tiny quantities of radioactive isotopes
for educational purposes, but most are sealed in big acrylic blocks for safety reasons.
You could try united nuclear (www.unitednuclear.com). Obviously they do not ship such
materials out of the country.

Another way to obtain samples of radioactive ores would be to go out and collect them.
Buy a good quality Geiger counter that can detect the type of radiation you want
(alpha, beta, gamma), wrap some lead foil around your underwear, and go out on a
wilderness hike in a region known to have mineral deposits of ores and elements that
are often found in the company of the specific radioactive element you want.
Then just collect the rocks that your Geiger counter starts barking at.
Pack them in a lead lined box and take them home, and there you have your radioactive
rocks to experiment with. Be very carefull not to inhale their dust by the way.
The Geiger teller can be quite expensive and it may not be worth your wile to do this
if you don't live near a region with such minerals.
If you happen to live in Canada, Canada produced roughly 30% of the worlds Uranium
ore production for 2005, so if you live anywhere near those mines you should be able
to find some uranium ore or uraninite if you hunt for it woth a Geiger teller. There is said
to be more than 40 times more Uranium in the earth than Silver, so it should not be too hard to find.

One radioactive material that is relatively easily obtained is Tritium, the heavier
brother of Hydrogen and Deuterium. Tritium is a beta-radioactive gas, meaning that it
emits beta particles (aka fast electrons) as it decays.
Several companies around the world sell Tritium-filled "Tracers" or "Glow rings",
which are typically acrylic rods with a borosilicate glass tube embedded,
which in turn is filled with Tritium gas and coated on the inside with a phosphorous
luminescent compound. They are most often fixed to a key-ring.
These "Tracers" emit light for at least a decade, since Tritium has a half-life of
approximately 12 years.
Although reasonably easily obtainable, Tritium is probably NOT a material that
you would want to use for experiments. Not because it is so terribly radioactive,
but mostly because it is an isotope of hydrogen and as a gas can be easily
inhaled, which gets that relatively weak radioactivity straight into the lung tissues
and that is extremely unhealthy!

There are a few weak radioactive isotopes of various other elements that are
available through some sources, but most of those are not very usefull for
energy production. This is either because of their short half-life, their very
low decay energy, or the extremely low occurrence of that isotope.

Smoke alarms were mentioned, some of those used to contain radioactive
elements like americium, strontium, francium, etc.
But nowadays most smoke alarms are "optical" and no longer use radioactive
materials. :(

I hope there is some usefull information in this post. :)
In any case, BE CAREFULL whatever you do with radioactive materials.
And perhaps it would be worth reading up on Moray's work with his radioactive ores.
Bruce Perreault also worked with and wrote about radioactive materials
in power generating setups. And so did quite a few others.

Kind regards,
Koen

triffid

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #12 on: March 26, 2009, 10:28:32 PM »
You can find radioacitive materials in fresh rainwater(with half lives of a few hours or less).Just boil down 200 gallons of rainwater into a single beaker or flask.They used to do this at the university of Arkansas with they had a nuclear chemistry group(1960's and 1970's).Then react chemicals with the residue to make samples which could be measured.Triffid

triffid

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #13 on: March 26, 2009, 10:33:21 PM »
Just google up" nuclear chemistry" and see what pops up.Triffid

Tito L. Oracion

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Re: Where can we find Radium chloride or Radium source ?
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2009, 01:39:24 AM »
@sir koen and triffid

wow ! what an info !  :o

Thank you very much sir!  ;D



God bless
otits