"Radium"...something...

[romeo-1]

I found this at a bottle dump on the river this evening. Diameter is about the size of a nickel and it is quite thick. Not even sure what it's made from...pottery or ceramic? Was in the river so whatever it is it is durable. Any ideas?

 

[OldNBroken]

Looks like it may be the same material. Put a Geiger counter on it. lol

 

[romeo-1]

Looks like it may be the same material. Put a Geiger counter on it. lol

What is it?

 

[CoinFetcher]

Radium is a element. Like silver or gold or lead

 

[Red-Coat]

I guess you're none the wiser, but I agree it looks like a 'radium rock' commonly sold as a health quackery item in the 1900s.

Its intended to generate the radioactive gas radon in water for drinking, with alleged health properties. In 1912 R. W. Thomas patented something called a 'revigator' which was a crock lined with a radioactive mineral coating in which you stored water overnight and then drank the next day after the water had become enriched with radon. Wiki entry here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_ore_Revigator

The alternative offering (evading Thomas's patent) came in the form of these round (sometimes cone-shaped) slugs of composite material containing radium or uranium minerals that generated radon in any container filled with water. These were generally known as 'emanators' or 'activators'.

There's some history of this kind of quackery from Wiki, here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_quackery

and some further insight here:

https://www.orau.org/ptp/articlesstories/quackstory.htm

Generally these things don't have sufficient radioactivity to create a hazard, but I wouldn't go trying it out for its originally intended purpose.

 

[smokeythecat]

In other words, toss it. Before your kids grow two heads each. Probably not very dangerous, but you know the medical profession, they can't get much right and how much radiation is ok?

 

[freeman]

Now that is interesting. Does it glow at all under UV light?

 

[Anduril]

In other words, toss it. Before your kids grow two heads each. Probably not very dangerous, but you know the medical profession, they can't get much right and how much radiation is ok?

Better make it three heads.
Google says the half-life of Radium is 1600 years!

 

[Raider19962]

My dad was an air force mechanic and he used to bring home "radium dots" to us kids. Little glow in the dark greenish dots to help aircrews find their way around a plane in the dark, that later turned out to be radioactive. Who knew!

 

[Georgivs]

Thomas patented something called a 'revigator' which was a crock lined with a radioactive mineral coating in which you stored water overnight and then drank the next day after the water had become enriched with radon.

Sounds like a crock of something alright...

 

[stephaniekadman]

Fun fact on Radium
It was widely used to make the numbers on alarm clock glow in the dark. But its pretty severe side effects from contamination and exposure for the workers mostly women. Due to the ladies keeping their paint brush tips pointed by pulling the brush between their tongue and lips in between strokes. They developed radium jaw from the exposure building up levels in their bones. Tooth loss, mouth and throat cancers, and other diseases were not uncommon for the "Radium Girls"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_dials

 

[cudamark]

I think I still have a wrist watch with a radium dial in a box somewhere.....