On 20/02/2015 17:04, Tough Guy no. 1265 wrote:
On Fri, 20 Feb 2015 16:26:40 -0000, Brian Gaff
wrote:

What about the trimfones btalite gas filled tube behind the dial?
I can recall being rather appalled back in the 60s when we found my
grandfathers old alarm clock in a drawer, still glowing from dots of
something or other after 10 years. I doubt it would be adangerous
unless you
strapped it to yourself for a while though.


We binned it.
Brian

But if it were a watch....

Radium paint is predominantly an emitter of alpha rays, as these have
only a short range through matter due to their large mass and high
charge, they would be stopped by the glass and metal of the watch.

The tritium gas used in trimphones are beta emitters, but the energies
are quite low, so they're all absorbed by the phosphor coated glass tubes.