# Oops, I carried a piece of uranium ore in my pocket once when I was a kid.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oops-i-carried-a-piece-of-uranium-ore-in-my-pocket-once-when-i-was-a-kid/39594>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 3, 2000, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oops-i-carried-a-piece-of-uranium-ore-in-my-pocket-once-when-i-was-a-kid/39594 "2000-11-03T19:56:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2000, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oops-i-carried-a-piece-of-uranium-ore-in-my-pocket-once-when-i-was-a-kid/39594/21 "2000-11-06T19:51:44Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Kyberneticist \*  
> \*\*You mean your duaghter doesn’t really glow in the dark?  
> Darn… That was my favourite pic. \*\*

Nope. But I’m glad that Jack o’ Lantern came out so well. It really looked freaky IRL.

Of course, now it’s a molding gourd awaiting disposal in tomorrow’s trash pickup. ☹

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2000, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oops-i-carried-a-piece-of-uranium-ore-in-my-pocket-once-when-i-was-a-kid/39594/22 "2000-11-09T21:49:47Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by handy \*  
> \*\*  
> I knew an old watchmaker & his hands shook a lot. I asked him why & he said from working on those watches that have a tiny tiny big of radioactive stuff on the dial that glows. I remember that stuff. So, a small amount can do it. \*\*

I’ve heard about watch dial painters getting into trouble before anyone realized how dangerous Radium was. But the key word here is Radium, which is what they used in watch dials until the mid-1960’s. Radium is far, far, **FAR**  
more radioactive than U-238.

I had one of those watches when I was a kid; in the dark, if you looked closely you could see individual little explosions of light, presumably the individual radiation particles or rays energizing the green zinc sulphide compound.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oops-i-carried-a-piece-of-uranium-ore-in-my-pocket-once-when-i-was-a-kid/39594.md?page=1)