Rats! they ship only to the UK As if I needed another excuse to take a holiday on the UK… (though at my current rate of savings, by the time I have the money England would have drifted a couple hundred kilometers to the East already)
Ummm, tritium is radioactive. Granted, it’s not a high-energy emitter, and the container would shield you quite well from the low-energy beta particles tritium produces. But still, in these post-9/11 days, is flying around with one of the key components of thermonuclear warheads and dirty bombs, right near your pocker, something you want to try?
It doesn’t look like those things are built to last as keychains, though. Think about all the abuse we casually mete out to our keys: tossing them onto into purses and onto tables, dropping them on pavement, even dropping them from walkup apartments to friends below. That glass had better be shatter-resistant!
True. The plastic of a watch crystal will stop the particles.
Tritium sights are common on firearms sold in the U.S.
I have a military surplus Stocker & Yale watch that has tritium markings. I’ll have to dig it out and remember to wear it next time I fly. What has always amused me is that it has a nuclear trefoil on the back, and a warning to “DISPOSE AS RAD WASTE”.
I´m debating wheter to order a blue or green one too; I´m not sure if the blue is that deep blue or the more intense light blue that appears in different photos…
I did a little looking (sorry, no actual site, maybe I’ll go find one) and the consesus seems to be that, aside from a few applications (such as firearms and military) tritium is illegal in the US, to buy AND own, so even buying it in eBay and shipping it here would be illegal.
I don’t know why, personally. Beta particles? Those things are practically harmless! If it emitted gamma radiation, then I might be scared…might.