Cinema Lens that Gives an X-Ray Every 10 Minutes
Vložit
- čas přidán 9. 02. 2024
- Since about the 1950’s thorium has been used in lenses because of its optical properties. Lenses made for TV and Motion Pictures used thorium in these high end cinema lenses. I had the opportunity to look for some of these lenses at a cinema lenses service and repair shop in Chatsworth California.
Pick up a Radiacode 102 or 103 using this link 102.radiacode.com/
Duclos Lenses website: www.ducloslenses.com
Patreon Thanks:
/ radioactivedrew
(Gamma Radiation Tier)
Paul Rohrbaugh
Jeremy Mattern
Don Reyes
Brennen Boyer
Nathan McNab
Gregory Horine
Jelly
Kyndall Taylor
Matt Pickering
Rich Hardcastle
Steve Bradshaw
Tore Christian Michaelsen
John Garbinski
James Lawrie
Kitten1416
Dmitry Andreev
JOHN LOBBAN Creative
Scooter
Camera Equipment Used
Cameras Used in this video:
Sony A7S3 amzn.to/3WZsU53
Lens Used:
Sony 16-35mm f2.8 amzn.to/3Gg6vub
Lens Used:
Sony 50mm F1.2 amzn.to/3W0sfiQ
Second Lens Used:
Sony 24-105mm f4 amzn.to/3E5WRbG
Variable ND Used: amzn.to/3g2PPvN
Wireless Mic Used: amzn.to/3WK5gZ2
Looking for something radioactive or one of the t-shirts I wear in my videos? Check out uraniumstore.com
The lens dude needs a CZcams channel. I feel like his job is really interesting
Could even just name the channel 'The Lens Dude'.
www.youtube.com/@ducloslenses he does.
No kidding! Good stuff.
A couple of years ago you did a video saying that not everybody liked what you upload. Well sod them! I find what you upload fascinating. It may be trivia but its interesting trivia. Keep them coming.
Thanks...I enjoy making these videos and its cool that other people enjoy them as well.
@RadioactiveDrew we certainly do enjoy learning as you share what you discover and do. Thank you for sharing your adventures man. Seriously. They are relevant and informative, and you are appreciated.
I never imagined lenses could be radioactive. Very, very interesting!!
The only complaint I've heard is from my wife when the Geiger counter is too loud.
@@zenjon7892 I'm always trying to lower the levels of the Geiger counter audio. Its hard when I'm talking over it. Might try and use the audio EQ next time to try and isolate the sound a bit more.
What a unique view into a very unique industry. Many thanks to Matthew for his wealth of knowledge in the industry.
The knowledge they have about optics is pretty amazing.
We sold my father's Voigtländer Bessamatic 35mm SLR camera fitted with the 1959 Voigtländer Zoomar 36-82mm f/2.8 lens. I believe this lens is radioactive, but I didn’t realise until after it had been sold and before I purchased my Radiacode 102.
Dude that's awesome, I had no idea about Thorium oxide being mixed in with those lenses. Love your channel, always learn something new
Glad you enjoyed it. Thorium doped lenses are a very cool item to find. They are usually fairly active and have very little chance of contaminating anything.
Thorium doped lenses are fascinating. I have one in my crackle collection. Made by Nikor in the 1970s I believe. It's on one of home made antique television cameras high up on the book case out of harm's way. I like the look on my guest's faces when I crackle my little home made Geiger counters for them. My 1 gram uraninite sample is impressive enough. Mother's old radium dial alarm clock (double bagged in polyethylene) is better yet. But, those are nothing next to that lens.
Yeah, that front element is one of the hotter thorium items I’ve run across.
Do you have at least one piece of "vaseline glass" for your crackle collection. Uranium oxide doped depression glass with a striking "Mountain Dew" color. My wife and I accumulated a couple hundred pieces.
@josephwisniewski3673 uranium glass is a pretty cool item to collect. There are some really beautiful pieces out there.
@@josephwisniewski3673 I got some uranium glass marbles. But, the barely click.
Yes, you can use a UV light to clear the brown cast from a radioactive lens, or set it out in the sun for a bit. Equally effective. Won't do much for the radiation, of course, but I'm glad you put the actual risk in perspective. If you've ever had a CT scan or underwent any kind of heart procedure. An abdominal CT scan, for example, is the equivalent of 500 chest x-rays!
Getting close to 100k! So cool that you got to hang out over at Duclos!
I know man...hopefully this year I can break 100K. Matthew and his Dad were fun to hang out with over there. Wish I could have shown more of the facility but they want to keep some secrets.
@@RadioactiveDrew I think you can get to 100k this year!!! :D
@@venomstorm53 I think its a pretty realistic goal for this year.
you got this for sure! @@RadioactiveDrew
@@RadioactiveDrew You got it! :D
Every video I have watched of yours has taken the fear out of radiation as a whole because I have a better understanding of it in general.
It has helped me to understand Fukushima, Chernobyl disasters as well as the fallout that goes with it.
The reaction the public has to Nuclear power let alone radiation as a while is completely different than it is in communities such as Hanford and I am understanding it more as time is going on and educating myself.
Unfortunately there are people who choose to stick their heads in the sand that you can try and educate but it is a lost cause.
Thank you for what you do, I appreciate you.
I’m glad you are getting so much out of these videos. My journey has taken me from fear to understanding and I like hearing these videos do the same thing for some people.
You are so right about that.
@@RadioactiveDrew Sorry but I do not agree how you are communicating about radiation. Even the smallest amount actually damaging your body. There is no small level of it. There is no limit above which you are damaged.
well same goes for anything we do, eat, drink or handle. That is just an acceptable fact we have to live with... we find a point we accept as good enough and live with it... and then we use that point to say if we are in danger or not. since yeah radiation is dangerous all the time, since it is everywhere, but so is the air full of pollutant's we breath. so we either accept it. or live in fear of our lives. @@Sonnell
@@Argondo uhm... no? Since we Have to eat, but we do Not have to be around radioactive lenses or dishes or whatever...
Huge difference mate.
So if you Choose to get additional, unnecessary radiation, then that is strange to me.
You have a very unique channel. I have been watching you for about 6 months now. But made a new YT profile and had to come back and resubscribe. Keep up the great work. You content is very interesting, and you are getting better with every video. Definitely a niche corner of the world, but you are right where you belong. Awesome job, Drew!!
Thanks so much. Glad you came back to subscribe.
I can’t explain my curiosity in this. It started much earlier than your channel was even conceived. Please keep this channel flowing as much as you reasonably can do. Fascinating stuff
I’ve always had an interest in radiation as well. The turning point for me was when I finally bought a Geiger counter. Really opened my eyes.
Woah what an awesome video! So cool seeing these old parts and lenses.
I have an old (circa late 1960's) Pentax Spotmatic 35mm SLR. The normal lens that came with it has a thoriated rear element.
My wife used to teach high school chemistry, and we would go to flea markets with a Geiger counter to find odd peices of radionuclides. We would especially look for old vaseline glass and Fiestaware with uranium in it. You can actually tell in what time frame it was made by how hot it is. If it was from the 30s and earlier, it would be much hotter than if it was made in the 40s or later. In the early 40s, the government sequestered all the uranium for the Manhatten Project so that they could separate all the fissionable U235 out of it for the devices. After that, you could only get depleated uranium for civilian use.
Antique shops are always my favorite place to look for radioactive items. I have a bunch of uranium glazed ceramics in my collection.
Was that the old SuperTak or SMC Tak 50/1.4? Radioactive or not, those are butt kicking normals.
Interesting video Drew, thank you. I had no idea thorium was used in lenses to improve their optical properties. I find it remarkable how radioactive material was commonly used.
It is pretty amazing how these elements were commonly used. But even during their heyday there wasn’t a huge spike in cancers.
Ever seen older glass vases or bottles/bowls with a nice green color? Most often than not, that was uranium glass. I can't remember which it was, but under UV or blacklight, uranium glass glows like you would thin anything uranium does, lol. Pretty cool stuff imo.
@Renee_Rehe I’ve run across a bunch of uranium glass objects in antique shops. One of the most common items I find.
@@RadioactiveDrew I think being mostly an alpha emitter its very low risk, my main concern would be cataracts in the eye, apparently there is a link with this. How much exposure would you need to do damage to your eye? At least with an SLR camera, its not directly in front of your eye, but there is a possibility the likes of some rifle scopes and binoculars, telescopes may have had thorium coatings in the past?
@nzoomed yes, thorium is an alpha emitter but almost all of the decay products are gamma and beta emitters.
its amazing how many everyday things are radioactive thank you Drew i really do enjoy your videos
This is called, electron wells in crystal structures. It also turns salt brown when exposed to radiation. I exposed a salt container to a co60 source and it was really brown. Heat it a bit and it will glow and go clear again
I get amazed every time you upload a video man. Hoping you hit that big 100K this year, you deserve it!
Thanks. I think 100k should be achievable this year.
Every upload, I learn something. Good stuff.
Too much fun! Thanks for posting this video!
It was a lot of fun. Searching from radioactive items can be very entertaining.
Thanks for taking us along!
Thanks for watching.
this is one of the most interesting videos youve done so far. Great work
Thanks. The subject of cinema lenses and optics is a very fascinating subject. Throw in there that some of them are radioactive and it gets a little more interesting.
Just wanted to thank you for all the videos. I recently started collecting uranium glass, and watching your videos has put it all in perspective for me, and I feel completely safer. Some of your items I wouldn't mess with or collect, but I find it incredibly interesting! Can't wait to see what you have coming up. 🤓
I’m glad you found the channel. Yeah, some of those items I have in my collection are very spicy. But as long as they are handled with care and respect they should be good.
So interesting, Drew. Great video 😊
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.
OK, this one was fun on sooo many levels. Good job!
Thanks. It was a fun video to make.
Dude I'm glad I saw this video. Thanks for that email response. Excited to buy a Radiacode 102!
Glad you are picking one up. I’ve been very happy with my Radiacode. It’s interesting to see what it picks up when out and about and the mapping function is on.
Another interesting experience. Thanks for sharing!
No problem, thanks for watching and the comment.
Fantastic video Drew! From someone that has been behind many lenses in the 80s, I've never seen anything like that.
Thanks. Going to Duclos Lenses is like going to a lens super store. Everything you could imagine passes through there.
I love thorium lenses. They are quite a nice tool to calibrate the Radiacode if shifted for some reason. I have two camera lenses disassembled and kept the radioactive lenses for demonstration purposes.
Thorium lenses can be great sources to use.
Mate what a fantastic video. Learned so much about lenses and why you would use Thorium in the lens. Crazy... the more you know.
Glad you enjoyed it and learned something new.
P.S the intro of you pulling the lens away from the camera was a great start haha @@RadioactiveDrew
Thanks…I thought it worked pretty well.
this is fascinating
Interesting and educational video. I recently acquired some depression era plates (somewhat gold colored in soft light but can look slightly green in brighter light). The spectrum data from my Radiacode suggest it too has a Thorium parent.
That's very possible. I don't run into a lot of thorium glass in plates. Usually I find it in lenses.
that was super interesting !!! didn't know that even existed !!!! osum content keep them coming !!!
Thanks...glad you enjoyed it.
I’ll have to watch for those
Fascinating! Thanks a lot!
No problem...thanks for the comment.
Thank for this fascinating video.
I’ve been working in optical thin films for over 20 years. We used to use thorium fluoride to produce optical coatings many years ago. In fact we still have a container of the material which definitely lights up my Better Geiger. It could be just the optical coating ( which allows for greater transmission of light through the lens) that is setting off your radiation detector.
From what I've been told by the lens techs there at Duclos and other sources...the thorium oxide is integrated with the glass.
That is also reasonable.
I definitely have a few camera lenses that are radio active too, crazy considering how radio active some of them are (considering how small the optical difference the thorium in the glass makes)
That Cooke beeped like a hot particle from Chernobyl that landed on my rain coat. I still remember my Chemistry teacher with Geiger counter, how his face turned grey like ashes. But there was no fallout in that area, because Finland did not want to anger the USSR. If I calculated correctly, one week worth of close proximity would have been enough to end you. I never saw that raincoat again.
What are you saying? That during the Chernobyl catastrophe, the wind carried some particle, big enough to be dangerously radioactive, to Finland and it landed on your raincoat?
I know most of Western Europe and the countries around the Baltic sea got doused with fallout, but from what I've heard it wasn't enough to be dangerous. (Awfully many cancer deaths around these parts lately though.)
@@Renee_R343 Lapland (most Northern part of Finland that has land/river border with Sweden) and Pirkanmaa (mid Finland) got most fallout and those were reported even officially fallout, but official contemporary news or reports excluded the provinces on North West coast with any fallout.
And yes. There was a hot particle in my raincoat. Some other lesser fallout, too (it was pouring on that day). I was not the only one that got measurements, but I think that was the highest reading measured in my school. That raincoat probably saved my life.
@@Renee_R343 They found hot particles in Antarctica dude. Radiation gets EVERYWHERE. Areva said background ocean radiation doubled mid way through fukushima, and yeah that tritiated water will get into the rain/clouds and rain down and become your drinking water. And you cannot filter it out.
@N4CR5 the Fukushima incident didn’t double the radiation in the ocean.
@@mikapeltokorpi7671Not saying I don't believe you. Just never knew so hot particles made their way so far. Radioactive dust and fine particles yes. But as far as I've read nothing big enough that could be like you described.
I'm from Estonia and am familiar with the disaster. Know several liquidators. And as I said, recent years, cancer seems to be the most popular cause of death almost.
Born 1989, I hope to avoid any effects from it.
That’s some really cool history once again. It’s even cooler because you have some experience in this industry and I assume you know what you are looking for. 👍🏻👍🏻 ☢️
I found a small woman’s watch at a yard sale. It was not in a watch case just in a small plastic box. I flipped the top open and checked it with my SBT-11A modified fs-5000 and the counts shot up to 130,000. Lady was shocked and said she had no idea and was thinking about making it into a necklace. I bought it for the $3 she was asking.
My pentax spotmatic lens is the most radioactive thing I own, didnt know it produced X-rays though!
Well it produces gamma rays, which are more energetic than x-rays. I bring up x-rays in the video to give something relatable for people.
@RadioactiveDrew good point, so this lens would be enough to expose an x-ray film if you placed it over your hand for 10 mins? Not too sure if gamma will expose x-ray film or not.
@nzoomed it’s something I want to test out.
Not sure about that lens, but the camera lenses with the thorium are highly sought after by photographers because they have very low chromatic abberation. You do however need to use and develop the film promptly. One easy way to make the noncemented lenses clear again is to heat them slowly, the brown tinge actually glows a deep red color as it disappears too. ❤
Very interested in optics and lenses so this episode was very enjoyable on many counts, thank you! Something maybe in the future I'd be interested to see is an episode on safe storage of radioactive objects. Have several items such as aviation instruments, fiestaware, mantles, etc. I've seen and heard both extremes from people handling items very irresponsibly to folks who go a bit overboard with safety. Would love to hear your balanced view.
Glad you liked the video. I do want to make a video going over the basics of collecting items like this.
Loved this!
Thanks.
Just found your channel about a week ago. I’ve been fascinated with radiation for years now, but I’m amazed by your videos. Amazing how strong the smoke detector was! Scary stuff
Yeah, that radium smoke detector was pretty intense. Glad you found the channel.
Radioactivity among old cinematography stuff can come from unexpected sources one tripod that was radioactive was traced back to a surplus sale that should have been discarded instead. The tripod in question was used to film a nuclear engine in operation out at jackass Flats
Now that would have been a very cool piece of history to have.
Hey Drew, I was just thinking to myself. If you ever run out of radioactive material… No pun intended, you could always just film the desert and it’s hidden treasures. You have that special something that people like to watch on television. I hope to walk around the desert someday. I drove through there once on my way from California to Massachusetts. I spent some time out in Arizona. Not enough though. Anyways brother hope the universe is treating you and your family well. Be safe looking forward to more videos!
Thanks for the kind words. I plan on showing more of the desert. There are some pretty amazing places out in Joshua Tree National Park that might be fun to make a video about. I’m a big fan of the desert and what it has to offer.
Super interesting video. Those clickers are like a laser beam when the detectors scream.
They’re focused pitches, so they don’t necessarily change the average loudness, but they may be dangerous for ears when the volume is up.
Unsolicited, apologies, but I highly recommend using eq and/or a focused multiband compressor plugin in your video program to tame the screamers.
Cheers, Daniel
I started playing with the EQ to isolate the Geiger counter noises. Next video I’ll be using that method. I was going to use it in this video but I needed to refine the method a bit more.
Funny, I’ve never had to mute a video as much. Notch filtering sounds like a great idea.
Multiband compression can work as dynamic eq, ducking frequencies drastically only when it really needs to.
Wow Drew... absolutely fascinating! I had no idea. So I searched and found the wikipedia "Thoriated glass" page and learned (maybe missed it in your video) that glass is thoriated to increase the refractive index. Very interesting. Article also said some thoriated glass can be as much as 30% thorium (which seems like a typo - but since I found it on the internet it must be true :-). Thanks again Drew for your wonderful content.
Hard to say how much thorium is in these lenses. But it could be 30%…I’ll have to look into it.
@@RadioactiveDrew, more accurately I should have said "30% by weight" to avoid confusion by readers. And thinking about that a bit more... given that Thorium's atomic weight is ~232, and Oxygen and Silicon are ~16 and ~28 respectively, I make a very rough calculation (likely wrong as I'm no chemist) that there would be about 13 molecules of SiO2 per atom of Thorium given that Thorium is so much heavier. (I assume the glass is just silicon dioxide plus Thorium and that is probably inaccurate).
Anyway, it seems pretty amazing to me that "doping" with Thorium can increase the refractive index significantly. But I guess so! Again, thanks for your video and all your other wonderful content.
@GlennSisson no problem. I’m so glad people enjoy these videos.
Those calculations sound like a good rough estimate starting point.
Had no idea that old camera glass was radioactive... Very interesting...
The photography lenses usually have far less thorium in them than these cinema lenses.
thank you this is an incredible show. It was great getting to see all those lenses learn about the company and I did go and look up the equipment that you were talking about from your sponsor. Excellent I do have questions about the little geiger counters which were not talked about on their website but I might like to ask you about it since the manufacturer is in Greece and there is not a phone number.
What questions did you have?
@@RadioactiveDrew i'm trying to remember what the questions were and I think it was probably if the geiger counters would give data in REM.
Big lenses are fun! Interesting video, Thx.
Did they have any Oldelft Rayxar lenses? Not for projectors but for Xrays as you would have guessed.
Hey Drew, I love these videos, but can I make one request? Could you please put an EQ notch on the beeper for for gadgets? They are disproportionately louder than the rest of the audio. Thanks!
GREAT VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
Honestly I never knew that about lenses, my tinnitus is loving this though. 🤣
Thanks Drew
No problem.
Super interesting video. Thanks for making sharing.
Radiation is so fascinating
It's kind of like how the Bromine (fire retardant) in plastics makes them turn a brownish-yellow. Can be remedied by coating with Volume Cream Hair Bleach and placing under the sun or UV light and then washing off.
nice vid drew
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.
Your videos are always super interesting mate, keep them coming :)
Been thinking about getting a Radiacode or something myself now to hunt second hand stores and find interesting radiated things outdoors over here in Australia.
Its also pretty good using it to find uranium deposits...and Australia has got some of the riches deposits in the world.
How to never deal with mold on your lens again! (I absolutely love your content btw)
I’m guessing the yellowing is because the thorium atom gets a recoil once it emits an alpha particle.
I think you can correct it by heating the lens to a sufficiently high temperature but that might damage the lens.
The alpha particle probably causes crystal defects as well.
hmmmm I think I have the same lens.. Was from an old studio camera. Will go check it now
Well, at least I now know to avoid buying any Angenieux lenses for my old Pentax. last thing I need is to be holding a radioactive lens when I have already been subjected to a massive amount of radiation in my lifetime. I used to be part of an oil well cased hole inspection company and we used some fairly radioactive sources in our regular operations. On top of that I was very ill ten years back and received several CT scans in a relatively short period of time so I would much rather err on the side of caution. And the crazy thing about it is that while I was inside the machines getting scanned I could feel sharp pains from the scan as it rotated around my body, nothing exactly in one specific spot but they were throughout various spots in my body, so those scans weren't exactly pleasant either, and the techs refused to believe me that it was causing me pain, thinking that it was psychosomatic, instead of real pain. so I avoid radiation now if at all possible. Although, the possibility of relief from pain that so many people claim happens when they go into that mine you went into for a video you did a couple years back, I think it was in Colorado or Wyoming, it was converted into a health treatment center but was definitely an old Uranium mine with a definite radon gas presence. I would be tempted to give that a try as I suffer from a great deal of pain every day. So much so that when I get actual relief from my normal pain that it is like a drug of the purest kind....being pain free for some of us is more addicting that what even the most powerful narcotic can bring. and I would know because when I was in the ICU at the Hospital my pain doctor who is also an anesthesiologist made up a mescaline injection for pain relief after my surgery, and total pain relief is more powerful than that!
The radiation from these lenses is pretty low. So I wouldn’t worry about the exposure unless you are sleeping on it every night. Radon gas is an interesting subject that I’ve been investigating for a while now. I plan on doing a video talking about it a bit more and how the data about the harm from radon exposure has been misrepresented.
So… would it be any help to surround the thorium-bearing lenses with flat discs of leaded glass?
might be worth doing a vid on storage of radiactive objects.
To get the yellow out, try heating it up in the oven and then letting it naturally cool so that it doesn't crack. I'm not sure how hot we heated up the Harshaw TLDs we used.
I actually picked up a clock at the thrift store and it actually set the alarm off on my GMC-300E, at a nice 9.06 usv nothing else in my collection has set off the alarm on that before, lol, all radium numbers and dials on it
ASCII code 230 = µ. Press and hold "Alt" and type 230, then release. "µ" should appear where you are typing.
I've been studying ionizing radiation and into it for a while, but I'm relatively new to collecting radioactive items, so could you do a video about collecting radioactive things? Maybe some tips and tricks to hunting for stuff in an antique shop, or some things to make it easier? It would be really helpful! :)
PS Awesome video! :D
I’ve been meaning to make a video about the subject of collecting and storage of items like this. I should be able to fit it in soon.
I have 2-3 Thorium laced photographic lenses. It was used to create more clarity, at that time. Subsequently, thorium was dropped from the glass line up for photographic optics manufacturers. It was extremely popular back in the 30s and 40s by Kodak. My samples are radioactive but in no way more so than those green glassware plates and cups from the 50s. If you have such lenses, the evidence is clearly found with a Geiger counter. Short having such a detector, it is seen by the yellow tint within the glass. It is reversible, if the lens is out in a high ultraviolet environment-for example, out in the sunshine. But it takes a long time to reverse. The earlier Kodak lenses wind up completely worthless for color photography because the glass winds up as a dark brown color-like looking through a glass of Coca-Cola! My radioactive lenses were made by Nikon in the early 1970s and are the 35mm f/1.4 Nikkor lenses. Your title of this video is highly CLICK BAIT insofar as suggesting they can be used to produce an x-ray. Another significant source of ionizing radiation comes from silk mantles used inside a Coleman lantern. They take newly manufactured silk mantles and dip them in a solution of thorium and after they dry, the mantles burn much brighter. The thorium never burns off. If you want to set off a Geiger counter take one flying with you. Above about 20,000’ the ionizing radiation from space penetrates the thin skin of aircraft. The higher you go, the hotter it gets! That’s why many pilots have received a sizable does of radiation during a career of flying. The flying career exposes one to more radiation than anything you will get as a dental technician, or working in a nuclear power plant. We see a lot more miscarriages in stewardesses, as a result.
I’ve done a video about some thorium lantern mantles I found in an antique shop. These lenses I was finding were much more active.
I know about the increase in cosmic radiation the higher you go. But that was the first I’ve heard of miscarriages in stewardesses. I’ll have to look into that and see if there’s a study on it.
Thats one hot lens 😮 🔥
It sure is. One of the most radioactive lenses I’ve found.
That looked like fun.
Been into photography since 1995, and it's very interesting to see this and your other video. None of my lenses are radioactive, but I could leave my Canon in a fiesta bowl over night. 😁😶🤔
Could a fiesta bowl screw up the electronics in a cell phone if you kept them together for whatever period of time?
I don’t think leaving electronics in a uranium glazed ceramic bowl would affect the electronics of a cellphone. But there have been documented cases of high energy cosmic radiation that has caused systems to malfunction. There is a video about Single Event Upsets that Veritasium did. It’s a very fascinating topic and I’m sure I’ll make a video about it one of these days.
Drew what do you think of the radiation reading of Auritz Burguete, Spain where "Windy" reports a reading of over 25,000 nSv/hr? A typical city has reading of 50 nSv/hr. Some places in England near Windscale have a 300 nSv/hr reading.
I’m not sure of how they’re re collecting the measurements. So it’s kind of hard to know what’s going on over there.
Thorium was a common additive to GTAW/TIG/Heliarc welding electrodes; I still have boxes of 2% thoriated rods.
Thorium has a couple industrial uses.
Hi Drew , i watch your video and bought a radiacode 103 , i am perpare for testing my vintage camera lens ,but as google said there is only alpha particles form thoriated glass which mean radiacode not working for detect thoriated glass?cos radiacode detect gamma and xray, am i correct?thanks
Well google is wrong…kind of. Thorium is an alpha emitter but you have all the other elements that are in the decay chain that come after thorium. These elements are a mix of alpha, beta and gamma emitters. So all the Radiacode detectors will see thorium very easily…if it’s there.
Very cool stuff! I never knew these existed. My nephew is in this industry, I should ask him. Did you buy anything from them?
Well these lenses are everywhere and come from a lot of different manufacturers.
I would be interested if you showed the spectrum shown by the radiacode for these lenses (and also used the dose rate from the radiacode so we can see the actual human corrected dose rate instead of cps).
I did show the dose rate coming from the Radiacode. CPM was used by the Radeye B20.
@@RadioactiveDrew Thanks yeah I did see it later with the I think ~50uSv/hr. Quite entertaining and informative video!
@ErikMeike glad you spotted that.
Very interesting concept of radioactive elements affecting scatter rate makes me wonder exactly how
Thorium is a common addition to Glass up until I think the 70s. Takumar AKA Pentax use a lot of these. You can usually tell from the yellowing
Yeah, there are a lot of those lenses around on eBay.
@@RadioactiveDrew Largely replaced by lanthanum containing glasses
how far in the lens was that element? My angenieux 18-270mm tv lens is radioactive on the rear lens but not much on the front lens. How far in was that highly radioactive element ? These lenses are about 14 inches long so just wondering if its inside near the middle?
The one we found had a very hot front element. I’m sure there was other pieces of thorium doped glass in the lens.
I wish you could walk the nature trails at the retired Rocky Flats Department of Energy site near Golden Colorado.
I've been there before, a couple years back before I was making these CZcams videos. I plan to go back and try to do a proper video. My initial walk around part of the site didn't show anything of note. But maybe that will be different using a Radiacode 103...even though Pu239 is a alpha emitter and alpha radiation isn't picked up by the Radiacode. Good thing there are plenty of decay products that come after Plutonium 239 decays into other isotopes. Many of these decay products give off gamma radiation that can be identified using the Radiacode.
@@RadioactiveDrew The USFS is managing the area now and they are in the approval process for opening up new trails that would link the existing trails, including some areas right over the old sub-terranean structures. Of course, some members of the public are up in arms about possibly digging up contaminated soil. I grew up in Boulder in the 50s, and I knew several neighbors who worked at the plant.
@BeardedGeezer now that would be interesting if they opened up that interior area.
I just wanted to note that a dental x ray only delivers 10uSv of effective dose, but that's the equivalent 10uSv of uniform exposure to the WHOLE body. The absorbed dose to the face will be much higher (hundreds of uGy at least). You're off by an order of magnitude or two by comparing this lens to a dental x ray every 10 minutes.
THANK YOU! I was just about to comment the same. And the Radiacode overestimates a contact doserate by nearly twice compared to contact doserates of professional equipment used in a lab.
Not when it’s literally in direct contact with his skin, if it’s
Literally in direct contact with his skin then he’s correct especially giving off 50 MsV/Ph which even at that dose is still safe as long as he’s not in constant contact daily.
@@GRIM_MODstill no. The 50uSv/h is in the context of a effective whole body dose. The radiation behind his readings held against the chest would result in another effective dose as against the face. Different body parts are more or less sensitive to radiation.
If it wasn't for these first 2 Minuten of introduction, I wouldn't have anything against this video. In fact I'd be one awesome Video.
@@SimonsNuclearchemistry so what this comment we replied to is saying dental x rays are extremely dangerous? Or am I wrong. Because I’ve seen old debunked studies saying how “deadly” x rays are and new studies now saying they are very safe in “low doses” at a time during the duration of your life. WHICH IS IT! Lol
@@GRIM_MOD okay, but is your WHOLE body in contact with it? Think about that for a second. Both the x ray and the lense are localized. The difference is the localized dose from the x ray machine to the skin is probably over a mGy, meaning ~20 hours of direct contact with the lens for the equivalent of a 10uSv dental x ray (very appropriate values). His estimate of an x ray every 10 minutes is massively off.
Hola Drew, just followed the Radiacode link as want to purchase. What is the difference between the 102 and 103 models? I live 10kms from the 1966 Palomares B52 nuclear crash and do a lot of hiking in the area, so would be interesting to see what is detected 👍
I did a video talking about the differences between the 102 and the 103. The 103 has a bit more resolution in the gamma spectroscopy function. So it’s a little easier to identify isotopes. But the 102 does a great job and you might not notice the difference between the two models.
I would love to get my hands on some thorium especially in its metallic form. Pretty interesting how commonly radioactive elements like thorium and uranium were and still are used! ☢☢
Metallic thorium would be pretty cool to have. But having it mixed in with glass is a nice stable form.
فيديو مليئ بالمعلومات المثمرة.
I knew about lenses made with thorium oxide but I didn’t know how common it was. Were these lenses used in many 35 mm cameras, or just the high end cameras? The tungsten filaments in auto headlights contained thorium oxide but at some point they stopped using them. You should be able to get a reading on old auto headlights. I cannot find the year they stopped using thoriated tungsten filaments but I’m guessing between 1980 and 1990. The filament will be a distance from the glass so I don’t know how much above background one of these would be.
With high end cinema lenses they were looking for any advantage they could squeeze into a lens design. There’s a fair amount of still photography glass that have thorium oxide added. Seems like the practice stopped around 1980. Not sure when that stopped with the headlight filaments. I would imagine around the same time.
I just sold a Pentax Asahi Super Takumar 50mm F1.4 lens that has the same coating! They are incredibly sharp
Its not a coating. The thorium is added into the glass.
Is the browning in the lens' the reason some older tv shows have a brownish tinge? Or am I making a connection that doesn't exist?
Usually that brown tinge is from the print getting old. Doesn’t have anything to do with the lens. Film prints can get really bad if they aren’t taken care of.
Hey drew, what is the cheapest alpha detector that you can buy, I looked up that b20 figuring they were like 300 bucks lmao.
I wish the Radeye B20 was $300. You should be able to find a used Ludlum Model 3 with a 44-9 probe that can detect alpha, beta and gamma for maybe $300-$400. There are some other options on Amazon. But Ludlum makes some very solid detectors.
I sent you a picture on Instagram of a canon scope that had thorium doped lenses last year. Did they make rifle scopes with thorium lenses?
I’m not sure. It’s possible. I think I saw that they make binoculars with thorium glass in the past.
Sounds like those lenses are hotter than some of the mines you have taken us through….
Well as an object yes. But as an area most uranium mines give you a much larger exposure.
Grinding these must have been "fun", back in the day....
My first "good lens" was a Pentax 50mm f/1.4 Super Takumar, probably the highest production of any lens with a Thoriated element.
For sure one of the most produced. I have one in my collection.
Thats interesting. The things they did to make optical lenses better, didnt know that.
But I have one request for a thing that bothers me ever since I subscribed: Cant you pull the audio down a few notches in post when the detectors go crazy? I'm not using headphones, yet the sound is jarring and its quite annoying to adjust the audio down and up again all the time. 😵 Especially in this video where there is a conversation to be heard.
I do pull down the detector sounds already. But I have been experimenting with using the EQ to target the high end of that sound to bring it down.
I wonder if they measured the CPM as quality control parameter during manufacturing?
That’s a good question. Based on the activity they should be able to verify the amount of thorium oxide used.
Drew, are you going to the Trinity Site in April?
I would if it was open. For some BS reason they aren't doing the April open house this year. Was planning on going to the site on my way to view the total solar eclipse in Texas. The October Trinity site open house I guess is still happening this year. I haven't been there during that time of year...usually the weather isn't as good. I only say that based on videos and photos from people that went there during that date.
@@RadioactiveDrew OK, thanks for the heads up, I didn't check the website. I'll have to try October also.
2nd comment: i can see a new collectable hobby started with hrese radioactive lenses. Thanks again Drew. This is a great video.
No problem. Glad you enjoyed it.
Did you have any issues getting the Radiacode software running on Windows?
None at all. The only problem I’ve seen is if you use some usb cables to connect to the PC. Running the application has never been a problem.
@@RadioactiveDrew thanks.
It is interesting that thorium was used to manufacture camping lantern mantles to make the light output brighter.
Thorium was used for a bunch of different things. It seems to be a very versatile element.
I remember the phase out of thorium when American Wic company got rid of their thorium lantern mantles and 5kg jars of thorium nitrate in 2002 one of those jars was a bit to spicy for my blood, way way hotter than these lenses, but ended up picking up a case of 1000 mantles for 20 bucks. Some people are still offering these mantles. They can be identified by the pink top. The company didn't skimp on the thorium either😂