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Homeopathic plutonium. Nuts at every level. There is no plutonium in this bottle because, as with all homeopathic medicines, whatever ingredients you see listed on the label are by definition not in the bottle. That it is legal to sell homeopathic crap of any kind is a testimony to pathological ignorance, but this one really takes the cake. Given that plutonium is among the most lethal of all substances, you pretty much have to trust in the utterly fraudulent nature of homeopathy to even consider taking these pills. But what I really want to know is where they got the original plutonium to start the homeopathic dilution procedure from. You see, the way you make homeopathic "remedies" is by starting with some actual substance, bee pollen, dog hair, whatever, dissolving it in water and/or alcohol, and then diluting that 10-to-1. Then you dilute that solution 10-to-1 again, and again, and again. You do this somewhere between 30 and 50 times. By this point it's easy to calculate that there's basically no chance that there is even a single molecule of the original substance left. Which is a good thing when that substance is plutonium. But still, there remains the question of whether this preparation started from a solution containing actual plutonium, and if so, where did they get it? Maybe they just drove some water by an air force base housing nuclear bombs and called it close enough. It's not like you could tell the difference in the final product. Source: Max Whitby of RGB Contributor: Max Whitby of RGB Acquired: 29 April, 2009 Text Updated: 28 June, 2009 Price: Donated Size: 2" Purity: 0% |
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Run for your life detector. This is a 1960's era radiation detector whose actual value as a protective device is somewhat questionable. The idea is to shake the detector and build up static charge in the beads, causing them to float. That part works great. If the detector is exposed to a high enough level of ionizing radiation the static charge will be dissipated, and the balls will drop, hence the instructions to seek shelter if the balls drop. I've held this thing up to the strongest sources of radiation I have and the balls don't budge. Granted my radioactive sources are not all that strong, but I think it's safe to say that if you do ever see the balls drop, you should run, not walk, to wherever you think there might be less radiation around. Source: eBay seller geoelectronics Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 23 December, 2007 Text Updated: 23 December, 2007 Price: $20 Size: 4" Purity: 0% |
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Empty nuclear battery. This empty canister is clearly marked with stamped lettering indicating it is a plutonium battery containing "less than 3 curies" (which is a lot) of plutonium-238 in 1973. Good thing it's completely empty or else it would be a quite dangerous and highly regulated object (yes, I checked it with a Geiger counter and it's dead as a doornail). I'm told that plutonium batteries were used in pacemakers and that a number still remain implanted in living people. I don't know if this is one that was intended for that application: It looks a bit big to me, but I suppose there's plenty of room in there. I wonder what the protocol is when someone dies with one of these. Does the NRC come to reclaim it? What if there are religious objections to an autopsy? What if they just forget and years later the battery is dug up at a construction site? So many questions, so little time to look up the answers. But fortunately reader Andrew Hansen has come to my rescue with the following email a few months after I added this item: G'day Theodore,Naturally I responded by asking if he knew where I might get a hold of one, and whether he knew if people were actually buried with them. I had my shovel ready just in case. Ha ha just kidding. I like his answer: Now for the info that will that will really rock you. They probably would bury someone with a plutonium pacemaker - reason: who would know?Well, all I can say is, if you're a mortician and you've got any "explanted" pacemakers in your desk drawer, please check them for radiation symbols. I can be reasonable if you have something I want. And if you think you might have a plutonium pacemaker in you, and you're not dead yet, please do consider me in your will. Oh God, did I really say that? (Actually, this is a joke, please don't send me an intact plutonium battery. Even I have my limits, and the NRC takes the location of plutonium batteries quite seriously.) I almost lost this battery on eBay: I was outbid at $160. But through amazing luck and kindness, the winner, George Kamin, allowed me to take over his winning bid and buy the item myself. (Actually he even offered to pay for it and donate it to my collection, but just the ability to get it for only $2 more than my bid was more than kind enough.) I chose this sample to represent its element in my Photographic Periodic Table Poster. The sample photograph includes text exactly as it appears in the poster, which you are encouraged to buy a copy of. Source: eBay seller allthedodaday Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 10 November, 2004 Text Updated: 11 August, 2007 Price: $162 Size: 1.5" Purity: 0% Sample Group: Medical |
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Sample from the Everest Set. Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (except gases) weigh about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid. Radioactive elements like this one are represented in this particular set by a non-radioactive dummy powder, which doesn't look anything like the real element. (In this case a sample of the pure element isn't really practical anyway.) To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description and information about how to buy one, or you can see photographs of all the samples from the set displayed on my website in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order. Source: Rob Accurso Contributor: Rob Accurso Acquired: 7 February, 2003 Text Updated: 29 January, 2009 Price: Donated Size: 0.2" Purity: 0% |
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Natural plutonium-containing mineral. The sample I have representing plutonium is the naturally occurring mineral muromontite, which is a mixture of uranium and beryllium. Putting beryllium near uranium is generally considered a bad idea because the alpha particles from the decay of uranium are captured by the beryllium atoms, which in turn release neutrons. Neutrons are very unhealthy to be around. In the case of this sample, however, the neutrons are in turn re-captured by the uranium, which then undergoes further decay and is transformed into plutonium. The result is that this mineral contains the highest known naturally occurring concentration of plutonium. (Yes, no doubt some of the neutrons escape. Gillian Pearce, the source of this sample, responds "a few neutrons never hurt anyone". I'm not sure I buy this theory of the harmlessness of neutrons in small numbers, so eventually I'll get it properly measured and quantified. In the mean time, it's in the Hot Box fat lot of good that would do against fast neutrons.) If you try to look up the name "muromontite" you'll find only very spotty references. Gill explains as follows: Unfortunately you may not find muromontite for stupid bureaucratic reasons.Ah, you've got to hand it to those academics to find a way to fight about just about anything. Not that the non-academics are any better: Dozens of unusual varieties of apples in England are going extinct because the EU hasn't defined an official name for them, and people selling apples under unofficial names are prosecuted for fraud. If the variety doesn't have an EU name, it can't be sold, never mind that it's been on the market for twelve hundred years. But I digress. Considering the virtual impossibility of owning any real quantity of plutonium, this is probably the best sample I'm going get. Source: eBay seller rubbleshop Contributor: eBay seller rubbleshop Acquired: 19 October, 2002 Text Updated: 29 January, 2009 Price: Donated Size: 0.1" Purity: <1% |
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Photo Card Deck of the Elements. In late 2006 I published a photo periodic table and it's been selling well enough to encourage me to make new products. This one is a particularly neat one: A complete card deck of the elements with one big five-inch (12.7cm) square card for every element. If you like this site and all the pictures on it, you'll love this card deck. And of course if you're wondering what pays for all the pictures and the internet bandwidth to let you look at them, the answer is people buying my posters and cards decks. Hint hint. Source: Theodore Gray Contributor: Theodore Gray Acquired: 19 November, 2008 Text Updated: 28 October, 2017 Price: $35 Size: 5" Composition: HHeLiBeBCNOFNeNaMg AlSiPSClArKCaScTiVCrMn FeCoNiCuZnGaGeAsSeBrKr RbSrYZrNbMoTcRuRhPdAg CdInSnSbTeIXeCsBaLaCePr NdPmSmEuGdTbDyHoErTm YbLuHfTaWReOsIrPtAuHgTl PbBiPoAtRnFrRaAcThPaUNp PuAmCmBkCfEsFmMdNoLrRf DbSgBhHsMtDsRgCnNhFlMcLvTsOg |
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Pacemaker opened. (External Sample) A nuclear pacemaker showing where the plutonium thermoelectric battery would go. Museum's listing of this item. Location: Oak Ridge Health Physics Museum Photographed: 15 April, 2009 Text Updated: 15 April, 2009 Size: 3" Purity: 0% |
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Pacemaker. (External Sample) I have an empty nuclear thermoelectric battery designed to go in a pacemaker like this, but this one is the whole deal. Museum's listing of this item. Location: Oak Ridge Health Physics Museum Photographed: 15 April, 2009 Text Updated: 15 April, 2009 Size: 3" Purity: 0% |
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Lump. (External Sample) This very small button (ca. 5mm diameter) was borrowed for photography from a research university cyclotron facility: Possession of plutonium would unfortunately not be legal for someone like me, who has no real business having it. I'm actually only partially sure it's plutonium. A fact arguing in favor is that it's clearly dense, which plutonium is. Not so good is the fact that it's fairly shiny: Plutonium corrodes quite rapidly. But, it's ampuled under oil, and if that was done carefully it could stay shiny indefinitely. Regrettably, it's not a flame-sealed ampule, just a plastic-capped glass bottle, and plastic caps always let in oxygen eventually. Ordinarily I would simply take the sample out and test it by XRF (x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy), but the owner strictly forbid its removal from the bottle. Which makes sense since it would likely oxidize if I didn't handle it very carefully in a dry box environment, which would of course make XRF testing difficult. Now, there's nothing more frustrating than a sample you're only pretty sure is real, but in this case that's just the way it's going to have to stay. Location: Anonymous Photographed: 15 January, 2006 Text Updated: 31 January, 2006 Size: 0.2" Purity: >90% |
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