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Radioactive Sparkplugs.
For some crazy reason, in the 1950's Firestone made automotive sparkplugs containing radioactive polonium. Presumably the idea was that the ionizing radiation would allow the spark to travel more easily, making for better ignition. I think it's a fairly far-fetched idea.
According to this excellent book, they contain(ed) Polonium-210, with a half-life of only 138 days (the book has further information on pages 79 and 100 if you're interested). Whatever radioactivity there was in 1950 is long gone now! Though, my geiger counter does reveal a very slight increase over background, maybe 300cpm, around the ceramic portion of the plug, none around the electrode tip. My guess is there is some totally unrelated radioactive contamination in the ceramic material or the glaze.
Amusingly, the Geiger counter I used to test them is a very nice one I got (for $40) at the closing out auction of a local Bridgestone/Firestone tire plant (it's the one that made the tires that practically put Firestone out of business in 2001). So I'm using equipment from a failed Firestone plant to test a failed Firestone product from 50 years ago!
This, incidentally, is the 100th sample installed in the table.
One spark plug is in the table, and the box containing the remaining eleven I have are in the Hot Box, because even though no actual radioactivity remains, the box proudly proclaims that they are radioactive (I guess people really went for that kind of thing in the '50s).
Here's an interesting article about different elements in spark plugs.
Source: eBay seller glenben1
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 17 July, 2002
Price: $31
Size: 3"
Purity: 0%
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Antistatic brush.
These brushes, which you can still buy today (2002) are made for brushing static charge off of photographic negatives. The radiation from the polonium element (which must be replaced every year or so because the half life is only 138 days) ionizes the air around the brush, making it conductive and carrying away the static charge.
This particular brush has an interesting history. Today (the date given below) I spent the afternoon at an old abandoned hospital complex tearing lead sheeting out of the former x-ray room (with, of course, the full permission of the owner, a developer who is going to demolish the building shortly). Ed Pegg, Jim, and I mined about 3/4 of a ton of lead in two and a half hours. It was hot, so we had to take breaks which consisted of wandering around this very large and quite eerie complex, bumping into things like stacks of old medical records and sharps containers with their contents of syringes and needles spilled out on the floor.
Near the CAT scan machine, which was still there, this brush was just lying on the table. I'd been intending to buy a new one exactly like it when I got around to it, but this is much better. Except for the fact that, as you can see in the picture, it is due to be replaced in 1984, and therefore has essentially no actual polonium left in it. That's the problem with these silly radioactives: They just keep evaporating on you.
Later, while I was in Boston to receive the Ig Nobel Prize for the wooden periodic table, I purchased a brand new brush with a full charge of polonium. That's why this sample is classified as having about 20% actual polonium: It's an average figure assuming I buy a new one every few years (they are fairly cheap).
Source: Theodore Gray
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 31 July, 2002
Price: Donated
Size: 1"
Purity: 20%
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Sample from the Everest Element 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 (excepted gasses) weight 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
Price: Donated
Size: 0.2"
Purity: 0%
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