r/interesting • u/lb3a3 • 1d ago

HISTORY Atomic Bomb Cereal ring with real Polonium-210

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u/jerquee 1d ago

You can still buy photographic brushes with polonium-210 in them.

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u/Double_Distribution8 1d ago

What's a photographic brush? And why is there polonium in them?

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u/Ok-Hyena4541 1d ago

https://company7.com/staticmaster/products/staticmaster.html

They're for cleaning dust off of photographic film and the polonium reduces static charge in the film which attracts dust.

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u/CenturyEggsAndRice 1d ago

I'm pretty sure my dad had one of those when I was a kid.

I saw the pictures of it and it just clicked like "Oh hey, I remember that thing..."

That's it, there's nothing interesting to say about it. It lived in his negatives box.

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u/chrisb_ni 1d ago

I think maybe you should stop with all the negative and start with a little more positive

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u/Helenium_autumnale 1d ago

nah, you have to start with the negative; that's how you develop!

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u/ohgoodferyou 1d ago

Because it's cooler that way, duuuh.

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u/MajorDraw3705 1d ago

There has to be a saner way to get rid of dust.

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u/M4GN3T1CM0N0P0L3 1d ago

It's a perfectly sane way to get rid of dust.

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u/ohromantics 1d ago

ONE HOT DOG!

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u/M4GN3T1CM0N0P0L3 1d ago

Interesting texture.

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u/ohromantics 1d ago

Did I spot that nod to Seinfeld correctly?! Haha

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u/pooping_inCars 1d ago

Because this is America, that's why

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u/YouFeedTheFish 1d ago

I heard you can get polonium tea in Russia.

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u/Hip-Death-Goddess 1d ago

Unrelated, but also camera lenses made of thoriated glass - up to 30% weight is radioactive thorium. High refractive index due to the density, but tends to discolour brown over time due to the ionising radiation.

These photographers are fucking wild, man

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u/MrArborsexual 1d ago

It is so little radiation that you'd basically have to grind up the lens and snort it to hurt yourself.

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u/Hip-Death-Goddess 1d ago

But enough radiation to discolour the lens which, for a camera, is a problem. Can discolour all the photographs and give them an amber tint. Like a permanent "film set in Mexico" mod.