Radioluminescence

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Radioluminescence is the amusing phenomenon of mixing a radioactive compound and a phosphorescent compound, resulting in the particles from the radioactive material energizing the phosphor compound, making it glow. Before the event of doping zinc sulfide with various metals to make it glow from stored sunlight, this was the only kind of glowing paint you could get.

The first, and probably most common, radioluminescent paint was a mixture of radium-226 in the form of a salt (Possibly radium chloride, RaCl?) with pure zinc sulfide. This was discovered by William Crookes, who was amusing himself by making zinc sulfide sparkle, when he spilled his radium all over it, and decided he liked the results. This paint was used THICKLY on basically all military equipment until about 1960.

Later on, young women emplyed to hand-paint dials of watches or what have you getting severe bone deterioration because radium, once ingested, masquerades as calcium, which is put into bones, but once in bones it gave them radiation poisoning, and then decided to leave, which didn't do any good for the bones at all. This resulted in a lengthy lawsuit, and eventually, the heavy restriction of radium paint..

Other more friendly isotopes where used in paints, such as the short-lived promethium, (half life of only 3.7 years, anything with promethium would hardly be radioactive today) and even today you can get watches with small glass vials of tritium gas with the insides coated in phosphors to illuminate the hands of your watch. Oddly enough I have never heard of any other isotopes being used, but I don't see why they couldn't be, so I guess I might just be waiting to hear about it.

This is my collection!