Glowrings????

M

marsupial

Joined
Apr 25, 2001
Messages
705
Will someone please explain to me what the heck a glowring is?And why they continually show up in the knife arena?I know they glow but what is so special about them?Are they stretchable?How long do they glow?Are they radioactive?Of what use or purpose or usefulness are they?:confused:
 
I'll move this thread to Gadgets & Gear, but while I'm here ... they are not stretchable. They contain tritium but don't emit any dangerous radioactivity. They have a half-life of about 12 years, meaning in 12 years they'll be half as bright, in 24 a quarter as bright, etc. They are useful for finding the things you attach them to in the dark. :cool:
 
They are radioavtive, tritium and will glow for something like 10 years. Useful for finding your gear in the dark.
 
The halflife is a good explanation of the strength of the radiation generated by the tritium in the tube, but saying that the brightness falls off in the same manner is making assumptions about the phosphors used to line the tube and convert the radiation energy to visible light energy. The light dimming curve would reflect the radiation strength, conversion efficiency of the phosphor at different radiation intensities and the deterioration of the phosphor itself over time. Hydrogen is easier to contain than helium in some respects but there will still be some minor leakage straight through the container walls, and any leakage will also decrease the radiation intensity. Does anyone have real data on the actual dimming curve of these?
 
Lenght is about 3/4ths of an inch. They are about 1/4th of an inch in diamater but, they do taper (not a straight cylinder) so, that's approximate at mid-point.

They are very useful for finding things like car keys buried in a purse (my Mom loves hers), a pager that has fallen between couch cushions, a backpack buried in a car trunk full of stuff at night, as a fob attached to the lanyard hole of knife buried in a map pocket or glovebox of a car at night, same goes for a multi-tool for roadside repairs, and the list goes on ...... :)

Glowring factory website
 
I've got 2 on my daily stuff...

a blue x2 on my keys, and a green in the backspacer of my spyderco military. Be careful if you plan to use the inner tube for custom work, they will break(the guy who did mine broke the first).
 
Well, for those of you who keep your keys in your pockets and are concerned about nuking your 'nads with a glowring. Have NO fear! I put one of these puppies in a well counter (an extremely sensitive radiation measurement device) for a good hour and got just a tick over background radiation.:)
 
Try eBay, or some of the forum members here. There are "technical issues" with getting them into the US, but they are not insurmaountable.;)
 
I know a little about them... ;) I have had glow rings for about four years and would say that they have dimmed on the order of 50%...I can say this because two of them are about as bright as a new one. Implies some leakage I suppose. As to the relationship between decay and luminosity it is fair to say that the number of photons emitted is linear with the number of beta particles emitted (and striking the phosphor --- so with no leakage the luminosity should drop in half in 12.2 years. It is clearly going faster than that (visually) so I think there must be some leakage.
 
Bagheera is hard to beat. Great prices and great service. He is not the only one to sell them though so, you can do good with the other guys too ;)
 
I think the rising euro has put baggy out of the export business based on what I last read.
 
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