question about wwII collectibles and contamination.

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79mongoose

Joined
Dec 14, 2004
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Please excuse me for asking a question i know its going to be dumb. My friend collects WW II memoribilia. I was wondering if it could be radiologicly contaminated, due to the fact that some soldiers occupied japan after the two a bombs were droped. Wouldnt the clothes and knives and other artifacts have been exposed to radioactive fallout? Im not a ww II expert so, sorry for asking this question. Thanks for all replys.
 
It's possible, yes. But I doubt that there was ever any serious contamination on the items in common circulation. And, by now, the radiation would have decayed well below dangerous levels. If you have concerns about a specific item, call the Physics department at your local college or university and ask to borrow a Geiger counter.
 
Most of the radioactive byproducts that are produced in a fission bomb explosion are quite short lived, and the few with longer half-lives are relatively weak. Try putting a few cartriges of unexposed film near them and see if anything shows up.
 
You know I've wondered the same thing but in relation to medieval stuff. I've recently had several sets of medieval buckles sent to me, what are the chances some nasty bug from the middle ages could be hanging around on them? Do archaelogists ever get sick from ancient bugs? Sort of a silly question probably but... well you think weird things sometimes... :)
 
my uncle has a bronze table ornament about 7" tall which is all melted from the Hiroshima blast, it was close to ground zero and was a gift to him while stationed with the US army in Japan. He also raised this question and when it was tested no radiation was present...I've also seen for sale a box of nails melting in the same blast which was mounted on a stand, if it was dangerous you prolly wouldnt have it...airports now days scan for radiation too.
 
Triton said:
You know I've wondered the same thing but in relation to medieval stuff. I've recently had several sets of medieval buckles sent to me, what are the chances some nasty bug from the middle ages could be hanging around on them? Do archaelogists ever get sick from ancient bugs? Sort of a silly question probably but... well you think weird things sometimes... :)
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IIRC there were some cases of molds (old spores can keep dormant for a very long time) found in Egyptian tombs. Whether that caused deaths then attributed to "curse" of some kind was never proven i believe. Since your artifacts are out on open and have been thoroughly cleaned (?) i honestly doubt they could still contain any of those ancient harmful mold/chemical things.
 
Well they were dug objects, but they have not been cleaned... interesting...
 
Spores can lie dormant for centuries. However, the odds of there being anything on those is pretty low. Give it a good rinse down with alcohol if it won't harm it, that will kill anything that may lurk.
 
Spore-forming bacteria, Anthrax being an example, can survive for years. I suppose it is conceivable that spores could survive for even hundreds of years.
 
Triton said:
Great... what are the symptoms of bubonic plague again?
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Before the blisters appear, the surest hint is a grasping, greedy obsession with hard, especially metal, objects.
 
Yeah, if you run around eating rat poop, you're at much more risk for a hanta virus.

Not to mention lots of lonely evenings and weekends.
 
mwerner said:
Or are infested with fleas. (The primary vector for Bubonic plague)
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We got a flea infestation here...
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