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Radiation Detection Wrist Watch 229

Posted by michael from the steal-one-from-homesec-employees dept.
luigi writes "I4U has this story: vigiWATCH is a newly created swiss company that offers the smallest, most precise radiation detector worldwide in a normal size wrist watch. The watch displays current radioactivity rates from 0.00001mSv/h to 4.00000 mSv/h and cumulative radioactive dose from 0.001mSv/h to 9999 mSv/h. The precision is +/- 25% over total range. Besides the radioactivity detection, its also showing the time in a digital and analog display. The watch looks like a normal casual wrist watch. Hope this watch never becomes standard equipment for survival on this planet. The watch is sold on the site for $1100."
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Radiation Detection Wrist Watch More

Radiation Detection Wrist Watch

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  • Sometimes there are times... (Score:5, Funny)

    by RebelTycoon ( 584591 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:06AM (#5013063) Homepage
    when you would rather just not know... Like just how many rads that 19" monitor is blasting into your little soldiers...

    I've got nothing...

    • when you would rather just not know... Like just how many rads that 19" monitor is blasting into your little soldiers...

      I guess it all depends on where you wear your radiation-detecting-watch...for eleven hundred dollars, I think I'd keep it highly visible on my wrist.

    • Re:Sometimes there are times... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Sycraft-fu ( 314770 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @03:18AM (#5013308)
      If it's a new one (say 1999 or newer) that complies with the TCO spec then it's basically none. It's a very stringent spec on EM emissions and you really won't find much comming from your monitor. Even older monitors tend to comply to the MPR II spec, which is very low emission (not as low as TCO, but still).

      Also, we are talking EM radiation here, not nuclear. There is a difference.
      • The static electricity on your monitor can attract radon gas in the atmosphere. The radiation could come from radon, not your monitor, but its concentrates in front of your face. That means air ventilation is also a factor especially when the concrete of your building contains relatively large amount of radon.

        • Re:Sometimes there are times... (Score:5, Informative)

          by richie2000 ( 159732 ) <rickard.olsson@gmail.com> on Saturday January 04, 2003 @04:29AM (#5013435) Homepage Journal
          TCO-99 spec monitors doesn't produce any static electricity, at least not in front of or on the front side of the monitor. The rear is another matter... Ever been seated opposing someone else in an office? His or her monitor emissions are what you should worry about, not what your monitor does (that's the other person's problem).

          TCO-99 is a very restrictive specification that not only deals with radiation and emission levels, it also specifies ergonomics. It is for instance considered harmful to have a black border around the viewing area - this has almost killed off sales of black or dark gray monitors. They are almost always TCO-95 spec, even if they meet all the other TCO-99 requirements.

          TCO [www.tco.se] is The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (basically, a white-collar trade union) that thinks about workplace ergonomics [tcodevelopment.com] and how to keep their members alive and healthy.

          • The rear of the monitor cannot possibly produce any emissions. Emissions are produced when electrons strike the phosphors/glass on the front of the tube. Since a CRT shoots electrons from the back to the front, there are no significant emissions coming from the back.
            • The picture tube produces significant EM fields backwards. This is easy to test. Set up two monitors pointed away from each other and turn them on. Degauss one while watching the other one.
              • Uhhh, that still doesn't mean that static will buildup (it doesn't on any of my monitors). Also, degausing is a horrable example since that is a special case and done infrequently. The emissions from TCO99 monitors is so low that I can set 2 21" monitors side by side, with teh fron bezels touching, and they do not distort each other's image. I do this at work. Yes, when I degauss there is a little interference but that only happens at monitor power on or by specific request on my part.
                • I never mentioned static. There is, however, an EM lobe going out the back of the monitor. Do the same test but just turn one of the monitors on and back off. See the other monitor distort. Side-by-side doesn't really work since they are fairly well shielded there too. And, if the monitors were shielded all the way around, degaussing would not affect the other monitor, regardless of their relative position.

      • Also, we are talking EM radiation here, not nuclear. There is a difference.

        Yeah, it's unclear what the original poster thinks that he's going to be getting "nuked" by.

        Actually, several kinds of radiation leave a monitor, though it's only the last two that tend to cause worry:

        • Light - this is, after all, why you bought the monitor?
        • Heat.
        • Sound - ultrasonic and sonic, ranging from the ultrasonic whine of the power supply's inverter and the horizontal windings of the deflection yoke and the flyback transformer, to the rasp of the vertical deflection yoke windings, to the click of various relays as the sync rate changes.
        • Electromagnetic - primarily from the horizontal and vertical deflection circuits, these behave basically as VLF radio transmitters. Their actual effects on the human body are unknown, but the fact that the word "radiation" is used to describe them is enough to get every do-gooder high-school-educated hausfrau or trade union member up in arms. When a monitor says "Low Radiation", this is what is meant, but it's not what I worry about.
        • X-rays - X-rays are really a kind of electromagnetic radiation in theory, but in practice, they're quite different. They're ionizing, meaning that they cause a charge in something when they strike it. In a CRT, a very high voltage power supply is used to accelerate beam of electrons to an appreciable percentage of the speed of light, and then they're slammed into the phosphor coating on the inside of the screen. If you compare this with the theory of operation of an X-ray machine, you might be amused to note the similarities. The vacuum inside the CRT is only part of the reason why the glass is so thick... there have been stringent X-ray standards since the early 1960s, when most color TV sets like the RCA CT-100 could cloud photographic film. Of course, a failure in the high voltage regulator circuit of a modern monitor or TV could cause it to spoil all your vacation photos.

        X-rays are ionizing radiation and are known to be carcinogenic and mutagenic. They're essentially man-made gamma rays. Geiger counters do tend to count them, though it depends on their energy.

  • Hmm...I may get one. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Valar ( 167606 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:07AM (#5013066)
    To replace my wrist mounted poison gas sensing canary.
  • What person is actually going to get near enough radiation to test if the watch even works? Sounds like a ripoff... then again maybe this story is just an ad, why else would they post the price?

    • I worked security at a department of energy lab for about a year. There were a few radioactive zones in, near, and around the particle accelerator, and all were well marked, but there were certain spots where I definately would have felt better if I had something that could tell me the radiation level in the area. Security was always first on the scene in case of fire or accident, and you never knew just what could have been destroyed to the point of allowing radiation to leak out. Radiation wise, nothing real bad ever happened, but that was the scariest part of working there sometimes, the radiation that you can't see, smell, or feel.

      BTW, they'd probably post the price because it is interesting and good to know. If you don't have $1100 lying around, why bother clicking through to see how much the price is?
      • but that was the scariest part of working there sometimes, the radiation that you can't see, smell, or feel.

        As opposed to that really visible, smelly textured radiation?

        (ok, I just thought a bit more, and I suppose a hot acrid lava of molten core would probably assault all your senses and be a good indication that it carried a little radiation... for a moment or two anyhows :)
        • I'd much have prefered radiation be stinky, at least then I'd know i was in trouble. Kinda along the same lines of them putting an artificial smell in natural gas.

    • Workers in related fields (Score:4, Interesting)

      by The Tyro ( 247333 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:33AM (#5013178)
      I can see plenty of people who work around radiation buying one of these. Light, convenient, and unobtrusive... what's not to like.

      Radiologists, Medical physicists, Nuc. Med guys, Orthopedic surgeons (who use lots of fluoroscopy).

      I don't do very much fluoro... but I have used it in the past to straighten fractured bones and place difficult catheters. Even so... I might consider one of these.

      Also, never underestimate the awesome power of "gadget lust." Even for expensive gadgets, all that's required is a wee bit of rationalization as to how it MIGHT be useful in your job.

      Could even be written off as a business expense...
  • What happens when the battery dies? Do we loose all that information about cumulative radiation?

  • Precise? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by freebase ( 83667 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:08AM (#5013073)
    I've not read the specs myself, but hopefully that was a typo... +/- 25% is no where near precise, especially in a dosimeter.

    • Need Karma? (Score:5, Informative)

      by kaosrain ( 543532 ) <root AT kaosrain DOT com> on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:33AM (#5013180) Homepage
      I'm at the cap, I'll give you some, just don't post misinformation.

      Professional dosimeters have an average accuracy of +/- 10%.

      25% is not considered bad, especially as these are not meant to be used for inspections. From the website:

      Our aim is to help various professionals measure and control the radiation dosis they may be exposed to in a convenient, discreet and continuous way. These professionals can be radiologists, dentists, medical staff, nuclear power plant staff, waste professionals, military, customs and for those who want to know!

      For uses such as these, +/-25% is definately accurate enough.

      You could have gotten free karma much easier if you posted that their technical page [vigiwatch.com] contained the following: * all data may be subject to change without notice

      Now THAT is a reason for worry.

    • Could it be... (Score:5, Funny)

      by BattleWolf ( 637645 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @03:01AM (#5013251)
      ... the green, glow in the dark watch-hands causing the +/-25%?
  • This is cool, but do I really want to be in a situation where my watch actually goes off? I mean, at that point, wouldn't I want to be wearing so much protective gear that a watch is a bit out of the question?
    • Possibly not. As mentioned, dentists, radiologists and such. My fiancee used to work in a biotech lab working with PCR and doing tests on DNA and stuff where normal lab attire is jeans and a t-shirt covered by a lab coat. Often she would have to use radioactive tracers in the DNA. Nothing skin rotting at exposure, but still a good dose of radiation. The tracer was in liquid form and if there was a spill that someone didn't clean up entirely, which on occasion happened, it could easily be absorbed into clothes. The watch could serve as a substitute for the special badges they wear to alert of over exposure since a lot of people already wear a watch.

      psxndc

  • Useful for the UN Weapons Inspectors (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mind21_98 ( 18647 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:12AM (#5013094) Homepage Journal
    These might be useful for the UN weapons inspectors currently in Iraq. They could keep track of radiation without alerting any Iraqi authorities and get a true feel of whether there are weapons of mass destruction (specifically nuclear weapons) around.
    • Are you kidding? The Iraqis know the inspectors are looking for nuclear weapons, and they know where they are. It's not as if the inspectors are sneaking around Iraq, communicating with each other through their Dick Tracy brand secret decoder rings. The only way they can catch the Iraqis off guard is to show up where they're not expecting an inspection, not to show up with fancy radiation-detecting wrist watches.
    • They could keep track of radiation without alerting any Iraqi authorities

      "Hi, guys. Yup, today we left all our radiation-detecting gear at home, and we're just looking for anthrax! Yup, all these boxes just detect biological agents!"

      and get a true feel of whether there are weapons of mass destruction (specifically nuclear weapons) around.

      As opposed to the completely false feel that they're currently getting from their instruments?

  • Better double check the dimensions! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Samir Gupta ( 623651 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:12AM (#5013097) Homepage
    The watch displays current radioactivity rates from 0.00001mSv/h to 4.00000 mSv/h and cumulative radioactive dose from 0.001mSv/h to 9999 mSv/h.

    Me thinks that if current rates are in mSv/h, then cumulative doses should drop the temporal dimension, ie, mSv (no /h)!

  • Illegal in the UK (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jaylen ( 59655 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:13AM (#5013099)
    I like this watch... just a damn shame that in the UK, no citizen is allowed to own anything resembling a geiger counter. The only places they are allowed are in schools or universities, or for authorities/companies with a 'good reason' to have one.

    But the average joe shmoe on the street is not allowed to own one.

    • Re:Illegal in the UK (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mmontour ( 2208 )
      just a damn shame that in the UK, no citizen is allowed to own anything resembling a geiger counter

      Yet it seems that you folks are allowed to have nuclear-powered lights [glowrings.com] (tritium+phosphor devices) that are illegal in the US / Canada. Odd laws...

    • Re:Illegal in the UK (Score:5, Interesting)

      by notestein ( 445412 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:44AM (#5013207) Homepage Journal
      Here are some US Government produced specifications [ornl.gov] for making a geiger counter from materials found around the house.
    • Maybe offtopic, but in Sweden, it is illegal to think about how to best create a nuclear power plant.

      This is the result of overly ambitious (and probably unconsitutional) laws aiming to make it a 100% certain that no new plants will ever be developed.

      Tor
    • When were they banned? I have seen geiger counters and dosimeters available on the UK s/h market, What isn't allowed is a device with a calibration source ('cos it is radioactive).

      Of course, you might end up on Ton's list of people with dangerous equipment and as we know, what is Tony's, is also George's.

    • Re:Illegal in the UK (Score:3, Informative)

      by Detritus ( 11846 )
      And your source for this assertion is what?

      See this page [aztecresearch.net] for sources of geiger counters in the UK.

    • Most Likely Shit (Score:5, Informative)

      by cybergibbons ( 554352 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @05:30AM (#5013540) Homepage

      Unless this is recent, this is just wrong. People are allowed to own Geiger Counters. Why wouldn't they be?

      Maplin used to sell a kit until a few years ago to make one. Second hand militaty units are available on many sites. Scientific suppliers often carry them.

      Also, a dosimeter is a different device to a Geiger counter. Is the watch still illegal?

      I should imagine that if this were like anything else, then dealers would get in a lot more trouble than the buyer, and I have never heard of that happening.

    • You can buy Geiger-Muller counters in lots of places in the UK. I don't know what you were thinking of.

      Oh, and we're subjects and not citizens.....

  • Sure it might be great for small quantities that aren't going to kill you, but think about it... it's a watch, on your wrist.

    If your watch told you it got a dose of lethal radiation... by extension, you did as well. By that time, you could equally judge the lethality of the radiation by the peeling and burning skin all over your body.

    So I don't see this as warning you of danger, as it might be a bit late by the time it beeps at you.
  • I can't seem to find any other images of the watch anywhere on that website or elsewhere on the web for that matter. The angle it's at hides the thickness of the watch.... it could be 3/4 of an inch thick =/

    -Berj
  • What does it mean if the watch starts glowing green, and melts? Do they have a little voice that says "Congratulations! Now you're the Hulk"?
    • Actually it just has a little skull and crossbones. Glancing down at your watch, you notice you have just been exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. Luckily the watches come with free diapers, since you promptly shit yourself.

  • Watch (Score:4, Informative)

    by SavageDK ( 638450 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:26AM (#5013153)
    Well, that watch isnt exactly new.... its sold on this website for way less Actually only 337.20 Here is the link: http://pro-resources.net/watch.htm
    • The stats on those watches look pretty sad. The ones mentioned at the top of this article can supposedly 0.00001mSv/h. The ones at pro-resources.net bottom out at 0.1 mSv/h.

      Since background radiation appears to be circa 0.0002 mSv/h, the watch at pro-resources.net apparently will only detect levels 500x normal. They should just get rid of the digital display and just show RARE, MEDIUM, or WELL DONE.
  • Does it have the radioactive glowy stuff so I see it in the dark?

    Uhmm ... maybe that may upset the readings ... nevermind.

  • Scenario (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:31AM (#5013169)
    *beep, beep, beep*

    Guess it's time for my....HOLY SHIT!
  • I have an Indiglo Datalink, so my watch gives off radiation, and reads computer screens. It was also less than $80 5 years ago.

    Who got the better deal, me or the shumck who know how many rads they got?
  • Wasn't there an Asimov story with a radiation-detecting watch? I think it was in one of the foundation series novels. The main guy's college dorm room was blown up by a radioactive bomb, but later he figured out that it was staged because his watch didn't register any radiation. The watchband was the indicator, I think. It turned from blue to white or vice versa. Asimov was so great at predicting future technologies. What was that book? It's bugging me now and googling didn't help...
  • I had it ten years ago- it's in my parents' house somewhere. It was originally marketed to the general public during the early sixties, right after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Maybe someone else has seen one. It was heavy and yellow, with a handle that hung over the dial. It had three sensitivity settings- 100, 10, and 1 of some unit that I can't remember- maybe mrad/hour. (Radiation dosage units are confusing as hell.)

    Either it didn't work at all, or the sensitivity was ridiculously low. I stuck a cobalt-60 source (one of those orange disks you see in highschool and college labs) right underneath it on its finest setting and the needle didn't even budge! Either they didn't understand radiation well back then, or someone was making a fortune during the Cuban Missile Crisis selling fake Geiger counters.

    • If it was a big yellow civil defense counter (victoreen), then you damn well better not register anything from any radation source you have laying around, otherwise you are in big trouble.

      Those counters are designed to measure radiation from about 100mREM to 500 REM accurately depending on model. This is several orders of magnitude higher than anything you would have from a high school science lab.

      If it were sensitive enough a meter to measure such small amounts, it would be useless during a nuclear incident, where REMs are going to peak out in the several hundred/hr range, and diminish over the next few days to a few REMs/hr, at which time is begins to be safe to go outside for short periods. You can probably take about 50 cumulative REMs safely without getting sick. 100 is pushing it but you probably wouldn't die. The sick, elderly, and children are more suceptible, none of these numbers are absolute. The point is, these doses are many orders of magnitude times higher than your radiation sample.

      See this link [ki4u.com], for a survivalist site, it is a surprisingly well informed, accurate and unbiased assessment.
      • If it was a big yellow civil defense counter (victoreen), then you damn well better not register anything from any radation source you have laying around, otherwise you are in big trouble.

        That was pretty much our assessment when we couldn't get it to work. I typed "Victoreen" into images.google.com to see what I recognized- it was a Victoreen model 715 [digitalvideo.com]. And now the picture reminds me- the units were Roentgens/hr (on the "X1" setting- the switch had X100, X10, X1, and X0.1 positions).

        The manual for this thing was pretty scary.

  • Neat Watch (Score:5, Informative)

    by Henry V .009 ( 518000 ) on Saturday January 04, 2003 @02:55AM (#5013239) Journal
    This would have been nice to know about before Christmas...

    Very cool. One feature I'd like to see in the next version of this watch is some sort of hook-up to a computer that would let you record good data on long-term exposure. Still, I want one of these.

    As far as measuring your total dosage goes, I might as well take this opportunity to inform everyone that government mandated radiation standards are mostly erroneous. [jussieu.fr] By orders of magnitude even. We now know that low-level radiation is simply far less harmful (and far better understood) than we thought it was in the 1950's. Major reason is that the 1950's model is simply a straight line extrapolation from the known lethal dosage. Back then, that was a reasonable guess considering the knowledge of genetics at the time. Needless to say, our current understanding is quite different.
    • We now know that low-level radiation is simply far less harmful (and far better understood) than we thought it was in the 1950's.

      In fact, there is evidence that low-level radiation is actually beneficial. This effect is known as Radiation Hormesis [alamut.com]
    • Very cool. One feature I'd like to see in the next version of this watch is some sort of hook-up to a computer that would let you record good data on long-term exposure. Still, I want one of these.

      As long as you're adding a logging feature, it might be useful to add a GPS receiver as well, so that you can tell where, and not just when the radiation was higher/lower.

  • Ooh, I see a new item accessory in the making :)
  • GammaWatch [gammawatch.com] - It looks like that one, it even has some of the same specs...
    Only this one is "just" US$ 485!
    • Note the dimensions on that thing;

      "No more than" 50x45x20mm

      That is, five centimeters by four point five centimeters by two centimeters. Or, about 3/4 inch thick.

      I would assume the watch in the original article is smaller, but still... that's a big watch.

      It seems like waiting for a bit more miniturization might be a good idea. Though, something like that would fit nicely as a pcmcia card or as to fill the expansion slot in a PDA; where size and weight are less of an issue than for a watch.

      I would disagree with using the term "stylish" on the watch, unless "looks like it came from a gumball machine" counts as stylish.
  • Do you think your neighbours are out to get you?
    Have you been accusing them time and time again but still have no solid proof that they killed/ate your hamster?
    Are you starting to doubt your sanity? Fear no more brave soul! They are trying to poison you with radiation!
    That's right, RADIATION. Unbeknownst to you, your neighbours have set up a directed gamma radiation gun pointed straght to your bedroom! We have just the thing for poor heathens like yourself! Simply send 1100$ plus shipping and handling to this handy adress to receive your own personalized "Geiger Counter" disguised as a mickey mouse wrist watch! That's right, you can find out your neighbours for what they really are, and bring them to justice in the american way! ;)

  • I sometimes think that environmental conciousness will come not because of any actions by activists but because we will develop personal, portable and cheap pathogen detection technology. This would let people know just how much of each toxin was present in their environment. There would still be arguments about what amount constitutes a dangerous exposure, but if I only get 1 PPM of dioxin [ejnet.org] at home and 100 PPM at work, I'm going to start looking for another job.

    Are there any more personal detection devices like this on the market?

    Perhaps what we need is a site the provides plans and techniques for detecting various poisons. There could also be a section to rate your town. Of course it would probably become competitive. Imagine the headlines; Local chess club dumps toxic waste. "We wanted to make the toxic top ten" says club president at his arraignment.

  • Heavy sales of this product indicate mass paranoia. If this thing sells well. Invest in tin-foil hat and body suit tailoring company.... Perfect.

  • Let George Bush start his little nuclear war, and it will be! Seriously folks, there is a faction in the Religious Right who believe that only a nuclear war will fulfill the Revelations prophesy, and bring Jesus back. And they WANT ONE. Scary stuff!
  • So, you will have "1000% warning" of radiation, will it help? It works at light speed! The radiation. You will run away?

    Try to make your goverment a bit peaciful instead.

    Like, not bombing Iraq for sake of 3-4 petrol companies.
  • It'd be cool if this thing came with a glow in the dark radium face.

    -josh
  • These all seem to be resellers of Polimaster's radiation detector watch. Polimaster [polimaster.com] has a whole line of similar instruments, for people who work with radioactive materials. The resellers are doubling and tripling the price, too.

    The wearable devices are mostly gamma detectors. More useful, for the paranoid, would be an air sampler that detects alpha and beta emitters. If you're worried about terrorist-type attacks, they're more likely to be in the form of airborne radioactive particles than from a big gamma source.

    One of the things Homeland Security was supposed to be doing was putting radiation detectors into every fire station in America. That doesn't seem to have happened, and it should.

  • A geiger counter in a wrist watch? Come on, James Bond had one of those in the movie Thunderball, back in the 1960s.
  • --in these days of terrorism, this watch could give someone an immediate headsup to evac any area that has become dangerous from perhaps a "dirty" radiological device or just from some *insane goon* spreading radioactivity in some manner. Maybe well before any "official" word of an attack is released on the radio, etc. And after an attack it would be useful for noting hotspots and relatively "cleaner" areas to avoid or travel in. Too bad it's so expensive I would get one to add to my survival/preparedness supplies.
  • I went to the Trinity site opening this last October - it would have been fun to have had this watch then as I wandered around the site of the first nuclear blast.

    I can think of some people that this would be useful for - anybody who works in caves. Due to naturally occuring uranium in granite, all caves with poor air circulation exhibit increased levels of radon. In fact, the National Parks Service workers at Carlsbad Caverns wear dosimeters, and are not allowed to work there longer than a couple of months before being rotated out, to limit their exposure.

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