The glow isn't the tritium at all - it's a fluorescent coating on the inside of the little tubes. Different coatings yield different colors. The tritium is just the source of excitation. In other words, it's the energy source.

As I said, the trace amounts of tritium in these things are so low that our current understanding of radiation tells us they should probably be harmless....


But the concept still gives me the heebie jeebies.

The primary radiation given off during tritium's decay is electrons. These electrons excite the molecules in the coating on the tubes and cause them to fluoresce. However, some electrons certainly pass through the coating without interacting, where they are most likely scattered by the casing. During that scattering process, x-rays are the most likely radiation to be released, meaning you are probably taking a small but constant dose of x-rays from those tubes.



Sealing something in plastic rarely does much to block radiation... The bet on the tritium glow devices is that there is so little radiation that it's probably not harmful, and not that sealing the device blocks the rads.

I've worked with tritium. I have a deep knowledge of the process of radioactive decay in tritium. I've carried out experiments with FAR more dangerous radioactive materials. I know from a scientific standpoint that the minute amounts of tritium in these perma-glow devices are harmless...


Yet that doesn't prevent me from being weirded out about the idea of strapping a little vial of radioactive gas to my body.