Light Source Lasts 12 Years - No Electricity Needed

[CessnaDriver]

I have models over 12 years old I would be bummed about if I had put this inside, but who knows maybe future products will last longer........

http://www.physorg.com/news116776284.html

[Mikeym_us]

I have models over 12 years old I would be bummed about if I had put this inside, but who knows maybe future products will last longer........

http://www.physorg.com/news116776284.html

My hope is that they don't try to miniaturise nuclear reactors to fit in a model kit.

[MillenniumFalsehood]

This would be the best of both worlds for some modelers: have all the glowy warp engines and deflectors they want with no electronics experience needed. Of course the glow isn't that bright, but still it would be a godsend for 1:2500 scale modelers.

[macfrank]

A long time ago, TI (Texas Instruments) used to sell a LCD wristwatch with two tritium based backlight cells. The watches were cheap, so I took out the tritium lights; they made dim, but usable, night lights.

[tetsujin]

This is nothing particularly new, right? I mean, there have been self-luminating watch dials using tritium for a while now... It sounds like all they did was scale it up, maybe work out new ways of applying it...

(For those not aware - basically tritium goes through a radioactive decay - it is this radiation which causes the phosphorescent part of the material to glow. Apparently they used to use radium for the same job - Tritium is, I guess, a safer, more recent alternative.)

[Madman Lighting]

tetsujin wrote
Tritium is, I guess, a safer, more recent alternative

Might be safer than radium like they used to use on old glow in the dark watches.

More likely to prevent incidents like this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_boy_scout

[publiusr]

The atom is your friend.

No really.