Re: Stuff for sale
Lol.
A lantern mantle is a cloth bag set over the burner in a gas/oil lantern. The flame burns up the cloth which is impregnated in a chemical. The chemical gets hot and glows incandescently like a light bulb. All that is left of the lantern after ignition is a weave of oxides, if you touch it or blow on it, it turns to a dust cloud. So instead of a dim light from a small flame, you get a bright white net of oxides glowing from the heat of the flame. In the case of thoriated mantles the thorium nitrate is the chemical which upon ignition converts to thorium oxide, which glows from the heat. The problem is thorium is radioactive. It primarily an alpha and gamma emitter, and since it is a dust it poses an inhalation hazard. You can take a very large dose of external radiation with no real health risk, but even a super tiny quantity of radioactive material can cause cancer if it gets IN your body, like if you breathe in Th mantle dust.
People used to brush their teeth with radium enriched toothpaste for a glowing smile.
BTW, if the gov't ever finds out you had a spill of radioactive material they will force a full size cleanup on you and hand YOU the bill. If you're going to collect rads, make sure they are sealed exceptionally well or are not able to cause contamination (don't collect Ore indoors, liquids/gasses/powders/crumbles should be in ampoules.)
