you probably won't know the answer to this and I can't seem to find out on google.

When i was at a market chinese shop, I bought a necklace for my little girl for her birthday coming up soon.  I'm sure the lady said the chain was polonium.  I even said "polonium?" and she said it again.  It's a lovely shiny silver chain - really bright - almost sparkles.  And it was only later that I suddenly realised that polonium is radioactive. So I looked it up on google but I can't seem to find much about jewellery and polonium at all.

Does anyone know if they really make jewelry out of polonium?  Isn't that dangerous.  Polonium gives off gamma radiation (ie the worst radiation)

Love esther

Palladium is a silvery metal sometimes used in jewellery... maybe that's what she meant?

Polonium is as you say highly radioactive so it's almost certainly not that!

I really hope so.  It so sounded like polonium.  is palladium expensive or cheap?  What does it look like?  The necklace was quite cheap.

Polonium has a very short half life, so it's very, very scarce. 

Palladium is about half the price of gold, but my high school class ring is an alloy of silver and palladium that doesn't tarnish, and it wasn't much more than silver at that time, so it must be present in a small amount...  I did some Googling an there is such an alloy that is 3% palladium and 97% silver...

http://www.jckonline.com/2012/08/26/pinch-platinum-could-be-just-what-your-silver-jewelry-needs

Quote - I really hope so.  It so sounded like polonium.

If it was polonium at some time, it probably is only lead by now. Because of the low half time of only a few days polonium decays to lead very soon after creation.

Quote - is palladium expensive or cheap?  What does it look like?  The necklace was quite cheap.

What do you mean by "quite cheap"? Because polonium is very rare (world production only about 100 grams per year), a price of ca. $ 1Mio, would be considered "very cheap" (but normally you do cannot buy it from a jeweler). I would not give such expensive things to little girls as a gift, they cannot value this adequately anyway. Also they are highly toxic (the polonium gifts, not the little girls), so they will certainly die if they swallow parts of it accidently.

Sounds like the lady in the shop was maybe mixing up her palladium and her polonium?

;)

I would very definitely say also, that it's palladium, not polonium :). Palladium is extremely bright and shiny and that's likely what you have there :).

Laurie

Does it glow blue?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonium

Quote - Also they are highly toxic (the polonium gifts, not the little girls), so they will certainly die if they swallow parts of it accidently.

Depends on the little girls. :p

Quote - I  is palladium expensive or cheap?  What does it look like?  The necklace was quite cheap.

Current prices for gold, silver, platinum and palladium here.

Palladium seems to be about half the price of gold; silver looks almost worthless... platinum most expensive, just ahead of gold.

An ex gf was (probably still is) a jeweller, and if I recall correctly palladium is like very highly polished silver but doesn't tarnish much, if at all.

It's used in jewellery because it's quite malleable and relatively easy to work with.

So let's assume that your necklace isn't made of Polonium. Let's also consider that - being cheap and coming from a market stall - it's probably not made of palladium either... 

Could be rhodium plating ;)

Laurie

Remember about Polonium is that Marie Curie was in on the discovery...;)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/downtothewiredesigns/3747337042/

doesnt look shiney to me,

however http://www.etftrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/palladium-mgr-6mm-b.jpg does

Quote - Remember about Polonium is that Marie Curie was in on the discovery...;)

Kate Beaton sells a t-shirt commemorating this relationship...

http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=BEAT-CURIES&Category_Code=BEAT

In addition to the above comments, I'd like to add that I'd trust anything told to me in a market about as much as I'd trust anything on EBay.  Or the internet in general.  :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls

...For conversation's sake.

thanks everyone.  Yes it is very bright and shiny like the 2nd example posted by Lully.  Maybe palladium is cheaper nowadays, after all I think jewelry cost is (partially) by the gram and the little chain is very light in weight. It does look really very nice. No there is no blue glow except maybe a touch in my imagination.  Maybe the lady, with her chinese accent said palladium and I heard polonium.

BTW I thought polonium had a long half life. I thought I read somewhere 100 years to keep emitting radiation?  And I thought maybe it was a byproduct of unranium use.

Love esther

That's Plutonium.  It has a half-life of about 250,000 years.  Strontium 90 is a byproduct of Uranium fission that has a half-life of about 100 years, IIRC.....

just when I was starting to feel happier!  Bet it's not shiny.

metallic chinese products, often for children, may contain cadmium, which is also bad.  as with lead, prevent skin contact.

Hah!  I use a lot of cadmium  - it's in me red and yellow paints - and it's never done me any har%%%%%%$£^%(*_"NGKJGFL:W''''!!!!@@@@@@m

So there.  

Yeah, I was a glaze sprayer at a "will be un-named ceramics factory"... Despite the respirator and ventilation booth (often on the fritz, I might add) I would spray upwards to 5000 square feet of architectural tile a day with lead based and cadmium based (no substitute for a cadmium red) glazes. Skin contact? Ummm, the shit was coming out of my ears... no kidding. Any wonder that historically a glaze sprayer will only last a few years at this place before they are moved. I lasted 2 before I quit. Sorry Sam, a little paint contact won't do shit. A daily bath? mmm, probably a different story. Really a shame about that job as the benefits and pay were pretty good (especially the benefits, go figure). Hell, might go back to the job when I head back to California. Chuckle.

Did I mention I eat the stuff? ;)

If you're a spray paint addict, maybe you should drop in on Fender when you go back to Cali.  :)  

I used to sharpen the points of my brushes with my mouth also, when painting. Really the best way! Sam, you mean Fender as in the Fender guitar company?

If you do mean the Fender factory over in L.A., nope... L.A. really isn't my cup of tea. I'll be either going back to San Francisco or Steinbeck country most likely. Allright, enough pointless OT on my part.

Quote - Hah!  I use a lot of cadmium  - it's in me red and yellow paints - and it's never done me any har%%%%%%$£^%(*_"NGKJGFL:W''''!!!!@@@@@@m

So there.  

LMAO!!!

Laurie

Hey Laurie, so how do you like Middletown? I had a friend who lived there for a while. I recall that it was a very strange little town, for some reason the place was crawling with spiders! And I mean Crawling. I also recall that at night the store signs, like 7-11, would be covered with Green Flies or May flies. Like in a blanket. Which would probably explain all the spiders as there was plentiful food. I asked a local about it and I recall that she told me that all the flies were due to the proximity to the Susquehannah river. Anyway, I like P.A., lived in Philly for years... But, now the place aint the same. Too much gunfire I think, maybe.

Yeah, we're nearly due for a mayfly infestation soon (after the June bugs swarm us)...LOL. We're kinda screwed since we're between the river on one end and the rather large part of the Swatara Creek on the other (called a crick around these parts). Not sure about spiders but we got plenty of those damned Chinese stink bugs now ;). I've lived here or near here for most of my life (was even here in '78 in Middletown when the Three Mile Island thing happened...no one even picked me up from school so I guess I'm a little radioactive...lol). Otherwise I like it fine I guess. It's small and quiet for the most part ;). I prefer the York area tho....the surroundings which are the boonies around here - might hear a deer fart once in awhile ;). REALLY quiet. LOL.

Laurie

Yep, I did mean Fender Guitars.  They had a really bad record for spray paint pollution but they reckon that's all changed now.

Hi Esther

I think the accent or a simple mistake by the vendor.

BTW: There are longer half life forms of Polonium- made in a cyclotron. If the lady was selling jewelry made of that-then she has access to technology that may be beyond current human abilities!

There was a high profile murder involving Polonium 210 a few years ago,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Alexander_Litvinenko

Quote - thanks everyone.  Yes it is very bright and shiny like the 2nd example posted by Lully.  Maybe palladium is cheaper nowadays, after all I think jewelry cost is (partially) by the gram and the little chain is very light in weight. It does look really very nice. No there is no blue glow except maybe a touch in my imagination.  Maybe the lady, with her chinese accent said palladium and I heard polonium.

 

BTW I thought polonium had a long half life. I thought I read somewhere 100 years to keep emitting radiation?  And I thought maybe it was a byproduct of unranium use.

Love esther

Quote - you probably won't know the answer to this and I can't seem to find out on google.

When i was at a market chinese shop, I bought a necklace for my little girl for her birthday coming up soon...Does anyone know if they really make jewelry out of polonium?  Isn't that dangerous.  Polonium gives off gamma radiation (ie the worst radiation)

It probably wasn't polonium... That's deadly when ingested or inhaled, but the radiation from it will not penetrate the skin. There are also small amounts of polonium detectable in certain fertililzers, particularly used by tobacco growers... Insult to injury. (Remember, several people have been claimed to have been assassinated by covert elements using polonium to poison them.)

However, be warned - Chinese jewellry manufacturers have been caught using toxic metals in fashion jewellry because they're extremely cheap. Several store chains have had to remove items, including jewellry lines made exclusively for children.

If it were me, considering the source, I would take it to a professional jeweller and see if there are any non-destructive tests they can perform. (For instance, spectroscopy or mass/volume ratios may help identify the composition without harming the item.)

" but the radiation from it will not penetrate the skin."

I am pretty sure that is not correct. I read gamma radiation.  that penetrates everything, even the bodies of aeroplanes.

I am going to take a chance that the lady at the shop said palladium.  That fits with the description and the links to pics that were posted, and also fits with my googling.

If I notice any skin changes after wearing then (too late of course) I will toss it.

Love esther

How readily available is polonium? I didn't think most radioactive materials were available for the public to buy especially in large enough quantities for commercial sale.

Although available  in trace quantities in Nature, Polonium used in research is synthesized in a cyclotron, so I doubt it's available outside of governmental or research labs (or the Russian secret police)...

okay, thanks eveyrone. I'm happy it's palladium.  I knew you clever bunch would be able to help.  The renderosity crowd are a very knowledgable group of people, and not only when it comes to art.

Just to clarify, I meant actually eat, not to sharpen my brushes.  Red is great on burgers and the yellow is perfect on hot dogs.

My doctor says it's not a healthy diet, though.  I'm not getting enough greens.  

Quote - okay, thanks eveyrone. I'm happy it's palladium.  I knew you clever bunch would be able to help.  The renderosity crowd are a very knowledgable group of people, and not only when it comes to art.

if the doubt creeps back for any reason why not pop it into a jeweller to have a look at?

I think they wouldn't really be able to tell.  They woul probably only be able to guess at the main component.  but anyway I'm happy that it isn't polonium.  I don't think that doubt will creep back.

I have a cousin who is a metallurgist but he lives interstate.

Love esther

"My doctor says it's not a healthy diet, though.  I'm not getting enough greens."

Cobalt and Copper, Sam...

Aha!  Of course.  Thank you.  :D

I had the same problem when I was on a snooker ball diet, too.  Ate the reds, pink, blue, brown, yellow, black and cue ball daily.  

 No problem Esther- and yes Gamma can get through. Beta not so much-either way-the odds of it being Polonium are NOT high-given all the reasons stated.

Sam- one hopes that the following is still in play- plenty of jocularum! You might be able to get some of that Orange Uranium glaze-so favored by pottery folk at one time. It's quite HOT by Giger Counter!

" Coppula eam se non posit acceptera jocularum."

Quote - Just to clarify, I meant actually eat, not to sharpen my brushes.  Red is great on burgers and the yellow is perfect on hot dogs.

My doctor says it's not a healthy diet, though.  I'm not getting enough greens.  

Be easy to check by Geiger Counter.

Quote - I think they wouldn't really be able to tell.  They woul probably only be able to guess at the main component.  but anyway I'm happy that it isn't polonium.  I don't think that doubt will creep back.

I have a cousin who is a metallurgist but he lives interstate.

Love esther

I thought that was for detecting Alien eggs and face huggers. 

Anyhow, isn't polonium used in sausages?

"I thought that was for detecting Alien eggs and face huggers."

naw, that's a Giger (pronounced geeger, geiger as in counter is a common mispronunciation of the artist's name) counter.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=215773

Godammit all to hell!

Just kidding! ;)

I do know a place where I could probably access a geiger counter near my work.

Quote - "I thought that was for detecting Alien eggs and face huggers."

naw, that's a Giger (pronounced geeger, geiger as in counter is a common mispronunciation of the artist's name) counter.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=215773

Godammit all to hell!

Just kidding! ;)

I know but it was too good an opportunity to miss.  :)    Anyhow, I don't think Aliens have much use for jewellery.  Or sausages.

I bet Esther is really regretting starting this thread now.  :D  

When I was having radiation therapy, I was told by my doctor that if I travel, best to declare it, because some airport security is set up to detect radiation, and I could set the alarms off!! :P

 That's Hot! Er, actually-I hope it is NOT! :-)

Quote - I do know a place where I could probably access a geiger counter near my work.

 And Uranium Orange is used in Marmalade-

http://people.umass.edu/emartz/martzpots/gallery/uranium.htm

Quote - I thought that was for detecting Alien eggs and face huggers. 

Anyhow, isn't polonium used in sausages?

 

 

Hey, that's a great idea.  Spread it on your bread and it toasts itself.

I did hear there are six legged chickens around Chernobyl.  Nobody knows what they taste like, though, because they can't catch 'em.

Although, why Esther would want to wear chicken legs for jewellery is beyond me.  

You bring up good points! And the Uranium Orange bowls can keep food stored in it sterile for centuries! I'm guessing Mutant Chicken Leg Jewelry is a fad right now Down Under-or why would she want them? But then Polonium jewelry or sausage is not for the faint of heart!

Quote - Hey, that's a great idea.  Spread it on your bread and it toasts itself.

I did hear there are six legged chickens around Chernobyl.  Nobody knows what they taste like, though, because they can't catch 'em.

Although, why Esther would want to wear chicken legs for jewellery is beyond me.  

 

Don't you laugh at my chicken legs.