[ghostly_s]

So the crucifix is visible in the dark? This article makes it sound like a black light needed to observe the phenomenon, which strikes me as odd because I wouldn't have thought black lights were commonly available at the time when these first gained popularity.

[gabrielblack]

The crucifix is different, besides the Uranium glass it has engravings painted with something I think is tritium.

[foobarian]

That is a little scary - a bit into the territory of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls

[gabrielblack]

Let's say that my grandmother lived in times where the radiation was too much "mainstream": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-fitting_fluoroscope

https://spectrum.ieee.org/fun-and-uranium-for-the-whole-fami...

and they was really close to create a world you can see in Fallout, the game:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device)

[ars]

How old is it? Tritium has a half life of only 12.3 years, so if it's more than 60 years or so old, there's basically none left (around 3%), certainly not enough to make it glow.

Radium is much more likely if it's still glowing.

[gabrielblack]

More than 60, yes, maybe it's other source

[garmaine]

Radium more likely. Tritium is produced in small quantities in nuclear reactors and is the fuel for fusion bombs. I doubt that was used to make a crucifix.

[gabrielblack]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tritium-watch.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium_radioluminescence