I agree with the many points made against this concept thus far.
In addition to the expense of tritium, and the likely inability of plastic to
contain all the radioactivity (according to WebElements, it decays by beta-,
and this could be contained in the appropriate plastic, but what about any
gamma? - And what if it burns in a fire? - We already have enough "methyl
ethyl bad stuff" in society to worry about - let alone radioactive
contamination if your laptop ends up in a fire!)
A further problem is that tritium has a half life of 12.32 years - so it
would dramatically reduce it's light producing ability in short order. (talk
about built in obsolescence!)
<A HREF="http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/radio/H.html">P
eriodic Table - WebElements : hydrogen : radioisotopes data</A>
Tritium was used in the reticles of some military scopes, and simple sights
in the past, and the phosphorescence died after a few years. (aside from the
exposure of grunts to the radiation) (I believe this practice is no longer
used.)
Besides, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't tritium seriously controlled - as
it is a major (critical) component of boosting a fission bomb into a megaton
"H" bomb?
Methinks the balance sheet on this technology is not in favor of practical
application. (but let's see some details before complete dismissal)
DMBoss1021
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