Re: TI-H: Inside TI83
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>>>That's a good idea, but be careful when ripping apart your watch. A
small
>>>piece of radioactive material is what creates the light and would not
be a
>>>really good thing to play with. :)
>>> BlakLite
>>Radioactive?!? I was not aware of that. . . Is Timex trying to nuke us
>>all with Indiglo :-)?
> I think he is referring to the watches with tritium and (on the
>really old ones) radium as the luminescent material. Those (esp.
>Radium) give off radiation; however, the mini-bulbs are small
>incandescents.. I'm not quite sure what Indiglo is, but it doesn't glow
>constantly, only when current is applied, so my guess is that it
>isn't.
Actually, Indiglo does glow all the time-- it's just REALLY faint. You
need almost perfect darkness. Try in a closet at night with the door
shut. Anyways, you see that it glows really faintly, even with it off. I
don't know it it's just a small power leak from the LCD or maybe
somewhere else, or if it's like that with no power. You'd need to take
the battery out of the watch to be sure.
More interesting things... When glowing, the indiglo emits a very quiet,
very high pitched tone, for as long as it's on. Also, if you shield your
eyes and close them, then light up the watch, if you look at the display
right after you turn off the light, you see that it takes a second for it
to completely return to its normal light level. It takes about a half or
quarter second for the light to fade out. The reason you have to shield
your eyes is to keep them adjusted to the dark.
Jason "Thursday" Wenger
jwenger@juno.com
Illegitimi no carborundum
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