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Why do we associate nuclear radiation with a green glow? (kbin.social)

submitted 2 years ago by VoxAdActa@kbin.social to c/askscience@kbin.social

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So I just saw the YouTube video someone posted that showed nuclear reactors starting up, and the first thing I noticed was that they all glowed a very bright, pretty blue. I'm probably an idiot, but I was honestly expecting green, because of many years of dramatized depictions in popular media.

These are probably dumb questions, but:

Why is it blue? As in, what's actually glowing in there, and why do we see it that way?

and

Why do all the movies and comic books and video games go with green instead? Where did that come from?

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[–] QuinceDaPence@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Tritium is also still very popular for firearm night sights. And I'm sure some radium painted one used to be as well. The night sights on my SKS may have been radium paint or just regular phosporescent paint, or may have had tritium vials that fell off.

For a while there was a full set of uranium glassware in my local antique mall for sale but I think someone bought it.

[–] PlutoniumAcid@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

I have a small tritium light source on each of my key chains. Extremely useful!

They come in various colors, even. I use blue for car keys, yellow for house keys, red for bike keys.