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Never let it connect, btw... no matter how nicely it asks. (europe.pub)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [M] to c/memes@lemmy.world
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[–] 48 points 2 weeks ago (26 children)

Just in case anybody is stupid enough to believe this, there was nothing radioactive in old CRT-based TVs. And they sometimes had black cases but weren't a "black box".

They worked by bending a beam of electrons that hit phosphors in the screen, which is cool enough that saying stupid BS about "radioactive" is unnecessary.

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  • [–] 28 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

    CRTs can emit X-Rays, but they are properly shielded so they never leave the tube.

    The X-Ray scare mostly came from a line of GE TV's in 1968 that had improper shielding and had to be recalled.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

    Radioactivity and X-Rays are tangentially related, but they're not at all the same thing.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 weeks ago* (3 children)

    One is from a decaying material and the other is from controlled electron beam, but they are both radiation emitters. People are just more familiar with the term radioactive and think it is the catch-all term for a source of radiation.

    The electron gun in a tv and in an xray machine are pretty similar and without shielding, you will still get hit with radiation even if it isn't strictly radioactive, but rather another type of radiation emitter.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    One is from a decaying material

    Specifically radioactive decay.

    the other is from controlled electron beam

    So, not radioactivity.

    Radiation is a really vague term. It's just energy moving in the form of waves or particles. Sunlight is radiation. Radio waves are radiation. Microwaves are radiation. Wifi is radiation.

    Radiation can be dangerous in a few ways. Something can be very bright and blind you, or it can cause you to heat up too much. X-rays are an example of ionizing radiation, that's dangerous because it can break apart molecular bonds, causing damage to cells. That's why you can get skin cancer from ultraviolet radiation. X-rays are a shorter wavelength than ultraviolet light, so there's more potential cellular damage per photon.

    But, radioactivity is dangerous not just because of X-rays, but primarily because of alpha and beta particles, and because of even higher energy particles like gamma particles / rays.

    So, just because there's one type of ionizing radiation that can come from a CRT-TV that is also peripherally associated with radioactive decay doesn't mean that there's any connection between a TV and radioactivity.

    That would be like saying that an atomic bomb causes a huge explosion, and a fertilizer bomb also causes a huge explosion, so a fertilizer bomb is a nuke.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

    beam of electrons

    Let's say it cooler: they were particle accelerators you pointed at your face.

    Also, massive glass vacuum bottles that could implode if mishandled.

    And with massive capacitors that could electrocute you if mishandled.

    And heavy enough to seriously crush your foot (and possibly implode and electrocute you) if mishandled.

    And the static electricity felt really neat on the back of your hand if you put it close to the screen.

    They were so fucking cool, and we took them for granted, and now they're gone, and life is significantly less cool without them.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 weeks ago* (5 children)

    But by fuck was their capacity to put out a clear image mid. But their screen size on the other hand …extremely limited

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  • [–] 4 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

    TVs, maybe¹. CRT monitors, though? They were great. And mostly didn't care about what resolution you threw at them.

    1. It's a big maybe, though. Live TV? Sure, but that was more on the extremely low resolution signal than on the screen (HDTV would've looked great on a CRT). But games? They were fantastic for games, though. Artists designed their images with CRT's natural blur on mind, and now we need complex filters and at least a 4K monitor to replicate the original look.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    And heavy enough to seriously crush your foot (and possibly implode and electrocute you) if mishandled.

    Sometimes. Other times they were little portable things.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (1 child)

    I mean, sure. But even this little 4'' “pocket” thing, for instance, still weighed 1.2Kg... that's a damn dense (and expensive) brick to drop on a toe...

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago

    1.2 kg isn't very much, especially for a dense piece of electronics.

    If you look at the history of iMac computers, when they went from CRTs to flat screens they only dropped 6 kg from 15.7 kg to 9.6 kg. Since then they've focused on making them lighter and lighter, but it's not like the CRT was the majority of the weight.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    they did emit x rays but most of them was blocked by the leaded glass

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  • [–] 3 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

    Someone not knowing there's a difference between "radiation" and "radioactivity" doesn't make them stupid.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

    No, just ignorant. Very ignorant.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (2 children)

    It's the equivalent of knowing the difference between "poisonous" and "venomous"

    For the vast majority of people it doesn't matter. Maybe they learned in 8th grade, but they forgot, because it never came back up.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    Not really. Radiation is something you encounter every day. Radioactivity is something you probably never encounter. Most people except Australians rarely encounter poisonous and venomous animals.

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