2019 Atomic Advent Calendar Gift Idea Day 7

This ring spinthariscope was available beginning 1946 by sending in a boxtop of Kix cereal plus 15¢ (only $1.73 in 2019 dollars) to receive a seething scientific sensation. With it, you could see atoms smashed to smithereens! Go to a dark room, take off the red plastic tail fin, wait until your eyes adjust to the darkness, then peer into the unknown of the warhead and see frenzied flashes of light caused by the released energy of atoms splitting like crazy.

This small spinthariscope had polonium alpha particles that struck a zinc sulfide screen. With a half-life of 138 days, polonium-210 is considered safe at very minute levels and is found in uranium ores. Although, polonium is considered one of the most biologically dangerous materials. A microgram of polonium-210, about the size of a speck of dust, can deliver a fatal dose of radiation.

The scintillations were exciting for a while, but eventually you would just have a fun ring with a secret compartment. And you would have avoided the fate of Irene Joliot-Curie and Alexander Litvinenko.

2019 Atomic Advent Calendar Gift Ideas Day 6

More fun than Slim Pickens had riding an H-Bomb to the netherworld, your kid can scoot down the street on this Little Boy while the neighbors run for cover, as the world has certainly come to an end!

At the end of World War II, the military had a surplus problem, including hundreds of 100-lb. practice bombs. What else can you do with a 35-1/2 inch practice bomb? Make it into a ride upon scooter, of course! With all steel construction, rubber tires, and a handle grip, these sold, at their peak for $7.95 in 1946 (about $104.92 in 2019 dollars).

By Christmas of 1946, they were selling for a reduced price of $5.95, and by spring of 1947, often reduced to $3.95. As such, they probably weren’t that popular. Unfortunately, 100-lb. practice bombs had flooded the surplus market, so just about anyone with some simple mechanical skills could easily replicate it for about $1.50.

So hurry and get yours so the little ones can become Destroyers of Worlds. And then maybe, just maybe, we’ll meet again some sunny day!

2019 Atomic Advent Calendar Gift Ideas Day 5.

Running a toy train set around the tree during the holidays brings an air of nostalgia to kids of all ages. Share the joy you experienced with the young ‘uns in your life by introducing them to these fabulous Atomic Energy Commission toy trains.

What kid hasn’t dreamed of tending to their own uranium ore cars? Can’t dig a bomb shelter in your backyard? You can be one of the travelers in your own Mobile Fallout Shelter. Know that you’re doing your part for the Cold War by transporting Spent Fuel Rods to safe storage among our nuclear stockpile. How do you get there? With a glow-in-the-dark, life-like AEC diesel engine chugging you through the nuclear winter.

Atomic Energy Commission toy trains have been part of many sets over the years, ever since its founding in 1947. Lionel, for example, has included atomic and nuclear cars in its line. For the N-gauge versions pictured above, Micro Trains is your source.