Uranium Glass • Hacker News Board

Re: Uranium Glass

#21

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:01 PM UTC

I don't see anything that indicates that this could be dangerous, so I have to assume that it is safe.

I do know that pigments made from uranium oxide (bright white), in cloisonné, can be quite dangerous.

Of course, radium pigments were very dangerous (not to mention the medicinal philters).

Re: Uranium Glass

#22

Post by TheOtherHobbes » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:06 PM UTC

Brendinooo wrote: post #3

Interesting. The uranium is stable, right?

The radioactivity is minimal. BUT - if you break the glass or scrape it (for example with cutlery while eating) you can release shards and/or dust which may contain alpha emitters.

Ingesting those is a bad idea, even if the glass is a very weak source.

Side note: turns out that mid-century Fiesta Ware was made with uranium glazes (nice colours...) and it's definitely not 100% safe if broken or chipped.

Even if you ignore the radioactivity, uranium is quite a toxic element in its own right. Glass should be chemically stable under normal use, but glazes definitely aren't.

Re: Uranium Glass

#23

Post by hutrdvnj » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:09 PM UTC

Brendinooo wrote: post #3

Interesting. The uranium is stable, right?

Maybe nothing is stable, not even protons[0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_decay

Re: Uranium Glass

#24

Post by kloch » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:09 PM UTC

Brendinooo wrote: post #9

tokai wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No its uranium.

Is this glass dangerous then?

The food you eat every day is much more dangerous than Uranium glass, unless you also eat Uranium glass.

Re: Uranium Glass

#25

Post by CapitalistCartr » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

Brendinooo wrote: post #9

tokai wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No its uranium.

Is this glass dangerous then?

Uranium, like lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, is a heavy metal and toxic, separate from any radiation, although the alpha particles from U-238 are only dangerous if ingested or inhaled, anyway.

Re: Uranium Glass

#26

Post by nsonha » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:12 PM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #21

I don't see anything that indicates that this could be dangerous, so I have to assume that it is safe. I do know that pigments made from uranium oxide (bright white), in cloisonné, can be quite dangerous. Of course, radium pigments were very dangerous (not to mention the medicinal philters).

And I don't see any indication of this being safe :)

It's radiation isn't it? Most of the stuff I encounter on a daily basis are much lower on the table. So there must be some differences.

Re: Uranium Glass

#27

Post by imglorp » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:13 PM UTC

Related: Fiesta Ware. Maybe worth going through the thrift store with a Geiger counter.

https://www.thoughtco.com/how-radioactive-is-fiesta-ware-608...

Re: Uranium Glass

#28

Post by nsonha » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:15 PM UTC

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #22

Brendinooo wrote: post #3

Interesting. The uranium is stable, right?

The radioactivity is minimal. BUT - if you break the glass or scrape it (for example with cutlery while eating) you can release shards and/or dust which may contain alpha emitters. Ingesting those is a bad idea, even if the glass is a very weak source. Side note: turns out that mid-century Fiesta Ware was made with uranium glazes (nice colours...) and it's definitely not 100% safe if broken or chipped. Even if you ig…

> if you break the glass

Isn't this the ultimate fate of all glass?

Re: Uranium Glass

#29

Post by nsonha » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:23 PM UTC

AlgorithmicTime wrote: post #5

tokai wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No its uranium.

It's U-238, so the half-life is about 4.6 Billion years. Not totally stable, but pretty damn stable.

I don't think stable refers to the half life. It's a binary status.

Re: Uranium Glass

#30

Post by willis936 » Tue, Oct 26, 2021, 2:29 PM UTC

hutrdvnj wrote: post #20

gabrielblack wrote: post #16

I have some marbles and a crucifix ( that kind you hang on a wall) made of this material. I inherited them from my grandmother , the marbles was intended to be toys. The crucifix also is visible in the dark and it's the object with major emissions, but nothing dramatic. The marbles emit mostly alpha rays. Both can excite notably my Geiger counter, but, storing them in a metallic box, (i.e. that sheet metal box for bi…

Couldn't you just measure background radiation?

You don't have to look very hard to find entropy, but finding it in a cool and fun way is rare. This is way higher on both the functionality and fun scales than a wall of lava lamps.