Uranium Glass

[xylenol15]

You should serve some kopi luwak in a goblet to a guest and then give them two nasty surprises. >:D

[KarbineKyle]

BEAUTIFUL FIND! It seems many people are afraid or ignorant by radiation, and these really pose no danger. Depression glass contains only ~3% Uranium-238 Dioxide (UO2). U-238 emits α-particles, and is also the most stable U isotope (T-½ = ~4.45 billion years). The α will only emit from the surface and travel ~1 inch in air. ß-particles pass through only a few mm of the glass and Gamma-rays will pass right through. It's from the decay isotopes and isomers (metastable "excited" isotopes) of U-238.

[SteamMonkey115]

Ah, tick-tick-tock...is that the sound of a Geiger counter or my lifespan counting down? It's both!

[nostalgicmalcontent]

You have some nice pieces there. I also used to collect amberina glass as well. When put under the light, it has a golden tint to it, awesome. They say that the radiation emitting from uranium glass is about the same as radiation emitting from a tv, very harmless unless you melt it down.

[NEVERMAKESVIDEOS3V3R]

are you kidding? uranium is one of the most (if not the most) dangerous substance on earth! how can you keep those in your house, hell, why would you drink from it?!

[JeremyBechen]

@NEVERMAKESVIDEOS3V3R I don't drink from it, no! They're antiques, family heirlooms, actually. The levels of radiation they admit is negligible; my Geiger counter barely tips above background level near them. Sure, chemically, Uranium isn't safe either, as a heavy metal. But the Uranium is locked within the glass, so unless I break the glass and inhale the dust or decide to eat some of the glass, I'm fine. Also, they don't glow on their own, that's just a property of the glass under a UV light.

[antiprotons]

@JeremyBechen My standard tube GM (thin window LND 712) barely reads 40-60 CPm above background on my Depression Glassware, but my new Inspector (Pancake style LND 7317) reads 1400-1500 CPM above background from the same glass.

Though I agree with you that the glass is most likely reasonably safe if left in a display case away from people, it may be producing alot more radiation than you think.

Nice collection!

[tgrove2]

@NEVERMAKESVIDEOS3V3R - actually the most toxic substance is the bacteria that causes botulism...you know, the stuff (BOTOX) that women inject into their face to smooth the wrinkles. Uranium is similiar to lead in toxicity...don't fearmonger.

[theamazingshazbob]

@NEVERMAKESVIDEOS3V3R

Uranium has an very long half life, The particles do not degrade rapidly enough to cause any serious cellular damage. You have to drink out of that cup for about 40 thousand years before anything noticeable happens and there really is not as much uranium in the glass as you think. furthermore, radium is used in glowy clocks and strontium is used in your tv..neither do much harm and the sun is still#1 in radioactive frequency. All cells hit go through "apoptosis" and die.

[1ukjunglednbraver]

@NEVERMAKESVIDEOS3V3R uranium isnt that bad you can buy depleted uranium off the net there are much worse things it isnt even that radioactive unless you get some inside you then its not that bad for you

[Thunderbolt505T]

do you know if you can buy this stuff somewhere? if so how much? this would be pretty epic to have. "sir would you like to drink from a boring glass cup, or a Uranium glass?"

[fall0rn]

do you use them for drinking and so on?

[wirasatrya95]

i would shit my pants if my food is served on uranium glass plate

[antiprotons]

@wirasatrya95 I used to eat off of a Uranium plate when I was younger. I didn't know it was radioactive. I used to put the plate in my lap and eat cake off of it... Yipe! Now I keep the plate behind 6mm of lead.

[wirasatrya95]

@antiprotons O_O

[antiprotons]

@wirasatrya95 Ahhh... It happens. Uranium is all around us, as are thorium and other radioative items. I have scanned many houses and have yet to find a single one without at least a few radioactive items.

[wirasatrya95]

@antiprotons o.e

[SupraNirvana]

are uranium glass expensive?

[antiprotons]

@SupraNirvana No, Uranium glass is not expensive. I bought most of my peices at antique shops for under $20 each.

[plavins1]

thats where the cancer and tumors come from!

[quangluu96]

@plavins1 it's like 0.1 radioactive bro...it's like eating plastic yes poison but not enough to kill you if you do it a few times, but everyday for years, now that's a problem...well, it's like taking X-ray u see yourself getting cancer? really low chance.

[brandoniny1]

Time to install black lights in my kitchen and buy me some of these!

[Mr3wheeledbike]

Thank for the information much appreciated.

[Mr3wheeledbike]

is it safe to keep around the house i want some.

[JeremyBechen]

@Mr3wheeledbike perfectly safe, the emissions from these pieces are next to nothing. you could argue that they do emit Radon (a radioactive noble gas), but again, the emissions of Radon would also be next to nothing. nothing to worry about.

[kabur88]

Is this stuff lethal?

[Agremen]

@kabur88 yes

[babajan97]

how much have you spent on your collection?

[JeremyBechen]

@babajan97 Well, actually I inherited all of it in an antique china cabinet.

[c0ldelement]

You do realize crystal illuminates to black light?

[JonasClark]

This stuff is beautiful. They also used to make neon sign tubing and Geissler tubes from this.

[vtox101]

Awesome video.

[jackycck2222]

OK !

Use it for drinking...

[eLpeach]

Uranium238 is highley bad for you, the radiationm that it emits is alpha rays that in general would bounce off the skin but when ingested oraly or by breathing like what happened with the soilders in the gulf war when passing burnt tanks with depleted uraniumburning the black smoke it has the isotopes would go inside you by brething it and collect to tissue inside you body that kills the cells its touching but the suround cells beyoun for the rest of your life dont die but mutate to form cancer

[kriegkatse]

@eLpeach close to correct, uranium 238 is toxic but not highly radioactive, U235 and 234 are the naturally existing ones that are orders of magnitude more radioactive than U238, whose half-life is about 5*10^9 years. I actually have a bottle of Uranyl(238) acetate in my lab, even taken a geiger counter to it for a demonstration, deplated of the U235 the radiation levels barely pick up at all. They are however heavy metals and quite reactive and deadly for that reason

[AkiThePirate]

I hit a uranium glass bong every morning.

I also have a large lump of uranium ore on my mantlepiece.

And I sure don't have two head yet.

[jarrodmaddy]

I don't think thats safe. If it does have radiation and food is on it for a long time, you may want to call the radiation control...

[sprocketman1998]

No,

The uranium glass has so little radiation that it would even be saf to eat it!

[ScriptFire]

Is it dangerous do drink from it?

[SiO2win]

Very beutifull!!)))))))))))

[TheBritishSeagull]

FUK ME! I have cups like this, and i drink from it all the time :(

[spiritchannel]

Don't worry--I think you'll be ok, but I agree--it is kinda scary...I have some of this type of glass too...When I found out it has actual uranium in it -- I totally freaked!! My grandmother used it all her life, as did my parents growing up, and no one had any problems. But--I agree..freaks me a bit. I dont drink from them anymore!

[greenboy256]

I saw one of those strange platers with the thing sticking out of it at a antique store today...

[amethyst8teen]

Um, some uranium glass is measurable, I was at a garage sale with my geiger counter getting lots of strange looks when I found a candle holder that was a bright yellow in normal light, It measure almost 1000 cpm on my CD V-700 and it glow much brighter under a UV light than any other piece I have. The best part is I got it for a dollar!

[scilonthreat]

Eating off of it doesn't do anything, it's exposure time. But if you consume some of the uranium in the glass, then yea that's bad too, because you will have permanant exposure to whatever you ingested.

But what everyone seems to have left out is that uranium is a heavy metal, so you are more likely to get poisoned from that much like eating/drinking off of lead crystal then from the ionizing radiation.

[suprapower420]

yeah fuck that..why would you even take the chance?

[SymAmineC8H11N]

wow thats badass. have you eaten out of that glassware? i've eaten out of lead crystal but nothing like that...

[Napalmdeath420]

dont eat or drink out of lead! it will give you heavy metal poisoning, i cant believe you eat out of lead crystal. are you brain damaged? or naive? dont care? you never drink or eat anything out of a lead container, come on man.

[SymAmineC8H11N]

i drank out of lead crystal so? its only if you drink an alcohol beverage out of it after the alcohol has been sitting in it for like 48-72hrs, 'cuase then some of the metal might dissolve into the drink.... ancient romans used do this purposely but w/ vinegar marinating in it for a few days & they'd get fucked up w/ that lead acetate baby!

[Napalmdeath420]

actually acidic drinks like soda pop and fruit juices also absorb lead. just thought you oughta know!!!

[SymAmineC8H11N]

oh sure.... but what's the point in using soda 'cause by the time it actually has some Pb in it the soda will flat w/out the CO2 in it any more?? yeah i guess lemonade would work well

[scilonthreat]

Hate to break it to you, but you probably drank out of lead crystal at some point in your life.

[amethyst8teen]

Swarovski crystal has tons of lead in it and people pay tons of money for it, unless you leave something really acidic on it over night, the lead really won't have a chance to leach out of it.

[008626]

I bet if you got a geiger counter you'd find that they are indeed measurably radioactive, I get a pretty good reading from my little bag of uranium glass marbles :)

[Hades8784]

Yes, plenty of decay products to produce beta and gamma radiation. Nothing to really worry about unless you eat off of them all the time.

[Napalmdeath420]

what like a granite countertop?

[scilonthreat]

Eating off of it doesn't do anything, it's exposure time. But if you consume some of the uranium in the glass, then yea that's bad too, because you will have permanant exposure to whatever you ingested.

But what everyone seems to have left out is that uranium is a heavy metal, so you are more likely to get poisoned from that much like eating/drinking off of lead crystal then from the ionizing radiation.

[floydianworld]

Cool.