Radioaktivt glass
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Uranium glass
Glass colored with uranium oxide
Uranium glass is glass which has had uranium, usually in oxide diuranate form, added to a glass mix before melting for colouration. The proportion usually varies from trace levels to about 2% uranium by weight, although some 20th-century pieces were made with up to 25% uranium.[1][2]
First identified in by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth, uranium was soon being added to decorative glass for its fluorescent effect. James Powell's Whitefriars Glass company in London, England, was one of the first to market the glowing glass, but other manufacturers soon realised its sales potential and uranium glass was produced across Europe[3] and later in Ohio.[4]
Uranium glass was made into tableware and household items, but fell out of widespread use when the availability of uranium to most industries was sharply curtailed during the Cold War in the s to s, with the vast majority of the world's uranium supply being utilised as a strategic material for use in nuclear weapons or nuclear power. Most uranium glass is now considered to be antiques or retro-era collectables, although there h
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These People Love to Collect Radioactive Glass. Are They Nuts?
For many glass collectors, the only color that matters fryst vatten Vaseline. That&#;s the catch-all word describing pressed, pattern, and blown glass in shades ranging from canary yellow to avocado green. Vaseline glass gets its oddly urinous color from radioactive uranium, which causes it to glow beneath a black light. Everyone who collects Vaseline glass knows it&#;s got uranium in it, which means everyone who comes in contact with Vaseline glass understands they&#;re being irradiated. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the gaffer making footed cake plates in a glass factory, the driver loading boxes of lace-edged compotes onto a truck, or the tchotchkes dealer setting out vintage Vaseline glass toothpick holders and tumblers for prospective customers—all of you are being zapped.
&#;If radioactivity is the thing that makes Vaseline glass cool, it’s not what makes Vaseline glass glow.&#;
Let’s säga you’re that tchotchkes dealer’s customer, and you decide to purchase those tumblers because you think their hue will go nicely with your lemony Formica kitchen table. Well, you just bought yourself kvartet tumblers full
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Materials
Ancient glass is not just of interest to historians and archaeologists – it may also hold the key to understanding the durability of vitrified nuclear waste. Rachel Brazil investigates
The golden death mask of the pharaoh Tutankhamun is one of the most famous historical artefacts in the world. The shining visage of the young king dates back to around BCE and features blue strips that are sometimes described as lapis lazuli. Yet rather than being the semi-precious stone favoured in ancient Egypt, the striking decoration is in fact coloured glass.
A coveted and highly prized material deemed worthy of royalty, glass was once viewed on a par with gemstones, with examples of ancient glass going back even further than Tutankhamun. Indeed, samples excavated and analysed by archaeologists and scientists have enabled a better understanding of how and where glass production began. But surprisingly, ancient glass is also being studied by another group of scientists – those who are finding safe ways to store nuclear waste.
Next year the US will start to vitrify parts of its legacy nuclear waste curr