Anybody can use it anyway they like

Thanks! No I don't have a cloud chamber, I'd love to build one - they are not complicated, but there isn't dry ice available anywhere close to me so it hasn't been worth doing. I'd might make a thermoelectric based one sometime, it would be cool to be able to watch trails full-time. I made a cheap little CCD chip/Am-241 (from smoke detectors) based radiation detector/visualizer. And I can watch live spots appearing on the screen from hits, and now and then short trails when a particle just happens to come across the chip at the right angle. Picture of it here.

I'm not isolating the beta radiation from that glass, there is not need to block it. The glass puts out mostly alpha radiation which a piece of paper or a couple of inches of air stops. It won't make it through our skin. Its bad stuff internally though, so to eat bits of the glass would be bad!

The glass is all a fair amount more radioactive than banana's, but the potassium-51 collected by Banana trees, and some other plants, indeed tosses out a few excited particles here and there.

Ask away! Nuclear physics is a pretty lonely hobby so any excuse to talk about it is welcome!

Thanks for sharing the amazing video and I'm agree there are a lot of questions. I left the questions on the side and I let myself to enjoy the thermoelectric cloud show while my neurons where dancing with the beautiful Blue Danube.

@Observer-Effect Awesome!!

Totally follow you wrt the alpha- decay path for uranium. Re: beta- decay, I was more curious about your comment on the "UV-C light and some extra excitement added by the extra Gamma and Beta radiation its being bathed in."

As for the banana/Geiger-counter comment, I was really curious about whether you were using the 2%, or if you were able to get your hands on the 25% concentration variety of the uranium glass. [orau.org]

Totally agree with your point on the potential harm of alpha-particles when ingested. Like our current situation with Covid-19, I always apply the 20-second hand-washing rule when handling/around radioactive materials. Though not so much with bananas...

@SergeTafCam

Hey there, a fellow radiation geek! The question about externally hitting the glass with radiation is a good one, because its debatable how much real excitement it adds - except for me enjoying the process itself. I don't have a light meter capable of detecting any subtle changes in light emissions, even if any happens. The specifics is that I have a Radium/Am-21/Beryllium gamma source I tossed together, which I fantasize might be increasing the glasses fluorescing a bit.

All of my uranium glass is antique "depression, vaseline" glass. I'm sure none of mine is nearly 25%, its really not that strong of stuff compared the ceramics and then other items I collect. I started buying the glass because of its radiation, but they are so weak I wouldn't continue except that its so pretty!

@Observer-Effect Ha! You could say I'm a radiation geek.... lol. Wanna know how much of a radiation geek I am....come on down and take a look at the post below....

Interesting, so you are exciting the nuclei and electrons of the uranium in the glass by irradiating it with gamma, UV, and beta radiation....

hmm... have you given though to using a polarized laser beam of various wavelengths....

I wonder how bright the red, blue, and green beams would help the uranium fluoresce.....

The UV is exciting all the modes..... Maybe if you were more selective based on the spectral emission lines you might be able to selective choose what colors fluoresce at what location in the glass.... could make for some interesting pictures... :-?

It may be that a UV/VIS experiment for the Uranium glasses you have could yield some interesting results as well.....
[physicsopenlab.org]

What do you think?!

"I was recently reminded about how much I enjoy following the trends in the periodic table of ..."

@SergeTafCam That is really cool stuff there! I just recently decided I want to spend more time playing with light, get to know it a bit better. I made myself a little light box to work in. And I have been fascinated with interference patterns and particle/wave duality. This is laser hitting cobalt glass edge on.

Cool! Yeah some radium painted clocks and flight instruments can be very hot. I have some in my collection and handle it with care. I have hotter items but the old radium paint gets flaky and powdery with age. And alpha emitters like that are fine to have sitting close by - but very bad to breathe or eat.

There is a movie about the women in WWII who painted that radium onto things? Can't remember the name. But licking the brushes ended up doing terrible things to their bodies.

@Observer-Effect The Radium Girls, book by Kate Moore, made into a movie. There was also a play, which our local play group performed. I enacted the doctor who gave the girls the bad news. It was set during the Depression. I enjoyed performing, but most audience members thought it was a downer.

@AgnoBill Very cool!

Thank you I love that glass, it makes a great background for all kinds of projects. I've been collecting it for a few years now. Here are two pieces I love:

@Observer-Effect what does it look like in regular light

@gigihein Here are those two pieces under just incandescent light. The reason they put the uranium in the glass is for the green color, but they didn't have UV light back when it started so they hadn't seen it fluoresce. Also, the glow actually isn't because the uranium is radioactive - its a chemical reaction, and even completely depleted uranium would do it. But its funny because that green glow is exactly what sci-fi raised folks associate with radiation!

@Observer-Effect They are beautiful

@gigihein Thanks! Every geek loves a chance to show off their obsessions This is most of my glass collection and about 1/4 of my radioactive ceramics collection.

Amazing

@Observer-Effect The nuclear hazard stickers are a nice touch. I have some glass that is iridescent but it's not green hued but more opalescent under incandescent lighting.

@Observer-Effect I love art glass. and have a small collection of that.

@Surfpirate Thanks, the stickers are really a bit melodramatic - but I like the drama it adds!

Not sure, but maybe if I spend enough time around all my radioactive stuff it will turn ME into the hulk!

@Observer-Effect That's what I was thinking.