Fun With Uranium Ore

[angiemason2]

Today I discovered that you can buy uranium online, pretty cool.  I'm thinking of getting some, but before I do, are there any fun / interesting classroom experiments that you can do affordably?

 

I'd love to show off such an exotic-seeming metal, but really only want to if it's going to be an interesting hook to get people to want to learn more.

[Looncall]

Today I discovered that you can buy uranium online, pretty cool.  I'm thinking of getting some, but before I do, are there any fun / interesting classroom experiments that you can do affordably?

 

I'd love to show off such an exotic-seeming metal, but really only want to if it's going to be an interesting hook to get people to want to learn more.

One can make a cloud chamber. It's fun to watch. I expect there are directions on the web. An electroscope is easily made too.

 

Topics could include the randomness of nuclear decay and counting statistics. One could also address the natural radiation background.

 

Though the amount sold is small, one should take precautions against the radiation and especially avoid any kind of ingestion, such as inhaling dust. You should probably check with your board's safety official.

 

There are lots of witty comments at the Amazon listing.

 

Uranium was used as a pigment at one time. If you can find orange Fiesta Ware plates, the glaze likely has Uranium. Vaseline glass has a spooky green colour due to Uranium and also fluoresces intensely under ultraviolet light. These might be safer demonstrations, if you can find the objects.

 

Old mantles from Coleman-type lanterns contain Thorium and are good for demonstrations.

[billvon]

Today I discovered that you can buy uranium online, pretty cool.  I'm thinking of getting some, but before I do, are there any fun / interesting classroom experiments that you can do affordably?

 

 

One of the coolest things about depleted uranium is its weight.  Just giving people a 1cc cube of it is fun; they are often shocked at how heavy such a small piece of metal is.

[CraigD]

Today I discovered that you can buy uranium online, pretty cool.

It is pretty cool, but note that this $40 Amazon novelty gift is not pure uranium or UO₂, but “uranium ore”, most likely uraninite .

 

Uraninite crystals can be very pretty, like the big ones shown in the linked Wikipeda article, but since the stuff advertised shows only the outside of the can, I expect what’s inside isn’t the pretty, large crystal kind.

 

I have a vague recollection of having been given a big mineral sample kit when I was a kid, and it including a little black crystal with pebbly bits labeled “pitchblende”, an old name for uraninite. Searching the internet to see if I could find the kit I remembered, the closest I could find is the “Let’s Collect Rock and Minerals/Hobby Adventures for the Growing Mind” kit described on this page (from a nice one-person site about samples of the various elements and where to find them). I also found another educational toy from around the same period, the 1950s, the “Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab” described on this page as “the most dangerous toy ever?”, and the “Porter ChemCraft Chemistry Lab” shown on this collectors website page.

 

While the Gajitz page exaggerates the danger of minerals like uraninite, it’s worth noting that practically anything with naturally occurring uranium in it produces radon gas, so you should avoid getting sealed in an airtight space with it. As a general rule it’s a good ideal to avoid getting sealed in airtight spaces, and make a habit as much as you can in in open or well-ventilated spaces. ;)

 

One can make a cloud chamber. It's fun to watch. I expect there are directions on the web. An electroscope is easily made too.

The “Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab” came with a cloud chamber as its centerpiece. Image from the linked Wikipedia article:

There were some cool science toys in the 1950s!

 

One of the coolest things about depleted uranium is its weight. Just giving people a 1cc cube of it is fun; they are often shocked at how heavy such a small piece of metal is.

Depleted uranium is cool! Many folk think of it as just slightly better “military grade” lead, but it’s much (about 64%) denser than lead. Out of curiosity a few years ago, I put together this comparison of the density of common metals

iron 7.874 gm/cm³

nickle 8.912

lead 11.34

depleted uranium 19.1

gold 19.282

platinum 21.46

osmium 22.61

 

Depleted uranium isn’t as dense as gold or platinum, but it’s much cheaper.

 

Oddly, I couldn’t quickly find any place to buy even a small sample of it. Perhaps because of its bad reputation as an environmental hazard, due to it being mildly radioactive, and strewn all over places where militaries have used it in bullets, Amazon sells no cute educational toy samples of it. The only thing I found was this page selling expensive (US$3.55 each!) 12 gauge shotgun shells, which the seller suggest is ideal for shooting down nosy government spy drones.

 

I fear the customers of luckygunner.com are serious, not joking. You have to question the wisdom of folk seeking to hide from big brother by shooting down military drones with 12 gauge shotguns – though if any shell would do it well, I’d say these would be the ones!

 

Not the sort of fun with uranium I’d want to have :(

[Looncall]

It is pretty cool, but note that this $40 Amazon novelty gift is not pure uranium or UO₂, but “uranium ore”, most likely uraninite .Uraninite crystals can be very pretty, like the big ones shown in the linked Wikipeda article, but since the stuff advertised shows only the outside of the can, I expect what’s inside isn’t the pretty, large crystal kind.I have a vague recollection of having been given a big mineral sample kit when I was a kid, and it including a little black crystal with pebbly bits labeled “pitchblende”, an old name for uraninite. Searching the internet to see if I could find the kit I remembered, the closest I could find is the “Let’s Collect Rock and Minerals/Hobby Adventures for the Growing Mind” kit described on this page (from a nice one-person site about samples of the various elements and where to find them). I also found another educational toy from around the same period, the 1950s, the “Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab” described on this page as “the most dangerous toy ever?”, and the “Porter ChemCraft Chemistry Lab” shown on this collectors website page.While the Gajitz page exaggerates the danger of minerals like uraninite, it’s worth noting that practically anything with naturally occurring uranium in it produces radon gas, so you should avoid getting sealed in an airtight space with it. As a general rule it’s a good ideal to avoid getting sealed in airtight spaces, and make a habit as much as you can in in open or well-ventilated spaces. ;)The “Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab” came with a cloud chamber as its centerpiece. Image from the linked Wikipedia article:There were some cool science toys in the 1950s!Depleted uranium is cool! Many folk think of it as just slightly better “military grade” lead, but it’s much (about 64%) denser than lead. Out of curiosity a few years ago, I put together this comparison of the density of common metalsiron 7.874 gm/cm³nickle 8.912lead 11.34depleted uranium 19.1gold 19.282platinum 21.46osmium 22.61Depleted uranium isn’t as dense as gold or platinum, but it’s much cheaper.Oddly, I couldn’t quickly find any place to buy even a small sample of it. Perhaps because of its bad reputation as an environmental hazard, due to it being mildly radioactive, and strewn all over places where militaries have used it in bullets, Amazon sells no cute educational toy samples of it. The only thing I found was this page selling expensive (US$3.55 each!) 12 gauge shotgun shells, which the seller suggest is ideal for shooting down nosy government spy drones.I fear the customers of luckygunner.com are serious, not joking. You have to question the wisdom of folk seeking to hide from big brother by shooting down military drones with 12 gauge shotguns – though if any shell would do it well, I’d say these would be the ones!Not the sort of fun with uranium I’d want to have :(

The "depleted" in "depleted Uranium" is a bit of a red herring. The Americans are using it for munitions because they have a lot left over from the enrichment process.

 

They have been selling it into the chemical market too. One can no longer count on the isotopic composition of Uranium compounds.

 

I once did a session on radioactivity measurement for a mineral club. One gentleman had a beautiful yellow uraninite crystal the size of my thumb. It really made my Geiger meter buzz!