Lasers and URANIUM 235!

So... not sure if this is the best place to post but I just bought some uranium ore off the internet , VERY low concentration of uranium 235tho..
Its in a vial .... just sitting there at the moment and I'm wondering

What can I do with them other than just .. look at them?

Suddenly, a thought came to mind.
I wonder what will happen if I concentrate 5W worth of lasers onto a 1mm spot of the mineral....

But I'm not sure if that'll be dangerous or what.
Would it evaporate portions of the uranium ,turning it into vapour form ?
Would it begins fissioning? (Probably not , since the concentration of 235 is so low, but still worried some what)

What would happen?
Do I need some special PPE for the experiment?

As the saying goes.
Curiosity fries the ham .

So I might as well as ask here first

Since uranium metal is very dense. I doubt much of anything would happen. It would take some pretty serious temps to even get it to complain. Uranium metal is also reflective as well as the glass. Since it is not optical quality glass it may absorb and reflect a good portion of the light. So youd probably lose up to 25% right there. Not to mention the uranium metal would reflect a bit too.

Now im not sure if im right or wrong about this, but I would think heat may cause it to decay a bit faster since you would be causing the molecules to move around a bit more. But I really doubt it would be noticeable if at all.

I think all in all you would just endup with a pretty light show and dangerous beams bouncing everywhere.

I think you've got the wrong isotope. U238 is the main isotope, 235 is the fissile version at 0.7ppm (iirc, might be 0.07%). Either way you likely have simple uranium ore, which is unrefined but does contain -some- U235, but is mostly uranium series daughters and low conc 238. It is illegal to own refined U containing significant 235 content, and 235 is never made into metal, only powder/slurry. Depleted Uranium which has had most of the 235 removed IS legal to own in all forms.

Safety; non-destructive experiments ONLY!!! Radiological hazards are no joke. If you aren't rad trained you shouldn't even handle low level ore.

jeffreythe00 said:

Since uranium metal is very dense. I doubt much of anything would happen. It would take some pretty serious temps to even get it to complain. Uranium metal is also reflective as well as the glass. Since it is not optical quality glass it may absorb and reflect a good portion of the light. So youd probably lose up to 25% right there. Not to mention the uranium metal would reflect a bit too.

Now im not sure if im right or wrong about this, but I would think heat may cause it to decay a bit faster since you would be causing the molecules to move around a bit more. But I really doubt it would be noticeable if at all.

I think all in all you would just endup with a pretty light show and dangerous beams bouncing everywhere.

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But we are not talking about uranium doped glass.
What about uranium ore coming from Canada?
I heard they have like 23% by mass of uranium oxide.
What'll happen if I lases it?

Sigurthr said:

I think you've got the wrong isotope. U238 is the main isotope, 235 is the fissile version at 0.7ppm (iirc, might be 0.07%). Either way you likely have simple uranium ore, which is unrefined but does contain -some- U235, but is mostly uranium series daughters and low conc 238. It is illegal to own refined U containing significant 235 content, and 235 is never made into metal, only powder/slurry. Depleted Uranium which has had most of the 235 removed IS legal to own in all forms.

Safety; non-destructive experiments ONLY!!! Radiological hazards are no joke. If you aren't rad trained you shouldn't even handle low level ore.

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Oh....
So no pew pew at the uranium?

Hang on you bought U238 with the low natural abundance of U235, or you bought enriched uranium...! If its the latter you, probably shouldnt be advertising it.

Dont worry about fission, its not going to happen. Youd need to compress a near critical mass of fissile material...

The MP of Uranium is around 1130°C, so it would be impossible to melt it with even 5 W of 445. For comparison copper has a MP of 1080°C and its very difficult to melt with a blow torch flame at 1300°C, unless you have it well insulated in a furnace. We could argue about the thermal conductivity difference between Cu and U and localised heating, but Ill leave that for another time :beer:

Edit: Wow how did everyone post that quickly...

Just thought Id mention it most of the risks involved with handling depleted U come from ingestion or inhaling small particles. This is why clusters of cases of Leukemia and other cancers suddenly appeared in etc Kosovo and Bosnia. The americans used depleted U shells all over the place as a sort of testing ground and the U entered the food chain and water supplies causing the people and, esp. children, to suffer. I wouldnt keep something like that at home...

Soo.....
Is there anything I can do with it beside from looking at something that is slowly increasing my equivalent dosage ?

Most people use low powered 405's on the uranium marbles to make them glow. I think those contain only a trace of U 238 though? :thinking:

If you want to be safe, keep it in a Lead, or better still boron or silver lined lead, box to absorb the neutrons...lol

grainde said:

Most people use low powered 405's on the uranium marbles to make them glow. I think those contain only a trace of U 238 though? :thinking:

If you want to be safe, keep it in a Lead, or better still boron or silver lined lead, box to absorb the neutrons...lol

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OOOOoook.
So all I need to do now is devise a way to turn my uranium ore into enriched uranium , make some glass and then dope it myself.....


Anyone want to lend me your centrifuge ?

EDIT: NO WAIT!
THERE ARE EXPERIMENTS TO BE DONE! SILEX!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SILEX

Unless you have rad detection equipment then no you can look at it and that is it.

The neutron flux is negligible if there even is any natural 235, bremsstrahlung from beta radiation hitting a high z barrier like lead is more significant, but still not much of an issue. The two main dangers are contamination by inhalation and injestion of particulate matter and inhaled radon and deposition of radon daughters. Those last two are serious threats from unsealed sources.

There is a reason all my radium and DU metal are sealed in ampoules. The Ra is in a plexi-lined lead box to prevent brems as well.

Sigurthr said:

Unless you have rad detection equipment then no you can look at it and that is it.

The neutron flux is negligible if there even is any natural 235, bremsstrahlung from beta radiation hitting a high z barrier like lead is more significant, but still not much of an issue. The two main dangers are contamination by inhalation and injestion of particulate matter and inhaled radon and deposition of radon daughters. Those last two are serious threats from unsealed sources.

There is a reason all my radium and DU metal are sealed in ampoules. The Ra is in a plexi-lined lead box to prevent brems as well.

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So.... what do you do with your radium and DU metals?

Radon the radioactive noble gas...

Actually there were problems in the UK with Rn leaking out of the rocks in some areas and accumulating in houses. Rn emits an alpha particle and although this can be stopped by a piece of paper, when its in the body it can damage cells and DNA and cause cancers.

grainde said:

Radon the radioactive noble gas...

Actually there were problems in the UK with Rn leaking out of the rocks in some areas and accumulating in houses. Rn emits an alpha particle and although this can be stopped by a piece of paper, when its in the body it can damage cells and cause cancers.

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We got that problem here too.
The city is basically sitting on a HUGE granite and all of its buildings are made of concrete , which again.. uses granite as aggregate....
RADON GAS FOR EVERYONE.
So much so that people stopped caring...

So........ anything I can do with my lasers and uranium?
Cos I just realized I don't have the right tools for SILEX.
IF I get some PPE

Yeah see if it glows with a low power 405 pointer. It wont damage anything or harm the vial. If you are really concerned try it outside.

Also should you ever break the vial, Id suggest disposing of it properly. :beer:

It isn't going to 'nuke' if you shine a laser on it. Do be careful though, because uranium is pyrophoric (when finely divided) and a larger piece could ignite if you heat it up enough.

I don't think depleted uranium metal will do anything in response to 405nm light. It is just like any other heavy metal, e. g. lead, bismuth, mercury, etc. The radioactivity shouldn't be much of a problem, unless you got enriched uranium, which is highly unlikely considering that it is illegal to own in most places unless you have a license. The majority of decay of DU is alpha, with a relatively tiny amount of beta, gamma, and neutron, but unless you have a sample of beryllium right beside that uranium, you shouldn't have to worry about neutron radiation. The major bad part of DU to humans is that it is a heavy metal poison, and if you even injest or inhale a tiny bit of uranium metal or its oxides, you are probably going to have major health problems. So just keep it in that vial, never take it out, never put it next to beryllium as alpha particles and beryllium will produce a lot of neutrons, and unless you have enriched U, just keep it away from you and don't carry it around a lot.

mwang said:

I don't think depleted uranium metal will do anything in response to 405nm light. It is just like any other heavy metal, e. g. lead, bismuth, mercury, etc. The radioactivity shouldn't be much of a problem, unless you got enriched uranium, which is highly unlikely considering that it is illegal to own in most places unless you have a license. The majority of decay of DU is alpha, with a relatively tiny amount of beta, gamma, and neutron, but unless you have a sample of beryllium right beside that uranium, you shouldn't have to worry about neutron radiation. The major bad part of DU to humans is that it is a heavy metal poison, and if you even injest or inhale a tiny bit of uranium metal or its oxides, you are probably going to have major health problems. So just keep it in that vial, never take it out, never put it next to beryllium as alpha particles and beryllium will produce a lot of neutrons, and unless you have enriched U, just keep it away from you and don't carry it around a lot.

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In case people are wondering where did I got them .
I brought the uranium here... now I kinda wish I have some yellow cake instead of boring DU , but yellow cake is illegal because we can build a centrifuge and make atom bombs at home :crackup:
Really?
I meann really mr gov?
Uranium Ore Granular/Chunks : United Nuclear , Scientific Equipment & Supplies