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FrozenGate by Avery

Uranium Glass Tubing

I'm guessing pretty safe as long as it is not ground up in to fine powder and snorted.
 





T_Warne said:
I'm guessing pretty safe as long as it is not ground up in to fine powder and snorted.
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Exactly. Certain things that have low amounts of radioactivity that are generally of low concern to the body externally such as depleted uranium are VERY bad if they are aerosolized or in particulate form where they can be deposited in the lungs and stay there permanently. The low amounts of radiation will then bombard the tissue internally where it is much more likely to cause a tumor there.

There was a seminar I watched by the U.S. Army doctor that studied the effect of Depleted Uranium fired by U.S. tanks in the gulf war. The results were extremely damning for the safety or lack there of of breathing Depleted Uranium dust. Many / almost all of those that were tasked with recovering / cleaning up the U.S. tanks hit by friendly fire accidents using Depleted Uranium rounds in the gulf war are now dead.

These obviously have lower amounts of Uranium but still do not grind these / produce any dust!!

Here is the U.S. army doctor that studied Depleted Uranium and it's effects on U.S. soldiers who cleaned up Abrams tanks destroyed by DU tank shells used in accidental friendly fire incidents in the gulf war.

 
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tsteele93 said:
Kinda makes sense though, if you laser isn't diverging much coming out of the lens then the glass shouldn't actually be exposed to much of of the light.
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That was straight out of the diode can, no lens. I was thinking I should add a lens and get the divergence down so it would spread out more evenly along the side. Notice the kind of "milky" pattern on the tubing? That's from the diode beam pattern.

I was also thinking that having some sort of reflecting rod inside might help.

ARGLaser said:
How safe is uranium glass? I goggled it up but found mixed reactions.
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I always find it funny seeing the comparisons between uranium glass and the effects of depleted uranium. The highest concentrations of uranium in uranium glass were about 25% in some glassware that appeared in the early 1900s. Most of the glass we have access to (like these tubes) are 1-2% uranium. Depleted uranium, on the other hand, is 100% refined uranium meant to be heavy and pure for high penetration or deflection.

Here are some references on the amount of radiation you'll receive from uranium glass. It's basically two orders of magnitude below background radiation. Even consuming food or beverages in uranium glassware isn't that dangerous.

As for ingesting the glassware itself... I'd worry more about the fact that it's glass more than the minute amounts of uranium that the glass is doped with.
 
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Hm, so that's what a DUI is, Depleted Uranium Ingestion. I wish I had a more practical use for the stuff, sadly I do not...
 
They also use DU for trim weights in aircraft as its about 70% denser than lead, on par with gold and tungsten. 747's have about a tonne of DU in them.

I have seen Uranium glass used in discharge tubes, like this Geissler tube here, very cool.
 
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Bionic-Badger said:
I always find it funny seeing the comparisons between uranium glass and the effects of depleted uranium. The highest concentrations of uranium in uranium glass were about 25% in some glassware that appeared in the early 1900s. Most of the glass we have access to (like these tubes) are 1-2% uranium. Depleted uranium, on the other hand, is 100% refined uranium meant to be heavy and pure for high penetration or deflection.
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I apologize, I didn't intend to sound like a goof over exaggerating the danger of Uranium glass. I admit, I didn't know it was so low concentration.

As for pure DU though, I think it is good to know the truth about depleted Uranium munitions. I always remember that everyone in the military is on a "need to know basis" and the dangers of DU to the health of U.S. forces and others is something they don't "need to know." The government will use any military edge to have supremacy in war, and using depleted uranium against armored targets is too advantageous in war not too use even though the health effects are covered up and suppressed and it ends up being very harmful to U.S. soldiers and anyone else that is exposed to the particulate dust. I don't agree with it but that is the bare truth. There are multiple studies now on all the birth defects and cancers that have skyrocketed since the massive assault on Fallujah Iraq.

I didn't mean to detract from the thread, it is just that understanding some of the facts of DU exposure is something I feel is very important. Just not related to small amounts that are in Uranium glass.
 
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those Geissler tubes are very cool. I have been fascinated with plasma displays ever since I bought my first "Eye of the Storm" back in the late 80s.
 
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Btw just to chime in here, DU is dangerous mostly because of the chemical toxicity of uranium, not the radiation it emits. I own both DU and uranium glass.
 
I love to see the tubes filled up with tritium. Who's going to need light bulbs ? :)
 
The thought of T8 flourescent size Trit puts a huge smile on my face.
 
What about these tubes with a marble on the end with a 405 down the tube. Could look cool for like a night light/lamp sort of deal.
 
The only time I saw Uranium glass, it was used as an interface in glass blowing to act as a buffer between materials with different expansion rates. Otherwise, just pretty.
HMike
 
Yes I'm currently scouring Fleabay for various discharge tubes and this looks good.

Original Geissler tube as are getting rare, although there his someone in Germany making recreations.

I love the colours of neon and argon...
 
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