Edited by Richard Walker, Wednesday, 29 Dec 2021, 21:54
I rediscovered this goblet at the back of a shelf. It’s something I picked up in an antique shop years ago.
I bought it for its attractive colour and grape vine design. Looking at it anew it occurred to me that it’s probably uranium glass, which has literally got uranium in it, although not very much, a few percent at most, and although it will be slightly radioactive it ought to be harmless. Uranium glass used to be quite popular but fell out of favour, possibly because the availability of uranium was restricted during the Cold War (Wikipedia).
If it is uranium glass it should fluoresce under ultraviolet, so I got a UV lamp and tried it. Wow!!! How beautiful is this? I was so excited.
Radioactive Glass
I rediscovered this goblet at the back of a shelf. It’s something I picked up in an antique shop years ago.
I bought it for its attractive colour and grape vine design. Looking at it anew it occurred to me that it’s probably uranium glass, which has literally got uranium in it, although not very much, a few percent at most, and although it will be slightly radioactive it ought to be harmless. Uranium glass used to be quite popular but fell out of favour, possibly because the availability of uranium was restricted during the Cold War (Wikipedia).
If it is uranium glass it should fluoresce under ultraviolet, so I got a UV lamp and tried it. Wow!!! How beautiful is this? I was so excited.