Courtesy of Dan and Lisa Sawyer/the_glowing_glass_guy_ When it comes to radiological hazards, says health physicist Phil Broughton, “There is a world of difference between detectable and dangerous.” Uranium glass is also known as canary glass due to this common canary-yellow color. They thought school administrators had overreacted. The scientists dismayed by the events at Haddon Township High School were not upset that someone had brought in a radioactive plate. Radioactive antiques have a long history, as well as a certain glow that is highly desired by some collectors today. The entire school was evacuated, and those in the nuclear science field were aghast.īut thousands of similarly radioactive plates and cups can be found in antique stores, thrift shops, and possibly your own kitchen cabinets. When the plate registered as radioactive, someone at the school panicked and called in a hazmat team. The student had received a Geiger counter, an instrument used to measure radiation, for Christmas, and wanted to do an experiment. Vaseline glass is a subset of Uranium glass that has uranium in it, but that is only yellow in color.In January of 2021, a New Jersey teenager brought a piece of an antique Fiestaware plate to a high-school science class. If you care about distinguishing the two in your search, Uranium glass is any glass that has uranium in it and can be yellow or green in color.While some Uranium glass has an oily sheen to it, that doesn’t mean that a piece lacking said sheen isn’t real. Don’t be fooled by external appearance or texture.If you’re serious about only collecting Uranium or Vaseline glass, carry a small black light wand with you, since that is the only sure-fire way to see the presence of Uranium.Based on appearance, it’s easy to confuse Uranium glass with Depression glass, but Depression glass does not have any uranium in it, so it doesn’t glow.Whether it’s by going to antique shops or estate sales, or just looking at pictures in art books or online, this is one of the best ways to get started. Acquaint yourself with glassware from the same time period so you can learn to distinguish it.Below, we’ve got a few pointers to keep in mind when you come across pieces you’re not sure about. If you’re a collector or interested in starting a collection of Uranium glass, it can be hard to know how to start your search, especially when there are so many beautiful glass pieces out there. In reference to Uranium glass’ radioactivity, it should be noted that, while pieces from the late-19th and early-20th centuries were comprised of 2-25% uranium, the level of radioactivity is still negligible in the long run people are exposed to radioactive materials every day and, while we wouldn’t recommend eating or drinking from them, these pieces weren’t actually considered harmful.įrom: Darlene Duplessis: “Vaseline glass salt and pepper shakers.” Collecting While you may be able to recognize some pieces just by looking at them, it takes a UV black light to officially see whether or not the glass flouresces due to the presence of uranium keep in mind, the glass glows green only because of the uranium, not because it’s radioactive. Tinged varying shades of yellow, Vaseline glass can have an oily sheen to it, and is generally, although not always, translucent. Uranium glass is characterized by the presence of uranium (oxide) and, in some cases, iron oxide, which is what makes it green. From: Raun Lynott: “Part of my “Green Glass” collection which is all Vaseline glass that glows under Blacklight.
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