Way to Glow

In the course of my research for an upcoming book about poison in history (Spring, 2017), I came across a lot of cool facts that, for space reasons, I was unable to include in the book. One of these is luminous glassware. That would be glass that contains uranium. Under an ultraviolet light, the glass glows bright green. And yes, the glass emits radiation.

In ancient times, glassmakers discovered that adding uranium, a naturally-occuring element found most commonly in the mineral called pitchblende, would tint glass yellow or green. It became super-popular in the late-19th century (the heyday of Poison Products). It wasn’t until after 1970 that glass and ceramics makers stopped using it in the U.S. Collectors still collect this so-called “Vaseline” glass (because it’s sort of the color of petroleum jelly).

 

 

Top pictures:EPA: https://www3.epa.gov/radtown/images/a...
Middle picture:By Łukasz Karolewski (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)], via Wikimedia Commons
Bottom picture: By LuisVilla (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)], via Wikimedia Commons

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