Depleted uranium bullets

I watch plenty of police and action shows and occasionally they refer to high-tech depleted uranium bullets. I guess I always thought of them as causing mini-atomic explosions and that's what made them so powerful.



Well, I was wrong. Turns out, people have been making bullets out of lead for many years because lead is a very dense material and had the best chance of penetrating whatever it is that you are shooting at.

Naturally occurring uranium comes in two flavors called isotopes. U-235 is what is used to make atomic bombs. U-238, the other isotope, is far less active. If you take all the U-235 out of uranium (thus depleting it), all you are left with is U-238 which is twice as dense a lead.

So when you need maximum penetrating power, the denser the material, the deeper the hole. Depleted uranium shells are sometimes called tank-busters because they can penetrate a tank's armor. Depleted uranium bullets look very similar to ordinary lead bullets:



However, they are far more deadly. Even though the "dangerous" part of the substance, U-235, has been removed, the remaining U-238 is still slightly radioactive and many groups believe they pose a health hazard beyond just shooting holes in things.

Why do I bring this up? Aason Bierak and OMCOM discover bullet holes in the crew compartment on Nu2 Lupi in the upcoming novel The Milk Run that are caused by DU munitions. I always thought it would be a cool term to use in a scifi novel, I figured I'd better find out what I was talking about.