[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Even if it strains belief, in the not-so-distant past there were people who would willingly expose themselves to extremely high levels of radiation to manufacture uranium glass. As the name implies, uranium glass is a special glass made from uranium oxide, which lends it a yellow or yellowish-green hue. The concentration of uranium in this type of glass is usually around a value of 2%, although the glassware made at the beginning of the 20th century could contain as much as 25%.<\/p>\n
What is interesting is that the fluorescence of the glass has nothing to do with the radioactivity of uranium. In fact, the higher the concentration of uranium in the glass, the weaker the fluorescence becomes.<\/p>\n
Uranium glassware manufacture took off in the 1830s, after the discovery of compounds which contained uranium inside the silver mines of Joachimstal, Bohemia.<\/p>\n
In 1879, German chemist Martin Klaproth analysed mineral samples from the mine, and by heating and isolating it, obtained uranium dioxide. He named it after the recently discovered planet, Uranus.<\/p>\n
The largest number of uranium glass objects were produced between the years 1880 and 1920, when British glassmakers such as Bagley and Davidson began to cut and etch the material to create works of art. Unfortunately, the constant exposure to uranium oxides caused severe health problems for the workers.<\/p>\n
At the beginning of the First World War, as knowledge of the danger represented by uranium spread, use of this substance and its derivatives became heavily regulated. Thus, even in glassware used for pharmaceutical purposes, uranium salts, if they were used at all, only came from uranium salts that were depleted (of their radioactive isotope).<\/p>\n
Although production of this material ceased after the Second World War, some collectors of antiques continue to keep uranium glass objects in their home even to this day.[\/vc_column_text]