#radioactive rocks

[geologyin-blog]

Whoa, feast your eyes on this tabular torbernite (copper uranium) crystal from Margabal, Aveyron, France!

Radioactive!

Photo: Rémi Bornet

[happynuke]

The defeater of my GMC 600+; this thin slice of almost unphotographable Uraninite that really likes to throw off the colour balance on cameras. It's difficult to see, but there are tiny little botryoidal spheres in the area where its black colouring is most intense.

Inside of plastic box reading, 10cm away (GQ 600+):

3,850cpm

Exposed, out of box reading, 10cm away:

42,100cpm

Right on top of mineral!:

188,000cpm

Unfortunately, the geiger counter is completely overwhelmed by the activity from this piece and is dropping counts after a minute of reading, so it's likely a bit higher than the numbers written. I will measure again when I buy my Radiacode 103.

I have named my new rock Hot Slice.

[jadewolf-writes]

New Safe Confinement, mini-edition.

After running my little piece of Moab uranium ore under the Geiger counter last week and watching it go a little crazy, I decided that maybe keeping it in the tiny plastic baggie it came in from the shop wasn't the best idea.

So, I ordered some thick glass specimen jars and they finally arrived. Put on my heavy duty particulate respirator, took my little baggie full of radioactive rock outside where there was plenty of ventilation, and carefully transferred it from the plastic baggie to the jar.

Turns out there was a fair amount of dust in the bag, so I was glad I opted for a mask. While this uranium ore generally only emits alpha particles, which are reasonably safe as they cannot penetrate the skin, they CAN still be dangerous if ingested or inhaled. Hence the mask and the open area for the transfer.

It's now safely contained in the jar, and properly labeled for safety in case I keel over dead one day and somebody's gotta go through my stuff.

I ran the Geiger counter over it in the jar afterwards and it barely blipped. Certainly nothing dramatic like it did before. A good, practical example of how easy it is to block alpha particles.

So, I'm gonna call that a job well done.

[geologyin-blog]

Amazing Torbernite and Smoky Quartz From Margabal Mine, Entraygues-sur-Truyere, Aveyron, Occitanie, France.

Photo 📷 @qileisi1987

It is a radioactive, hydrated green copper uranyl phosphate, found in granites and other uranium-bearing deposits as a secondary mineral.

[happynuke]

My aliexpress danger shipment has arrived.

This glass disk is exactly what you think it is; highly radioactive!

I can't believe I was able to purchase brand new made in this decade uranium glass, it proves someone out there is still cooking it.

This piece was measurable from outside the shipping box, through multiple layers of plastic and cardboard. It measured about 3.571 µSv/hr with the geiger flat on the top of the glass.

However, there was a substantially more dangerous item that I received and had to quarantine, which I will post about later on.

[happynuke]

Here's a peek at what's inside my Box of Death. There's a new addition of Cs-137 added to the top, and my slices of Beryllium in a jar stashed down the side in the bubble wrap. Counts are safe and low (for a box full of uranium and other spicies, that is) and it's completed with layers of radioactive wristband boxes and a load-bearing Pendulum limited edition album.

[happynuke]

The background radiation level in my room is currently 62 counts per minute. It would normally be closer to 40 cpm but I have a particularly hot piece of uraninite sitting inside a container on my desk. Can you imagine if I took that rock out of its box? It's also about 40cm away from my geiger counter, which is always turned on and constantly counting the background radiation level. Uranium is an alpha emitter but its decay products emit both gamma and beta particles, and my distant geiger counter detecting this suggests this piece of uraninite is quite intensely decaying.

[happynuke]

Uraninite with iron-coloured crystalline base and flecks of a yellow-gold iridescent mineral. It looks a lot more pink outside of the microscope. It has a small scattering of botryoidal structures in the black surface area.

166,000cpm

"Pinky"