Re: Radioactive vinegar bottle ?!?!

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/16/02 9:25:46 AM Mountain Daylight Time, Bob.Westerdale@ametek.com writes:



> Just by chance I happened to wave a survey meter at this bottle, and to my surprise it was slightly  radioactive- approximately .2 mR/hr with a Victoreen Ion Chamber.    I'd assume this manufactured this way intentionally  ( maybe?)-- any idea why?    Glazing?  ( ala  Fiesta ware?) 


What was referred to as "vaseline glass" was glass doped with uranium.  It has a yellow/yellow-green fluorescence, but the color may have been bleached out by sun exposure.  The main use for uranium salts, in the 1932 Encyclopedia Britannica, was for producing bright yellow and orange pottery glazes and doping colors for glass.  I have also seen deep blue glazes that have quite a gamma emission, and I assume are cobalt(?).  I don't know what radionuclide would produce white, so one assumption is that it is bleached.


Ruth  

Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com