Re[2]: Uranium?

["William CTR Kolb"<William.CTR.Kolb@faa.gov>]

     Al,
     
     Sounds like you may have autunite crystals Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2*10H2O. Check 
     them with a UV light. Autunite will fluoresce a brilliant greenish 
     yellow, similar to the acetate and nitrate. There are some others 
     uranium minerals that will fluoresce this way but they aren't 
     micaceous. 
     
     Check the gamma catalogs at 
     
     http://id.inel.gov/gamma/samples.html
     
     The spectra for uranium ore and radium in equillibrium look much the 
     same since most of the activity in natural uranium ore is from radium. 
     It was this big difference in activity between purified uranium 
     chemicals and uranium ore that lead M.Curie to look for radium.
     
     bill
     william.ctr.kolb@faa.gov   
     
     
     ______________________________ Reply Separator 
     _________________________________ Subject: Uranium? 
     Author:  <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu> at SMTPgate Date:    
     09/02/1999 12:48 PM
     
     
     All, 
     
     Some people  in the local community are renting a house where an old 
     chemist use to live and has since passed away. They were in the 
     basement and found some old oks and writings talking about 
     radioactivity. 
     To make a long story somewhat shorter, we went out and found that 
     there were wha looked like uranyl acetate or nitrate crystals in one 
     area of the basement along ith a rock that was found to be 
     radioactive. Under a dissecting scope, the rock d greenish yellow 
     flecks embedded in it that were easily removed with a needle. Upon 
     closer inspection of the crystals, they weren't really crystals at all 
     but d the same compisition of mica. They were yellow green and were 
     sheetlike, they uld also crumble in your hand (I had gloves) under 
     slight to moderate pressure. put them on our gamma spec and got a 
     spectrum that matched  the radium spectrum actly. I know there is 
     radium in uranium but what kind of spectrum might I see? uld anyone 
     give me an idea of what this mineral (if it is) might be. 
     
     Replies can be sent to my private e-mail.
     
     Thanks in advance for your help.
     
     Al Castellane
     Oregon Health Sciences University
     castellla@ohsu.edu
     
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