When we bought our pet dragon, dear wife said she wanted a "PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON", (from the old Peter, Paul and Mary song), so had the concrete lawn ornament people paint it purple. It is solid concrete, comes in three pieces and is very very heavy!
now, on to BIOMEDBABE:
Feel free to send me all of your boxed up uranium glass! From your name, I surmise that you are in the medical field, and have had someone test your uranium glass. I, too, have had my glass tested. I took samples from 1840, 1860, 1900, 1920, 1960, and present day glass to the Nuclear Safety officer for the state of Oklahoma, at the University of Oklahoma, USA, and had it tested. The mand that did the testing was Dr. Paul Skierkowski, Ph.D, a Certified Health Physicist. Dr. Paul tested the glass in his spectroscopy lab, using a germanium-lithium semi-conductor detector to determine the emission record of the radioactive component in the glass and a geiger counter to measure the type of radioactivity being emitted. He explained that the nuclear species causes the radioactivity, the mineral species is responsible for the color. The tests showed that the primary resulting peak was the standard emission peak for protactinium-234. All of the glass tested was a very high-energy beta emitter, with a peak of 1.001. The analyzer finds the center of the peak, wich is actually a couple of channels wide, and graphed the emission record. Every piece that was tested emitted the EXACT same distinctive fingerprint for uranium, regardless of its age, manufactuer, or intensity of color.
Protactinium-234 is a beta emitter, which dissipates in 14-18 inches. It can be blocked completely using glass (such as putting the glass in a glass hutch or display unit. The geiger counter registered the radiation clicks up close, but when the geiger counter was set to the proper sensitivity level (and accurately calibrated by Dr. Paul), at 18 inches, the geiger counter showed only normal background levels.
We are all exposed to radiation daily. Even without having uranium glass in the house, the normal person gets about 360 millirems per yer. That is 0.0360 rem per year. a lethal dose of radiation is 500 REMS over a few hours time.
TIME, DISTANCE, AND SHIELDING was Dr. Paul's advice. Keep it more than 3 feet away from you, but he said that the amount that we are exposed to is minimal with vaseline glass.
I would not have gone into all the scientific explanation, but thought I could head off a disagreement in this fashion. I took this info from an article my wife wrote (who is also in the medical field and just freaked out when I told her it was radioactive) and she insisted that the glass be tested if it was going to be in her house. So, we went to see the Nuclear Safety officer for the State of Oklahoma. He assured her through testing of various samples, that it was OK to have it in our home.
Here is a picture of where I am currently typing this message and the glass that is around me:
http://www.vaselineglass.org/STUDYLG.jpgI have vaseline glass (about 500 pieces) to either side of me, with no glass shielding. However, it is more than 3 ft away from me on both sides. Beta dissipates after 18 inches.
If you are still concerned, please let me know what glass you might have for sale in the future! I don't sleep with my glass, or carry around a pound of vaseline glass marbles in my pocket 24 hours a day, but I also think the glass is way to beautiful to box it up and put it in storage.
We can agree to disagree!
Mr. Vaseline Glass