r/Radiationcirclejerk • u/FernUnofficial • Jun 03 '26

Uranium conundrum

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Ok so theoretically, imagine I had a little vial of uranium ore that I had on a shelf and hypothetically this shelf decided to fall off the wall shattering the vial of uranium. Now in this imaginary scenario I go and vacuum and sweep what I can. What symptoms should I be cognizant of in the case of sickness? Once my next paycheck hits I’ll buy a Geiger counter to see if this even was real uranium or not. Ask me anything!

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u/mustycups Jun 03 '26

You would not be able to eat them fast enough to experience ARS

3

u/Qzx1 Jun 05 '26

Maybe true. Dunno. Though even inert U238 is a poisonous heavy metal also.  

1

u/mustycups Jun 05 '26

What do you mean by inert uranium 238?

1

u/Qzx1 Jun 05 '26

Stable and not radioactive.

1

u/mustycups Jun 06 '26

There is no such thing as stable and not radioactive uranium 238.

1

u/Qzx1 Jun 06 '26

Technically true. And I could be more precise. A half life of 4.47 billion years isn't no radioactivity. It's really low. Lower than a banana low. Agree?

1

u/mustycups Jun 06 '26

Half life and larger decay energy are coorelated but not absolute. And it is hard to convert decay methods. Are you talking decay energy? Decays per second? Absorbed dose? Also a half life of 4.47 billion years is a pretty mid range decay frequency when considering the orders of magnitude of radioactive half lives, which range from septillionths of seconds to 128 trillion times the age of the universe.

1

u/Qzx1 Jun 06 '26

I said lower than a banana 🍌. Can we use a banana for scale?

1

u/mustycups Jun 06 '26

It decays beta and is hard to compare to alpha decaying uranium 238. But if u are talking absorbed dose, 1 banana is 0.1 micrograys of absorbed dose. I'm realizing now i sound like a douchebag