• Question: Have you ever messed around with radioactive stuff like uranium?

    Asked by dandav to Angus, Christian, Hannah, Laura, Simon on 18 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Holyoake

      Simon Holyoake answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      I’ve never played with Uranium myself, I remember using radioactive sources back when I was studying my A-levels, but they were extremely low levels of radiation

      One of my labs is currently testing radiochemical reactions to determine their effect on animal biology and health

    • Photo: Hannah Bentham

      Hannah Bentham answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Same as Simon really. No uranium just some low level radioactive stuff at school.

      I have tested the radioactive isotope levels of igneous rocks in Canada though. They were EXTREMELY low levels though.

    • Photo: Angus Ferraro

      Angus Ferraro answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      I haven’t. Some schools have some very weak radioactive things in their labs though. My physics teacher showed them to us once, but that’s all.

    • Photo: Christian Maerz

      Christian Maerz answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      I am analysing uranium in my sediment samples, but it is a very low levels so not really dangerous. In fact, some rocks that are used to build kitchen tables (like granite) can contain substantial amounts of uranium! And radioactivity is all around us, elements are decaying everywhere all the time. But the levels of radiation are very low, and through evolution we have gotten used to them.

    • Photo: Laura Roberts Artal

      Laura Roberts Artal answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      Like the other scientist, I haven’t. I do get to play with liquid nitrogen regularly, which is quite cool, though not comparable to uranium!

Comments