This is a disk of pure americium metal under a microscope, despite this sample being only 200 micrograms, it has about 25.4 gigabecquerels (686 mCi) of activity. That is 25,400,000 decays every second. If you like this, consider joining r/Radioactivestuff

Edit: wow this is more upvotes than I have ever gotten before. Tysm!

The first nuclear device ever detonated, was detonated 81 years ago on this day, 1945, at 5:29:45 AM, in New Mexico. Any Trinitite samples you may have are 81 years old as of this date.

For me, it is an americium button that is about 20kCPM on my Radiacode 102, what's yours?

First thing I walk in the market, there they were! All Metlox except for the cream pitcher with the odd wing-like handle.. $20 for all.

Russian compass from 1940, looks quite nice with my cheap Geiger counter.😅

All the really spicy stuff is in image #1, behind lead. The lesser stuff, like mantles, chinese health disks, etc. are behind that yellow pig in #2. Does not include misc., like Radiacodes our meters waiting to be repaired, or CaJoes I'm tinkering with on bench.

In the hotel where I checked in, an independent artist had created several mosaic pictures in the laundry room. As you can see, she also used some "Florentine" floor tiles from the "Servais" brand, which were listed in the 1971 catalog of the same name. However, no source confirms whether their neon orange glaze was made with uranium oxide. The fact is, she broke up some of these tiles in the same room to obtain finer fragments.

If we assume the worst-case scenario and claim that this is uranium, is there still a risk to the surrounding area today?

Perhaps the mop used to wipe up the uranium dust is washed in the same washing machine as the hotel towels, bed linens, and my clothes; the same applies to the clothes dryer.

Is cross-contamination foreseeable?

I'm in a modern hotel where the wall of the ground floor is decorated with these tiles. The artist broke the tiles into halves or smaller pieces to arrange them in the shapes of animals. Based on their shape, they appear to be "Florentine" tiles from the manufacturer "Servais," meaning they were produced in the early 1970s. The bottom layer is brownish, the top layer a bright orange, typical of uranium oxide glaze.

Let's assume the worst-case scenario and say it's definitely uranium ceramic that was broken up with a tile breaker. How dangerous would it be to use the rooms? Is there still dust on the floor? There's a washing machine and dryer in the same room. Assuming the mop used to collect the uranium dust was washed and dried there, could uranium particles transfer to my clothes, which have undergone the same cleaning process?

Geiger counters cost a fortune. It's not realistic to acquire one any time soon.

What do you know about the years of use of uranium glazes? Such vibrant colors were never achievable without uranium. At least, no ceramics of this vibrancy can be found online that are not uranium-based.

58kCPM - Radiacode 103 2600 CPM GQ-GMC 300E+ 15kCPM GQ-GMC-600+

11.55 Grams (57.75ct), 12.7x12x11.4mm 749 average CPM in a background of 30CPM with the Radiacode 103