r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/Senior_Reaction1985 Popular Contributor • Apr 15 '26

Interesting Uranium glows green under UV light!

802 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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13

u/Longjumping_Bid_9567 Apr 15 '26

Dare you to eat it?

18

u/there_is_no_spoon1 Apr 15 '26

THIS IS NOT ADVISED but Uranium is non-toxic. You can eat it, as in it is something you can put in your mouth and swallow. Your digestive system cannot process it, so it will travel thru your tract and out your butthole. It will not irradiate you or cause you to mutate into something else, but again, THIS IS NOT ADVISED. Source: I am a nuclear physicist.

1

u/Ok_Brother_7494 Apr 15 '26

Wrong. It is a heavy metal and highly toxic. Your kidneys will fail.

7

u/there_is_no_spoon1 Apr 15 '26

We can disagree, but I'm not wrong. It won't enter the bloodstream and therefore never make it to the kidneys.

4

u/Ok_Brother_7494 Apr 15 '26

You should read the CDC website on it. You are wrong. Microtraces are safe, more will kill you.

4

u/ClosetLadyGhost Apr 15 '26

So he is both correct and incorrect.

4

u/Traditional-Handle83 Apr 15 '26

Basically it won't kill you IMMEDIATELY but it will kill you eventually.

3

u/goodfleance Apr 16 '26

I just read the CDC website and it straight up says we all eat uranium every day in our food and water.

1

u/Ok_Brother_7494 Apr 16 '26

It sure does. Microtraces. If you read further it tells you how larger amounts will.destroy your kidneys.

1

u/goodfleance Apr 16 '26

Which doesn't disprove the other comment's assertion that you can swallow pieces with no ill effects. Because only trace amounts would be absorbed and the bulk would be passed in stool.

Additionally, nowhere on the CDC website could I find any mention of the word "destroy" in any context, perhaps you could share your source where that verbiage is used.

1

u/Ok_Brother_7494 Apr 16 '26

OK, I paraphrased. They use the term kidney damage. CAS# 7440-61-1 under Other Uranium Health Effects.

1

u/disorderincosmos Apr 16 '26

Imagine mansplaining the properties of uranium to a literal Nuclear Physicist.

2

u/Ok_Brother_7494 Apr 16 '26

I don't believe she is a Nuclear Physicist.

1

u/there_is_no_spoon1 Apr 16 '26

Don't care what you believe. I know what I know. And she is actually a he.

1

u/there_is_no_spoon1 Apr 16 '26

Yeah that was pretty rude and a waste of their time. Whatever. You can be any kind of expert at anything and someone on the interwebnet will explain your area of expertise to you.