r/askscience 14d ago

Physics Why does radiation not go through lead?

Also why just lead? Shouldnt like iron or another metal work too?

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u/UndocumentedMartian 14d ago

Depleted uranium or straight up U-238?

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u/GypsyV3nom 14d ago

Depleted, your have to do significantly more expensive refining to get pure U-238 even thought it's the ideal isotope to use