Naked Science Forum

General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Naufal the B. S. on 05/10/2009 13:43:11

Title: How to find uranium-238?
Post by: Naufal the B. S. on 05/10/2009 13:43:11

I've read an article that tell about, how to find u-238? it needs geiger counter. we can find it in any rocks.

but where, and what rocks i can find it?

Title: How to find uranium-238?
Post by: Bored chemist on 05/10/2009 19:04:39

How much do you need to find?
I'm fairly confident that if I pissed in a beaker my colleagues could measure the uranium in it.
That is an indication of the sophistication of analytical chemistry- even though there is only a tiny trace of uranium ( a few parts per billion or so) they could measure it.
Similarly I expect they could find uranium in many, if not most rocks.

If you want a rock with a lot of uranium in itt you should look at the minerals used as uranium ores.
Even then you won't find a rock with pure U238. The rocks will (with one obscure exception) contain a mixture of about 0.7% U235 and 99.3% U238 as well as other metals etc.

A good geiger counter will let you identify rocks which are significantly radioactive- but it will not distinguish between uranium and thorium.

Why do you want to know?

Title: Which is the most people in this world?
Post by: Naufal the B. S. on 05/10/2009 23:57:31

Thanks. For physic research.
So, there isn't uranium in any rocks?
I think, i'll start to find uranium with rocks in my house. Possible?

Title: Which is the most people in this world?
Post by: Naufal the B. S. on 06/10/2009 08:03:09

With geiger, on rocks

Title: How to find uranium-238?
Post by: Mazurka on 06/10/2009 12:15:08

It is true that a geiger counter would detect uranium if it was presentin a particular rock  but a big difficulty in using a geiger counter is that it is mainly detecting alpha radiation.  There are plenty of sources of alpha radiation other than Uranium.  It also does not travel very far and is easily stopped.

The best way to find uranium would be to cary out a desk study of all of the geological evidence you can find for the area you are interested in. 

If you can find Uranite - that is the main commercial uranium ore -  your search is over and extracting it is your next problem! Other minerals such as pitchblende can also contain extractable ammounts.  Wikipedia might be a good place to start to find out what names to look for.

 

Title: How to find uranium-238?
Post by: Bored chemist on 06/10/2009 19:05:12

"There are plenty of sources of alpha radiation other than radiation."
Name one.

Title: How to find uranium-238?
Post by: Mazurka on 07/10/2009 09:00:42

ninja edit
Whoops - I meant uranium [B)]