Going Nuclear - or Drinking from Radioactive Glasses?

My husband has a thing for "fun" wineglasses. He haunts antique stores and garage sales looking for something a little unusual to bring home. None of these finds are glasses that I generally want to drink wine from (rolled edges, awkward shapes that allow the wine to slosh out when swirling, etc.), but I often go along so as not to be the "you-know-what in the punch bowl."

This time he's gone too far. "Vaseline glass" wineglasses. Not only do they have a somewhat tulipy shape (sloshing), but the freaking things are radioactive!!!!!

So, the question is whether to continue to go along for fun or to run for the hills? Will drinking from radioactive glasses affect the wine?

[Exclamation points added for drama. I'm aware that they are expected to not be harmful under "ordinary use." Which may raise more questions....]

Remind me to cross you off the invite list for offlines. Wouldn't want to risk getting too close to those glasses. And if you have been drinking from them, not sure I want to sit next to you at the dinner table. No offense intended of course.

However, it could be useful if you were around during the next power outage. I won't have to scratch around looking for a flashlight.....your glow should light the whole house!!!

What are they made from? Lanthanum glass, perhaps? That sometimes turns out to be mildly radioactive.

It will by no means harm the wine. It won't harm you, either, unless you're in the habit of walking around all the time with the wine glass in your pocket.

-Paul W.

Lantanum

La-139 is stable and makes up 99.92% of natural La.

La-138 makes up the remaining 0.08% and has a half life of 1.05E10 years (110 billion years). The radiation from a FED-5 camera lens has been measured as being about 1/3 of the background radiation at the time. The geiger counter was placed in contact with the lens. I have no idea if the experiment was verifiable or not.

La-138 decays by electron capture, creating Ba-138 (67% of the decays) and by beta decay (33%), creating Ce-138. The high energy gamma particles produced would be a problem if they were produced in large amounts. They aren’t.

La-137 was produced in the laboratory by bombarding Ce-138 with and has a half life of 6000 years.

All other La isotopes were also produced in the laboratory, and have half lives in the order of minutes to days.

So the if you are worried at all about drinking from a glass containing lanthanum, do not ever consider flying anywhere. The radiation dose you would be submitted to in a 747 will be very much greater than anything that will come out of your glass.

Just enjoy the experience of using an unusual glass.

So if you are worried at all about drinking from a glass containing lanthanum, do not ever consider flying anywhere. The radiation dose you would be submitted to in a 747 will be very much greater than anything that will come out of your glass.

Hmmmm, are they using Geiger counters in airports these days?

Thanks for the smiles, guys.

Neil,

There are 1950s-vintage camera lenses made from lanthanum glass that register clicks (several per minute) on a geiger counter held several inches from the lens. I've seen this demonstrated. I doubt it presents any radiation hazard. It's just a fun and interesting phenomenon.

-Paul W.

Hmmmm, are they using Geiger counters in airports these days?

Very likely, yes. The New York City subway system has them installed in subway stations. A man who was undergoing radioactive iodine treatments was detained and questioned several days in succession by subway police, then released without explanation. It finally occurred to him that he was probably setting off radiation alarms in the stations.

But lanthanum glass is unlikely to set off those detectors--too low level.

-Paul W.

Along these same lines, all bismuth (e.g., Pepto-Bismol) is radioactive. But very, very mildly. Half life is billions of years.

-Paul W.

It is so easy these days to look up info on the web.

At the following collectors' website, it states that vaseline glass gets it coloration from uranium dioxide.

http://www.vaselineglass.org/

Natural Uranium is primarily U238, with minute amounts of U235 and other isotopes, hence the small residual radioactivity. If you look at the glass in a pitch dark room, you should detect a faint green glow.

Back in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, radioactivity was thought to be beneficial to human health by some quacks. Similar to the phony claims made today about pyramid power, health benefits of wearing or sleeping on magnets, and crystal power. One such device was a radium-coated water dispenser known as a Revigator.