Today I got my 2 gram sample of UO2 from United Nuclear.
I then promptly reacted it with conc. HNO3 until no NO2 was produced. I got a green solution, which is what I expected, to be honest. I dried it out
in front of a space heater for about 20 mins, on the "Medium" setting, so as not to potentially decompose it, or at least that was my thought process.
When it finally dried, I was left with a very small amount of Yellow-green crystals (I only used something like 5 mg of UO2.) as well as some black
specks, likely unreacted UO2 or trace unreacted U metal, but I doubt the latter. What I was left with did NOT glow under my UV light, which really
confused me. I really don't want to use up all of my remaining UO2, I plan on keeping it with my other radioactive materials. What did I do wrong, if
anything? I already tried this on Uranium-bearing rocks, and to my disappointment, it did not work. What I got from that was some suspicious yellow
powder, which seemed almost barely radioactive at best.
Help, pls. -Azidecareysub - 21-10-2016 at 11:31
Try getting some uranium vaseline glass on eBay to test out your UV light source. Samples are not very expensive.
The quantum efficiency of uranyl fluorescence is much higher in glass than in solution or crystals.Rhodanide - 21-10-2016 at 12:44
Try getting some uranium vaseline glass on eBay to test out your UV light source. Samples are not very expensive.
The quantum efficiency of uranyl fluorescence is much higher in glass than in solution or crystals.
I just got the idea from a video that I saw. From what the creator posted, it seemed to glow like a glow stick, and they were using mere pitchblende.
The video is very easily found on YouTube.
