Most Recent Program Information
October 2024 Program
Michael, our president, presented "Reminiscences of Uranium: A Tour of the Collection of an Eccentric Gentleman of the Shenandoah Valley". He showed exquisite photos of minerals, some that were smaller than 1 mm in size, photographed using his homemade elaborate camera set-up. The photos were very professional, and he zoomed in on some of the delicate and varied crystal patterns.Michael first discounted the myth that uranium is very dangerous and may kill you. There are tons and tons of natural uranium in our rocks and soil that has been there for 5 billion years. As this uranium disintegrates due to radioactive decay, it releases heat that keeps our earth warm enough for life to have evolved. Without it, we'd be a giant lifeless snowball! He brought his radiation detector with him - a CRM100 that he bought several years ago. (That model is no longer for sale, but others are available on Amazon and other sites.) There is background radiation in our air, water, and soil. The background radiation at his house was 16 CPM (counts per minute). Brick and cinder block buildings have more than wood due to the stone in the material. The type of uranium that is dangerous has been enhanced or concentrated for industrial purposes and for nuclear fission and fusion. Of course, one should not ingest or inhale any type of radioactive material.
Michael's slide show included these minerals (I may have missed a few.) Some contain uranium, and others have thorium. You can look them up on www.mindat.org to see a photo, its mineral composition, and source location.
• Bergenite - yellow.
• Billietite - amber.
• Boltwoodite - yellow.
• Carnotite - orange.
• Cleusonite - black.
• Curite - orange.
• Dewindtite - yellow.
• Fourmarierite - orange (this is the only one with the O3 peroxide molecule in its composition).
• Francoisite - yellow.
• Gauthierite - yellow.
• Liebigite - amber.
• Schrockingerite - greenish yellow.
• Soddyite - yellow.
• Thorite - yellow-green.
• Thorianite - black.
• Torbernite - green.
• Tyuyamunite - yellow.
• Uranophane - yellow.
• Vanuralite - yellow.
• Vandendriesscheite - orange.
• Wolsendorfite - dark orange.
• Wulfenite - orange. Zeunerite - green.
NO, we will NOT have a spelling bee with the names!! And spell-check had difficulty with some of them!
Michael had a few samples of these minerals. Under the scope, we saw the brilliant green needle crystals of cuprosklodowskite with yellow kasolite.
Under UV light, the schrockingerite was a brilliant blue, showing both radioactivity and fluorescence.
Mike's piece of curite went off the charts on the radiation detector at over 2000!
I brought a few of my samples, and Mike used his meter to test them. My antique Fiestaware green plate showed no emission, but the 1930s Vaseline (uranium glass) did have a 36 reading. My autonite had no emission, but my tyuyamunite measured 266, and my boltwoodite measured 211.
THANK YOU, Michael for showing us the amazing world of microscopic uranium and thorium minerals.