Chemistry ConnectionsEpisode #21

Welcome to Chemistry Connections, my name is Alex Scott and I am your host for episode #21, Cookware Chemistry and Glowing Glass. Today I will be discussing the history and chemistry behind uranium glass.

Segment 1: Introduction to Uranium Glass

Introduce the episode topic

Include definitions, vocabulary, interesting background information and context

• So today we’re talking about uranium glass, but we have to start much more in the abstract
• There’s a few different terms used to describe the glass I’m talking about:
• Depression glass: produced from 1929–1939, often clear or colored translucent machine-made glassware distributed free, or at low cost, in the United States and Canada around the tim e of the Great Depression.
• Elegant glass: Depression glass that was at least partially handmade, had a cleaner finish, and more vibrant colors, same time period
• Uranium glass: glass which has had a uranium metal oxide added to a glass mix before melting for coloration
• Vaseline Glass: uranium glass of a yellow or green translucent color
• Generally, uranium glass can be identified by shining blacklight on it, as it will fluoresce a bright green
• Context & History
• The oldest recorded use is at least 79 AD, in a yellow piece of glass in a Roman mosaic, but it became most popular in the mid 19th century
• Generally, the most recognized industrial uranium glass producer is Austrian Franz Xaver Riedel
• He named the 2 colors annagelb and annagrun, for his wife Anna & the German words for yellow and green.
• Produced variety of items, worked in modern day Dolni Polubni, Bohemia
• By the 1840s, many other European glassworks began to produce uranium glass items and developed new varieties of uranium glass
• In the US, Most glassware was made in the Ohio River Valley, where access to raw materials and power made manufacturing inexpensive
• It was commonly used as a coloring agent for green American Depression glass during the early 20th century
• Use in the US stopped partway through WWII when the US confiscated uranium supplies 

Segment 2: The Chemistry Behind Uranium Glass

Have a natural transition into an example… no need to say “segment 2”

Provide detailed explanations of the chemistry that is related to your topic.

Remember that you must have a minimum of 2 topics from ap chem that you can explain here as related to your episode

• Why was uranium oxide used to make the glass green?
• Metal oxides make glass different colors
• Why?: reflect a specific wavelength and absorb all the others
• Why does it fluoresce under UV light?
• Takes the energy from ultraviolet light
• Excites molecules, so in order to bring electrons back to lower energy state, it releases a photon of light

Segment 3: Personal Connections

• Interested because:
• my parents are avid antique glass collectors
• My parents especially love green Depression Glass
• I wanted to know what made it that color
• Tested my own cabinet to see what was and wasn't uranium AND MOST OF IT WAS
• It’s strange that radioactive materials were so popular for cookware
• Stranger that I’ve eaten off of it on holidays and family gatherings
• The history is so strange

Thank you for listening to this episode of Chemistry Connections. For more student-ran podcasts and digital content, make sure that you visit www.hvspn.com. 

Sources:

List your sources here. Make sure they are linked. Wikipedia cannot count for more than 50% of your sources.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depression_glass

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_glass

https://dustyoldthing.com/uranium-glass-spotlight/

http://www.glassassociation.org.uk/sites/default/files/WEBSITE%20Uranium%20Glass%20website%20%282%29.pdf

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/these-people-love-to-collect-radioactive-glass/

https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/vaseline.htm

Music Credits

Warm Nights by @LakeyInspired