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For anyone wondering, it seems like it's (usually?) safe to eat/drink from uranium glassware. http://www.hps.org/documents/consumerproducts.pdf http://www.hps.
by oehtXRwMkIs 7y ago
For anyone wondering, it seems like it's (usually?) safe to eat/drink from uranium glassware.
http://www.hps.org/documents/consumerproducts.pdf http://www.hps.org/documents/consumerproducts.pdf
- saagarjha 7y agoI have heard that acidic foods and drinks can leak the uranium from the glass like any heavy metal.
- rdlw 7y agoTangentially, the tomato was thought to be poisonous by Europeans because the acid would leech lead from pewter plates. Here's an article, though I heard about this from the Hawaiian Pizza episode of The Anthropocene Reviewed. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-the-tomato-was-feared-in-europe-for-more-than-200-years-863735/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-the-tomato-w... Edit: Acid leaches lead, not acid. Misuse of 'leech' preserved for posterity.
- samatman 7y agoSplit the difference and you get leach, the actual word y'all are looking for. English is such a trip!
- kjs3 7y agoI had always heard the tomato was thought to be poisonous because it's part of the Nightshade family (Solanaceae), many of which are poisonous. https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/solanaceae.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/solanaceae.htm
- PeCaN 7y agoThis seems unlikely since many are edible and some (e.g. potato, eggplant, tobacco) were eaten concurrently with the tomato confusion in Europe.
- catalogia 7y agoTomatoes themselves were being eaten concurrently with tomato confusion in Europe. Tomatoes were from South America; entirely unknown to Europe until the Spanish introduced them. The Spanish brought them back to Europe with the intent of eating them. The Spanish, Italians, many in France, etc were happily eating tomatoes when people in Britain decided they were poisonous.
- jacobush 7y agoAs far as I know tomatoes can actually be slightly irritating to the intestines and some people should actually avoid them.
- flyGuyOnTheSly 7y agoYou're thinking about lead in crystal, not uranium in glass.
- saagarjha 7y agoNo, not really. I'm saying uranium can leach too.
- boomboomsubban 7y agoI believe that is an issue with radioactive glazing, but glass is extremely corrosion resistive. Glass is regularly used to store much more potent acids than any food we eat.
- saagarjha 7y agoLead can leach out of lead glass: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_glass#Safety https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_glass#Safety. I don't think it's that much of a reach that this could happen with another heavy metal? (Disclaimer: as I mentioned above, this might be hearsay. I am not a materials scientist.)
- kevin_thibedeau 7y agoI once had some lead glazed plates that I only discovered when I microwaved one with crack halfway through. It heated up blazing hot and the food remained frozen. That was the last time I ate off those plates.
- boomboomsubban 7y agoLead glass is about 18-40% lead compared to uraniam glass containing .1-2% uranium, and even those aren't considered a significant health problem. I wouldn't advise buying new ones for regular use, but I also wouldn't worry about any you have or will encounter either.