5 ms·

United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies

62 points by apsec112 6y ago

a2h 6y ago
A gem of the internet I remember from 15+ years ago when using AOL via telephone modem. When I was a teenager I bought some of the trinitite and uranium ore samples. Mailed them cash since that's all most teens had back then. Site still looks very much the same as it did other than a mobile friendly version available. Great source for various odds and ends. Especially for home science projects.
- The_rationalist 6y ago
  Any example ideas of interesting projects?
  - saboot 6y ago
    He used to have a guide on how to make uranium hexafluoride, UF6, aka "yellow cake". I assume he was "encouraged" to take it down
    - tgflynn 6y ago
      I think you must have meant on making UF6 from yellow cake. Yellow cake and UF6 are not at all the same thing.
georgewsinger 6y ago
This is Bob Lazar's company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar). What do people think of the plausibility of his UFO claims? My assessment is this: if the probability that he's telling the truth is fat tailed enough (say roughly above 5%), then that's enough to justify being extremely interested in what he has to say. But the #1 thing that makes me doubt his claims meet this threshold is that he claims the craft he worked on violated the known laws of thermodynamics, which sends this probability to a mere epsilon over 0%. (Since how often are known laws of physics "changed", as opposed to being merely "extended")?
- bfieidhbrjr 6y ago
  From memory he's said that the conversion of antimatter in the supposed thermoelectric generator was near 100%. Maybe he waved his hands and said 100%. On the other hand we've had something like 5 theories of gravity since the dawn of man? We can easily have another one sometime...
- generalizations 6y ago
  From what the wikipedia article described, it sounds like the publicly-known relevant technology simply isn't far enough along to comment intelligently. e.g., the propulsion system was allegedly based on a stable isotope of element 115, but the best we can say is that of the isotopes we've found (and publicly described), we haven't yet found one that's stable. If (big if) there were aliens on nearby star systems, it's fairly likely they'd follow something similar to the Star Trek 'Prime Directive', which "prohibits Starfleet personnel and spacecraft from interfering in the normal development of any society..." [1] If that were the case, their actions would match fairly closely the supposed alien sightings that have been reported over the years. To me, that possibility is enough to consider the general nature of his claims not outside the realm of what our species' encounters with aliens would look like. Tech that's a little to far beyond ours for us to analyze intelligently, encounters between our governments and their emmissaries, occasional slip-ups and public sightings, etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive
  - throwanem 6y ago
    ...and apparently, going by a surprisingly sizable volume of the literature of abduction narratives, a whole lot of at best dubiously consensual butt stuff? I mean, forget the whole "aliens would definitely be a lot like Star Trek humans" thing, I want to hear how you explain the butt stuff. Yes, I'm poking fun, but only a bit - any general exegesis of modern alien visitation on Earth, that attempts to incorporate claims such as Lazar's, really does need to also have a position on the butt stuff. So where do you stand on The Alien Butt Stuff?
    - generalizations 6y ago
blhack 6y ago
It genuinely makes me happy that this exists. When I was a teenager this site felt so mysterious and cool. I wish there was more stuff like this in the world. Side note: if you live in Phoenix: take a trip down to Apache reclamation sometime. They have a lot of chemistry gear, old lab equipment etc. It gives me a similar feeling to wander around there. Bummer they’re sold out of tshirts. Might have to bootleg my own!
- xtiansimon 6y ago
  There used to be a lot of surplus lab equipment and light industrial surplus shops in San Jose, CA and up the peninsula into Silicon Valley when I went to school in the 90s. Triangle comes to mind. I suppose rents and eBay put an end to that.
schoen 6y ago
I bought some of their neodymium magnets a few years ago https://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70_71 https://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70... They're pretty amazing to play with. For example, you can make a small one hop around in your hand by turning over another one relatively far away. Much more dramatic experiences than you get playing around with refrigerator magnets. The safety warnings there are serious -- depending on the size, these magnets will be pulled toward each other with tens to hundreds of pounds of force, and they don't care what's in the way. Even the medium-sized ones that I got drew blood when they pinched me. (As with other magnets, the ones that are small enough to be swallowed would also be a severe hazard if a child swallowed them, although most on that page are much too big to swallow. On the other hand, if you let some of the larger disc-shaped ones loose from far enough apart, they'll fly together with enough force to shatter!)
- gdevenyi 6y ago
  I managed to build a 0.9T Hall effect measurement system with two 1.5 inch diameter N52 magnets. The scariest part was successfully assembling the magnets into the yoke. If we made a mistake, could easily use a finger, or, if they touch, we'd have to scrap everything and buy more to try again because you couldn't pull them apart.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
MertsA 6y ago
Anyone know of a source of bulk (e.g. 20kg) uranium ore like United Nuclear used to sell? I always wanted to refine some when I was a teenager but by the time I actually had a way to spend money online they were sold out for good.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

62 points by apsec112 6y ago

a2h 6y ago

A gem of the internet I remember from 15+ years ago when using AOL via telephone modem. When I was a teenager I bought some of the trinitite and uranium ore samples. Mailed them cash since that's all most teens had back then. Site still looks very much the same as it did other than a mobile friendly version available. Great source for various odds and ends. Especially for home science projects.

The_rationalist 6y ago
Any example ideas of interesting projects?
- saboot 6y ago
  He used to have a guide on how to make uranium hexafluoride, UF6, aka "yellow cake". I assume he was "encouraged" to take it down
  - tgflynn 6y ago
    I think you must have meant on making UF6 from yellow cake. Yellow cake and UF6 are not at all the same thing.

georgewsinger 6y ago

This is Bob Lazar's company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Lazar). What do people think of the plausibility of his UFO claims? My assessment is this: if the probability that he's telling the truth is fat tailed enough (say roughly above 5%), then that's enough to justify being extremely interested in what he has to say. But the #1 thing that makes me doubt his claims meet this threshold is that he claims the craft he worked on violated the known laws of thermodynamics, which sends this probability to a mere epsilon over 0%. (Since how often are known laws of physics "changed", as opposed to being merely "extended")?

bfieidhbrjr 6y ago
From memory he's said that the conversion of antimatter in the supposed thermoelectric generator was near 100%. Maybe he waved his hands and said 100%. On the other hand we've had something like 5 theories of gravity since the dawn of man? We can easily have another one sometime...
generalizations 6y ago
From what the wikipedia article described, it sounds like the publicly-known relevant technology simply isn't far enough along to comment intelligently. e.g., the propulsion system was allegedly based on a stable isotope of element 115, but the best we can say is that of the isotopes we've found (and publicly described), we haven't yet found one that's stable. If (big if) there were aliens on nearby star systems, it's fairly likely they'd follow something similar to the Star Trek 'Prime Directive', which "prohibits Starfleet personnel and spacecraft from interfering in the normal development of any society..." [1] If that were the case, their actions would match fairly closely the supposed alien sightings that have been reported over the years. To me, that possibility is enough to consider the general nature of his claims not outside the realm of what our species' encounters with aliens would look like. Tech that's a little to far beyond ours for us to analyze intelligently, encounters between our governments and their emmissaries, occasional slip-ups and public sightings, etc. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive
- throwanem 6y ago
  ...and apparently, going by a surprisingly sizable volume of the literature of abduction narratives, a whole lot of at best dubiously consensual butt stuff? I mean, forget the whole "aliens would definitely be a lot like Star Trek humans" thing, I want to hear how you explain the butt stuff. Yes, I'm poking fun, but only a bit - any general exegesis of modern alien visitation on Earth, that attempts to incorporate claims such as Lazar's, really does need to also have a position on the butt stuff. So where do you stand on The Alien Butt Stuff?
  - generalizations 6y ago

blhack 6y ago

It genuinely makes me happy that this exists. When I was a teenager this site felt so mysterious and cool. I wish there was more stuff like this in the world. Side note: if you live in Phoenix: take a trip down to Apache reclamation sometime. They have a lot of chemistry gear, old lab equipment etc. It gives me a similar feeling to wander around there. Bummer they’re sold out of tshirts. Might have to bootleg my own!

xtiansimon 6y ago
There used to be a lot of surplus lab equipment and light industrial surplus shops in San Jose, CA and up the peninsula into Silicon Valley when I went to school in the 90s. Triangle comes to mind. I suppose rents and eBay put an end to that.

schoen 6y ago

I bought some of their neodymium magnets a few years ago https://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70_71 https://unitednuclear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70... They're pretty amazing to play with. For example, you can make a small one hop around in your hand by turning over another one relatively far away. Much more dramatic experiences than you get playing around with refrigerator magnets. The safety warnings there are serious -- depending on the size, these magnets will be pulled toward each other with tens to hundreds of pounds of force, and they don't care what's in the way. Even the medium-sized ones that I got drew blood when they pinched me. (As with other magnets, the ones that are small enough to be swallowed would also be a severe hazard if a child swallowed them, although most on that page are much too big to swallow. On the other hand, if you let some of the larger disc-shaped ones loose from far enough apart, they'll fly together with enough force to shatter!)

gdevenyi 6y ago
I managed to build a 0.9T Hall effect measurement system with two 1.5 inch diameter N52 magnets. The scariest part was successfully assembling the magnets into the yoke. If we made a mistake, could easily use a finger, or, if they touch, we'd have to scrap everything and buy more to try again because you couldn't pull them apart.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

MertsA 6y ago

Anyone know of a source of bulk (e.g. 20kg) uranium ore like United Nuclear used to sell? I always wanted to refine some when I was a teenager but by the time I actually had a way to spend money online they were sold out for good.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]