Science & Technology

Most people know that uranium is radioactive, but few would think of taking a Geiger Counter with them when antique-hunting. A hundred years ago, uranium oxide was widely used in making decorative glass objects. Their characteristic greenish-yellow colour gave them the name of ‘Vaseline glass’, though their radioactivity means that uranium is not used in glass-making these days. Uranium is also used in making the shells fired by Army tanks, as it is extremely dense and also tends to ignite on impact.

The history of humankind follows the history of the exploitation and use of natural resources and, in particular, of metals and metalloids. However, not many chemical elements have been used in such a variety of applications as antimony has and, probably, none has end up by being as ubiquitious as water in our everyday life.