# Hey, Kids! The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-kids-the-gilbert-u-238-atomic-energy-lab/490839 "2009-03-26T05:23:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-kids-the-gilbert-u-238-atomic-energy-lab/490839/1 "2009-03-26T05:23:31Z")
See it [here](http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/atomictoys/GilbertU238Lab.htm). Available in the early 1950s. Man, this looks cool as hell! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-kids-the-gilbert-u-238-atomic-energy-lab/490839/2 "2009-03-26T06:46:40Z")
You’ll put your eye out! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-kids-the-gilbert-u-238-atomic-energy-lab/490839/3 "2009-03-26T06:48:22Z")
And to think my mom was worried that I’d stain the carpet or blow up the house with a plain old chemistry set. Who knows what havoc I could have created with a little uranium ore and a gamma source? ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-kids-the-gilbert-u-238-atomic-energy-lab/490839/4 "2009-03-26T06:56:34Z")
In High School we built a cloud chamber… Dry ice and some sort of low level radioactive element baked into a small chip of something or other. It was pretty cool. Wish they’d do more real experiments like that in school rather than the humdrum math on the chalkboard. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-kids-the-gilbert-u-238-atomic-energy-lab/490839/5 "2009-03-26T07:00:43Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > You’ll put your eye out! That’s okay, you can just grow a new one. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-kids-the-gilbert-u-238-atomic-energy-lab/490839/6 "2009-03-26T07:13:53Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#): > > In High School we built a cloud chamber.. Dry ice and some sort of low level radioactive element baked into a small chip of something or other. It was pretty cool. Wish they’d do more real experiments like that in school rather than the humdrum math on the chalkboard. My physics class did that. Pretty dang cool. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-kids-the-gilbert-u-238-atomic-energy-lab/490839/7 "2009-03-27T03:25:57Z")
Damn it! I want more radioactivity in my life!