Practical Uses

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Uranium-Treated Glass Vase
http://www.webelements.com
In the 19th century, uranium was not considered a dangerous element and commercial uses were found for it. In 1855, a factory in Austria manufactured uranium pigments for coloring pottery and glass. Glass to which uranium, or uranium oxide was added had a flourescent yellow-green color.

When uranium's radioactive properties were revealed, the military began to use uranium for an entirely different purpose. Atomic bombs and nuclear weapons in general have enough uranium in them to start a chain reaction with all the naturally occuring uranium in the earth. On the 6th of August, 1945 an atomic bomb code named "Little Boy" was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima at 8:16 am. The bomb had the isotope uranium-235. It was the equivalant of 12,500 tonnes of TNT, destroyed 50,000 buildings, and killed about 75,000 people. Those who didn't die instantly died later of radiation burns.


Hiroshima After Atomic Blast
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hiatomicbomb/investigation.html

However, there are other uses for radioactive uranium's other than pottery and military weapons, much of the world relies on nuclear power plants in order to generate electricity. The Uranium for these reactors is enriched with uranium-235 and these are clad in zirconium metal. As the fuel is consumed, the dissociation products accumulate and may absorb the neutrons necessary to sustain the reactor, so after 5 years a rod has to be replaced. The spent (used up) fuel rod is then sent for reprocessing, but only after being allowed to decay some of the intense radiation for a year.

The discovery that uranium was radioactive came only in 1896 by accident when Henri Becquerel in Paris found that a sample of uranium left in a drawer on top of an unexposed piece of photographic plate caused the plate to become "fogged," as if it had been partly exposed to light. From that he deduced that uranium was emitting invisible rays.


Nuclear Energy Production
http://www.uic.com.au/uran.htm

Depleted uranium is also used for ship's ballast, as counterwieghts for aircraft and for coloring on ceramic glass. Depleted uranium is preferred over denser materials because it is easily cast and machined. It is also used as armor on tanks of various countries, though not of the U.S.