Uranium was discovered in 1789 in Germany by Martin Heinrich Klaproth, though Eugene Péligot isolated a pure sample in 1841. It is a naturally radioactive solid metal with various isotopes, but U-235 and U-238 are most common. Uranium has many uses including fuel for nuclear power plants, but depleted uranium used in armor and weapons can create dangerous radioactive dust upon impact.

1. By: Josh Dorman

2.  Discovered: 1789
 Location: Germany
 Who Discovered It:
 Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1734-1817) (1789)
 and Eugene Péligot (1811-1890) (1841)
When Klaproth first announced the discovery of this new element,
he mistakenly named it Uranium. He had actually discovered an
oxide of ‘Uranium’. This was unknown until 1841 when Péligot
isolated the ‘Old Uranium’ to produce a pure substance of ‘New
Uranium’. However, the credit for discovery still goes to Klaproth,
and the element is still named Uranium. Which surprisingly enough
is named after the planet Uranus.

3. •Atomic Number: 92
•State at Room Temperature: Solid
•Color: Varies, mainly Silvery/Silvery-White
•Melting/Boiling Point: 1405.5K /4018K
•Density: 19.05g/cm
Uranium found naturally appears to be very similar to a
simple rock you would find outside. But instead is much
heavier and dangerously radioactive
3

4. Uranium has a 16 different isotopes, All of
them being radioactive.
Generally only 3 of the isotopes are
commonly talked about today.

234
U,
235
U, and
238
U

5. 
235
U contains 0.711% of naturally found Uranium, so not
very much. However is greatly used in many aspects.
Under certain circumstances
235
U can be easily split,
creating A LOT of energy, mostly in the form of heat.
 I could tell you the amount of energy released by one
atom of
235
U, but you would be unable to grasp the
quantity of it, so lets compare. The amount of energy a
single atom of
235
U is greater than the energy created
from burning 50 million carbon atoms. In other terms it is
20,000 times the amount of energy released by an atom
of coal. (keep in mind which is also used to create energy
through the form of heat)

6. 
238
U consumes most of amount
of naturally found Uranium at
98.3%.

238
U has a half life of 4.5 billion
years. Because of this we can
use this element to estimate
the age igneous rock.

238
U is commonly used as
radiation shielding because of
its high number of electrons
allow it to effectively block
Gamma and X-rays

7.  Uranium is found in minerals such as pitchblende,
uranophane, cleveite and many others. Uranium
can also be found in phosphate rock.
 Uranium is naturally presented in a U3O8 form.
 To obtain pure uranium many different ways, the
most common way is by reducing uranium oxides
with calcium, carbon, or aluminum at high
temperatures.
 The going price for uranium is $48.83 U.S. dollars
per pound.

8. Before they realized how valuable and
dangerous uranium was, it was used as
coloring agents in ceramic glass and
tinting in photography.
Due to the amount of radioactivity and the
need for uranium elsewhere, these are no
longer uses for it.

9.  Depleted uranium is used for
armor plating, missile heads,
and armor piercing casing due
to its high density.
 The problem is some uranium
breaks down into a highly
radioactive oxide dust on impact
of a missile explosion. This dust
like substance is very
dangerous and carcinogenic.

10. This is the aftermath of a child that was
victimized of depleted uranium after a
missile explosion

11.  The main use for uranium is to fuel nuclear
power plants
 The compound of uranium used for nuclear
power is UO2.
 To obtain UO2 from naturally occurring U3O8
you must reduce it using ammonia though
various different steps.
 Uranium provides about 4% of the world's
non-renewable energy.

12.  One pound ball of uranium will only have a
diameter of 1.3 inches.
 A uranium-colored glass object was found
near Naples, Italy, and dated to about 79 A.D.
 One ton of uranium can produce the
equivalent energy of 16,000 tons of coal or
80,000 barrels of oil.

13. http://nuclearsa.ccsa.asn.au/b1.html
http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/92.html
http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-
00409697/en/
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Uranium
http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium/guide/facts/