High School Student Eats Uranium During Lunch, Leaving Teacher Dumbfounded

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Jul 24, 2023 11:30 AM EDT

Kids love eating things they aren't supposed to eat. Whether it's Play-Doh, a crayon, or those gross Harry Potter jelly beans, children love to push the boundaries with the non-food objects they're willing to put into their mouths. Fortunately, kids usually grow out of this obsession by the time they reach high school. For some students, that's not the case. 

If you asked me to do a word association with the word "uranium," I would probably say "bomb" or "nuclear." Uranium seems like one of those things that would kill you if it gets the chance. It seems as if some high schoolers today don't know about the dangers of Uranium, or at least two don't; a teacher anonymously posted on Reddit that a student at her school brought Uranium to his science class, and his friend ate some of it during lunch. I used to believe that children are our future, but now I'm not so sure. 

Advertisement
  • 01
    Font - I don't even have a title for how stupid this is... Humor A student at my school today brought in some Uranium to show his science teacher. Actual, certified, in-a-lead-box-with--on-it Uranium. For some reason, the science teacher didn't confiscate it or inform admin, so of course, during lunch, one of the kid's friends ate it.
    via u/deleted
  • 02
    Font - That kid is spending the night in the hospital. I work in a high school. I literally don't even know anymore. Like, nothing will ever surprise me now. 4 10.3k ↓ 1192 ↑ Share
    via u/deleted
  • 03
    Font - aidoll • 1d Oh my God. HE ATE IT????? ... Reply 2k
    via u/aidoll
  • 04
    Rectangle - [deleted] . 1d Yes. I am so glad I'm out of this place at the end of the year. 4537 ...
    via u/deleted
  • 05
    Font - DIRTYWIZARD_69 • 1d Former Teacher | Texas I work in radiation. That kid has given me an idea! I could use a day off. 4237 237
    via u/DIRTYWIZARD_69
  • 06
    Font - throwawaylurker012. 1d im almost tempted to say this is fake because if it was real uranium, wouldnt the other kid have radiation poisoning? and wouldnt this be like a national news story 220
    via u/throwawaylurker012
  • 07
    Font - nuclearflip 1d ● No, uranium isn't that radioactive. It is safe to be a around or even to touch for a short while. The one thing you absolutely shouldn't do is ingest it in any way. Uranium is an alpha emitter, and alpha radiation cannot penetrate the skin. Once it's already inside the body, that's a whole different story. 455
    via u/nuclearflip
  • 08
    Font - Crono2401. 1d Plus it is a heavy metal and can chemically give you poisoning that way. That's the real danger. Plus, you know, the body is not designed to process chunks of metal. ... 206
    via u/Crono2401
  • 09
    Font - my21streddit. 1d 32 Awards Natural uranium is mostly U-238 (~4.5 billion year half life; not useful on its own in most cases.) with a small amount of U-235 mixed in (0.4-2%, depending on quality; 235 is 'bomb uranium'; ~700million year half life). Both isotopes decay via Alpha (the most damaging type of radiation to your body).
    via u/my21streddit
  • 10
    Font - Natural uranium is not particularly dangerous (though eating it should make you eligable for a Darwin Award; honorable mention if you survive). The radiation dose is probably pretty small, on the order of 60 microsieverts (see here, I assumed a 1 gram source of natural uranium) and from this handy XKCD chart we can see that 60 microsieverts is a little more than a flight from LA to NY. So the kid is almost certainly going to be fine, and the hospital is going to get a fat paycheck for doi
    via u/my21streddit
  • 11
    Font - That can change radically depending on what, exactly, that uranium was made of. If it was re-enriched 3.5% reactor fuel then that kid got more like 3 millisieverts, which is a year's worth of background radiation. Still, not super dangerous. If it was 10g instead of 1g, then he hit the 1-year worker exposure limit, which is getting into 'not good' territory.
    via u/my21streddit
  • 12
    Font - I think you're starting to see the pattern, this would have to be a VERY spicy piece of uranium for it to be dangerous at all. Eating it was still incomprehensibly stupid, but...I brought a container of aluminum powder to school as part of a project on Thermite. I told them not to open it, as aluminum is a neurotoxin. And what did one of the girls do? Crack that bitch open and sniff! WHAT THE FUCK! I mean, I guess you can't kill what isn't there. But for fucks sake.
    via u/my21streddit
  • 13
    Font - Final note on half-lives: The longer the half life, the safer (yes safer) the material. Think about it this way: you have 100 bullets on a shelf. With a 10 minute half life, 50 of those bullets will explode (on average) over the next 10 minutes. Now, you have the same 100 bullets, but now we have a 400 million year half life. So 50 of them will randomly explode in the next 400 million years. Which pack of 100 bullets would you rather hold in your hand? One is considerably safer than the o
    via u/my21streddit
  • 14
    Font - Mass matters a lot more, when there are equivalent half-lives. 100g of something with a 400 year half life emits 100x the radiation as 1g of the same material. Why? Because now you're holding 10,000 bullets, 5000 of which need to explode, instead of just 100 bullets, where 50 explode. This is why you'll see Becquerels used when talking about 'volume of radiation'. That's basically the way of saying "this many exploding bullets per unit volume". ... 184
    via u/my21streddit
  • 15
    Font - Temporary-Dot4952. 1d A 7th grader ate a bandaid the other day, instead of putting it on their wound. A 6th grader ate dry wall bits from a hole a 7th grader kicked into the wall. The 6th grader also eats paper on a regular basis. Edited: for the "back in my day" crowd from "This is today's youth." to "This is youth." Have no idea how you all have the energy to argue about this. ← 152 ...
    via u/Temporary-Dot4952
  • 16
    Rectangle - Ftfykid. 1d Do they test the water where you live? G 134
    via u/Ftfykid
  • 17
    Rectangle - ragingspectacle. 1d G&B 4th | ELA | TX When I was in fifth grade.... In the 90s.... Boys were snorting pencil shavings. It's not just today's youth. Of. 472 72
    via u/ragingspectacle
  • 18
    Rectangle - flamingspew • 1d 30 years ago i convinced a kid on the school-bus to smoke a piece of paper coated in whiteout. ... 423
    via u/flamingspew
  • 19
    Font - MuscleStruts • 1d >Brought some uranium Concerning, but still kind of cool >one of the kid's friends ate it ayo, what the fuuuuck Reply 1.3k
    via u/MuscleStruts
  • 20
    Font - divacphys. 1d Exactly my response. Started reading and thought it was cool to share and weird but interesting. Saw that line and wow, that's not what I was expecting ... 273
    via u/divacphys
  • 21
    Font - aerkith 1d As a science teacher I'm not surprised at all. Every time we do an experiment kids ask "what would happen if I ate this?" The science teacher in this really should have alerted the school and got it removed from the premises. 4231 ↓ ...
    via u/aerkith
  • 22
    Font - Ergo Doceo 1d "What would happen if I ate this?" Yes! Not hyperbole, EVERY SINGLE TIME. And sometimes not even during labs. Kid: "What happens if you eat a crayon? Is it bad?" Me: "Are you asking because you ate a crayon?" Kid: "...Yes." ... ← 143
    via u/ErgoDoceo
  • 23
    Rectangle - Stranger2306. 1d Op, would you please give us an update next month? Like, I legit am wondering if this kid will die now. ... Reply 446
    via u/Stranger2306
  • 24
    Handwriting - [deleted] 1d ● I doubt I'll hear anything, honestly, but I'll keep an ear out. And 8 weeks from now, I'm out of here, onto better things. ... 156
    via u/deleted
  • 25
    Font - 1d roxinmyhead "I'm sure in 1985, plutonium is available in every corner drug store. In 1955, it's a little harder to come by". Sheesh ... Reply 555
    via u/roxinmyhead
  • 26
    Rectangle - jerrys153. 1d Upvote for Doc Brown reference. Just realized how long ago 1985 was. Damn I'm old. 164
    via u/jerrys153
  • 27
    Font - gauntletcat 1d ● It's nice to see that kids are still interested in science. ... Reply 618
    via u/gauntletcat

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

uranium danger hospitals hospital teachers poison teacher chemicals high school science Terrible Teacher chemical dangerous immature high schoolers atomic kids these days
Scroll Down For The Next Article