Green Bathroom Tile (ca. 1930s) |
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| This particular piece of green tile (ca. 2" across) came from the bathroom of the President of Georgia State University. | |
| Sometime in the 1980s, Bob Boyd, the Radiation Safety Officer at Georgia State University, was making radon measurements at the residence of the University's President. The residence was undergoing renovations at the time - to the tune of over $500,000 if I remember correctly. During the course of his work, Bob had to go to the bathroom. For the normal reasons, not to measure radon. In any event, he took his GM survey meter along with him and he had it turned on. After all, a meter that is turned off is nothing but dead weight. Just when he was getting comfortable, he noted that the GM's reading was unusually high. I believe he told me that it was something like 0.1 mR/hr, roughly ten times background. The source of the readings turned out to be uranium-containing tiles on the bathroom walls. I don't know if the original intention was for the bathroom to be redone as part of the renovations, nevertheless, that's the way it turned out. The tiles were replaced and here is one of them. |
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| I am guessing that the
tile dates from the 1930s. Nevertheless, it has that Avocado Green
look that was so popular in the 1960s (uranium was not used in tiles to
any extent during the 1940s and 1950s). An analysis of tile indicates that
it contains natural uranium. This means that it almost cetrainly was
produced before 1943.
Donated by Bob Boyd |
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