The decay products themselves decay through beta decay before arriving at a stable (at human timescales) U234 again. In the chain there is a bit of gamma radiation sprinkled in as well, but overall the decay chain, with the shielding provided by the glass, whatever other bedside obstacle there might have been and the probably small sample size should not have increased the obtained radiation dosage by a significant amount.
I could be mistaken but doesn’t u238 go down the full alpha decay chain ending in lead206 albeit with a few random beta minus decays thrown in that also shouldn’t penetrate glass?
Part of it is the decay frequency but also how it decays. Uranium238 does an alpha decay that can’t penetrate the glass
It can’t even penetrate your skin
As long as you don’t ingest it, you’ll be fine
The decay products themselves decay through beta decay before arriving at a stable (at human timescales) U234 again. In the chain there is a bit of gamma radiation sprinkled in as well, but overall the decay chain, with the shielding provided by the glass, whatever other bedside obstacle there might have been and the probably small sample size should not have increased the obtained radiation dosage by a significant amount.
I could be mistaken but doesn’t u238 go down the full alpha decay chain ending in lead206 albeit with a few random beta minus decays thrown in that also shouldn’t penetrate glass?