[50mm]

Not the tank armor.

Depleted uranium is used for tank armor and shells. It is used because it's much harder than steel.

[Colinsky]

Depleted uranium is used for tank armor and shells. It is used because it's much harder than steel.

No, it's not because uranium is harder. Uranium is much more dense. The density of steel is about 8 (water = 1), the density of lead is 11.35, and the density of uranium is about 19.

So each square inch of the surface is subjected to more than twice the impact energy of a steel projectile. (Or twice the resistance.)

[ASOC]

The density of U exceeds that of armored steel.

I and many of my mates handled DU rounds on the Nellis Range complex - cleaning up after the A 10 AT&E. NO one of us (I keep in touch with more than a few) have shown any ill effects.

OTOH, my wife grew up Central Utah, downwind from the Nevada Test Site and had lost fully half of her graduating classes (of 1972) by 1986 to various cancers (Lung, thyroid, bone, ovarian, etc). As always, YMMV.