Radium
Radium is a chemical element. The symbol for radium is Ra, and its atomic number is 88. It was discovered by Marie Curie and Pierre Curie in the form of radium chloride in 1898. It is a slivery-white alkaline earth metal, but it turns black quickly when it is exposed to nitrogen in the air. All isotopes of radium are radioactive. The radioactivity of radium causes it to glow in the dark.
Radium is used in many things, such as glowing watches, which are now banned because they can cause radiation poisoning. Some of the things radium was used for are now made using less dangerous radioactive elements, such as promethium. It can be used in treating cancer.[1]
In nature, radium is found in tiny amounts in uranium and thorium ores. It does not exist naturally inside of people or other living things; it is dangerous when taken in because it takes the same place as calcium.
History
Radium was discovered by Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie on 21 December 1898.[2] They found that some radioactive minerals had unknown compounds left over after removing uranium and barium. The unknown compounds were polonium and radium; the discovery was announced to the French Academy of Sciences on 26 December 1898.
The original unit of measurement for radioactivity was called the curie. The unit was equal to the radioactivity of one gram of radium-226,[3] but later it was changed to 3.7×1010 disintegrations per second.
Properties
Radium is the heaviest alkaline earth metal and the only radioactive element in the group. It has a silvery-white color, but turns black when it is exposed to air. It is more similar to barium than it is to any other element. It is also similar to barium in the ways it reacts with other things.
Radium has 33 isotopes. All of these isotopes are radioactive. The isotope which lasts the longest is radium-226: it has a half-life of 1,600 years.
Uses
Radium used to be used in glowing paints for watches and other instruments that are used in the dark. Radium stopped being used in the mid-1920s after a lawsuit by five people who were called "Radium Girls". The Radium Girls were told to lick the brushes used to paint with radium, which caused them to ingest radium.[4] This was very dangerous to their health. Ingesting radium in paint caused sores, anemia, and bone cancer in the Radium Girls. The lawsuit caused the dangers of radioactivity to be known by many more people. After the 1960s, radium paint was replaced by less dangerous radioactive paint made from promethium-147 or tritium.
Radium was also used in different things such as toothpaste and food.[5] These products were made illegal after people found out about the dangers of radioactivity.
Radium is not used now in anything except for nuclear reactors.[6] There are safer elements that can be used in all of the same ways radium was used.
Toxicity
Radium is the most toxic radioactive element. It collects in bones when ingested, which causes cancer. However, even just being around radium can cause cancer. Radium creates radon when it decays. This is even more dangerous, because radon is a gas.
Marie Curie's death was most likely caused by radium.[7]
Radium Media
- Radium-226 radiation source.
- Activity 3300 Bq (3.3 kBq)
- Decay chain(4n+2, Uranium series).svg
Decay chain of 238U, the primordial progenitor of 226Ra
- Ra-226 nitrate (10 mCi) - Photo by Dr Andrew R. Burgoyne - Oak Ridge National Laboratory.jpg
226Ra nitrate (10 mCi) - Photo by Dr Andrew R. Burgoyne - Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Curie and radium by Castaigne.jpg
Marie and Pierre Curie experimenting with radium, a drawing by André Castaigne
- US radium standard 1927.jpg
Glass tube of radium chloride kept by the US Bureau of Standards that served as the primary standard of radioactivity for the United States in 1927.
- Radium 2.jpg
Watch hands coated with radium paint under ultraviolet light
- WWI German altimeter radium painted.jpg
A zeppelin altimeter from World War I. The dial, previously painted with a luminescent radium paint, has turned yellow due to the degradation of the fluorescent zinc sulfide medium.
- Radior cosmetics containing radium 1918.jpg
1918 ad for Radior, one of several cosmetic products claiming to contain radium for its purported curative properties
- Památník objevu radia v Jáchymově.jpg
Monument to the Discovery of Radium in Jáchymov
References
- ↑ "Radium 223 (Xofigo) | Cancer treatment | Cancer Research UK". www.cancerresearchuk.org. Retrieved 2021-06-08.
- ↑ Haynes, William M.; Lide, David R., eds. (2011). CRC handbook of chemistry and physics: a ready-reference book of chemical and physical data (92nd ed., 2011 - 2012 ed.). Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4398-5511-9.
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 630: attempt to index field 'known_free_doi_registrants_t' (a nil value).
- ↑ Frame, Paul (1999). "Radioluminescent paint". Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity. Retrieved 2023-12-18.[dead link]
- ↑ "Les "pouvoirs miraculeux" de la radioactivité". www.dissident-media.org. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Identifiers at line 630: attempt to index field 'known_free_doi_registrants_t' (a nil value).
- ↑ Redniss, Lauren, ed. (2011). Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie ; a tale of love & fallout. New York: It Books. ISBN 978-0-06-135132-7.
