Talk:Strontium/Archive 1

Disputed
The article states that the power released by strontium 90 is 0.46 watts per gram. However, according to, it is 0.93 watts per gram. Polonium 21:58, 10 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Also http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/conghand/inpower.htm which gives a similar value of 0.921 W/g specific power for pure strontium-90. Femto 11:39, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

HELP from historians
someone who knows history well please add material to the effect that Strontium 90 was ddiscovered in cow's milk in the 1960s and that the Atomic Energy Commission twisted itself into pretzeline configurations to cover up the fact that radiation from atomic testing was polluting a great many americans.
 * Try:

The whole story is in these articles. --DV8 2XL 15:16, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
 * U.S. FDA. Total Diet Study: A. Strontium-90 and Cesium-137 Content. B. Nutrient Content. C. Pesticide Content. JAOAC 46(4). 1963.
 * Consumers Union. The milk all of us drink-- and the fallout. Consumer Reports, pp. 102-111. March 1959.
 * Consumers Union. Strontium-90 in the total diet. Consumer Reports, pp. 5-6. January 1960a.
 * Consumers Union. Fallout in our milk...a follow- up report. Consumer Reports, pp. 64-70. February 1960b.
 * Consumers Union. Strontium-90 in the total diet. Consumer Reports, pp. 289-293. June 1960c.
 * Consumers Union. A follow-up study on Strontium-90 in the total diet. Consumer Reports, pp. 547-549. October 1961.


 * I came to this page to expressly learn about the whole milk with Sr90 thing (though I'm not the original poster). If you're familiar with the situation, I think it could be a useful addition to the page. Matt Deres 19:55, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

William Cruickshank
Why no mention of him as co-discoverer? JackofOz 08:18, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Missing content
The article needs to look at pure metal (rather than strontium compound) sources.aiaz 18:34, 11 February 2007 (UTC)74.98.191.27 20:57, 11 February 2007 (UTC) Yes - this article needs a complete rewrite to focus on strontium metal & its alloys. Currently it is misleading. The strontium compound information should be moved.aiaz 18:37, 11 February 2007 (UTC) 74.98.191.27 20:57, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
 * You might be right, some of the elements have sections which are split, 'applications' and 'compounds'. It does indeed feel like there are quite some applications of the metal missing, could you add some?  Thanks!  --Dirk Beetstra T  C 18:38, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I've gone forward and split the applications section into a applications section (for applications of the metal, and a compounds-section. Can you expand the applications section, that is not my speciality?  --Dirk Beetstra T  C 19:30, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

More missing content
Its use in determining prehistoric animals diet from their bones would be helpful (ie calcium stronium ratios). Any experts? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.234.4.76 (talk) 13:53, 14 May 2007 (UTC).

Specific Mass
In solid state the s.g. is 2.6  g·cm−3 and in liquid state 6.980  g·cm−3 ? Does it really contract 2.5 times ? Possibly wrong data... S k a t e b i k e r 18:20, 15 July 2007 (UTC)


 * The correct value according to the "Density of Liquid Elements" table in the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is 2.375 g/cm3. The value 6.980 g/cm3 is the liquid density of tin (Sn), the adjacent element in the same table. The article now has the correct value. Piperh 20:32, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

Strontium in drinking water
Is the strontium found in mineral waters such as Gerolsteiner stable or radioactive (toxic)? Badagnani (talk) 18:12, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Talk
Near the bottom of the article it is mentioned "However, their long-term safety and efficacy have never been evaluated on humans using large-scale medical trials. Such compounds should not be administered to humans before further studies are conducted." Having recently read an article relating to double blind human tests of stontium intake I am left with the impression that the first sentence is out of date. The magazine was something about bone health. Sorry that I can't recall the name. The second sentence seems to be a value's statement, and therefore I consider it out of place on wikipedia. My two bits worth.

Y'know, these element articles look very messy now. I cleaned this one up just as an example. The way it looked before, the external link dominated the page. Wikipedia isn't a web directory (see what Wikipedia is not): we shouldn't just send people to other pages when we will want to include that same information here!

I like it -- only problem, is that it will take a couple of hours to convert all the elements to the new format.(which I am not up to at the moment) maveric149

By the way, could someone find out whether the listed .gov pages (here, e.g.) are public domain? If so, let's use them! --LMS

I also whould like to know if the LANL pages are public domain (the lack of a copyright notice, along with the general rule that federaly funded documents are in the public domain, leads me to think that this is so - which is why I choose to link to LANL) maveric149

In general, I prefer to use horizontal rules (lines) only to separate multiple separate articles which appear under the same name; see Krypton for an example. Of course, once the multiple articles become very large, it is probably better to split the article in two; but this is often not really necessary with "little" things. -BD

Sounds good to me. Just need the time to implement it. maveric149

BTW I just emailed the person at LANL responsible for the periodic table there. In the email I asked about the copyright status of the webpages. Hope to get an answer on this soon. maveric149

The reason I added the links to the LANL webpages, was to ensure that if someone looked up say, Indium, they got more than "A chemical element, in the periodic table. Indium has the symbol In and atom number 49". So the links act as a stop-gap until the articles mature past stub status. Also, it is my hope that the LANL webpages are in the public domain, so having links to it would expedite the fleshing out process. Then, "External Link(s)" could be changed to "Source Document(s)". maveric149.

The LANL pages were created by Robert Husted while he was employed at LANL. LANL is operated by the University of California, but is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy; works created by their employees in furtherance of their duties are therefore not subject to copyright. We should be able to use this material directly without permission or attribution of any kind--we (US taxpayers) already paid for it; it belongs to us. --LDC

I was born Canada in 1946, the first official year of the Baby Boomers. I vividly remember news reports of hydrogen bombs being exploded in the 1950s by the Americans and the USSR which released Strontium 90 into the atmosphere over the Northern Hemisphere. This was readily absorbed by cows in the place of calcium and contaminated ordinary milk products. It still worries me today. Anyone have any knowledge of the long-term negative effects of Strontium 90 in human bone? -- Coasting

Ok, I have this science project and I'm supposed to do it on strontium. One of the things you're supposed to have is it's classifications. Can someone help me? I can't really figure out what it is.

/* Talk */ There is discrepancy between density at melting point property of Strontium. Which one is right?? Page "Densities of the elements (data page)" states Density, liquid phase 6.980 g/cm³ but On the main page for element Dencity at melting point stated 2.37 g/cm³ guliaka (talk) 04:19, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Culture Reference
I'm not sure of a good way to wedge in a culture reference here. (Strontium is mentioned to be the isotope in Fallout 3 that's featured in Nuka-Cola Quantum.)24.151.133.95 (talk) 04:26, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Occurence?
The section on occurence lists a number of countries where Strontium is extracted, (and the intro section says that it was first found in Scotland). Then right at the end of the section it says "The largest commercially exploited deposits are in England". This does not gel with the rest of the article, and seems unlikely. I have found references to commercial extraction in South Gloucestershire 9http://www.sgmrg.co.uk/celestine.php) but that seems to indicate that the deposits were not large and are now worked out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 136.8.33.68 (talk) 10:31, 9 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Right deleted the last sentence, USGS gives good list where strontium is mined. --Stone (talk) 10:57, 9 November 2010 (UTC)
 * Nice to find that mav added that line in February 2002 diff. This a long time for an error to stay in an articel, but now its gone.--Stone (talk) 11:05, 9 November 2010 (UTC)
 * WP:RECORDS? Nergaal (talk) 05:33, 13 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Deposits of celestite in Gloucestershire, the United Kingdom, represented the main source of the world supply from 1884 to 1941 and provided up to 90% of the world strontium supply from might be a good source for that fact, although it is outdated.--Stone (talk) 12:26, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

assessment

 * Lead
 * The lead is to short and does not give a overview.
 * Longer.


 * Characteristics
 * Very short with only one source for all the facts.
 * Longer now.
 * Physical properties are not given.
 * Is it different to calcium or barium? Which of the two neighbors is more similar?


 * History
 * Why does the history section end in 1941?
 * Bit longer now, ending in 1960s.


 * Occurrence
 * There might be more to say and a comparison with Ca and Ba would be nice. Why is Ba easier to find although less abundant?
 * better and includes Ca in seawater.


 * Production
 * Where the heck is this section?
 * Appeared.
 * C2?
 * Isotopes
 * Some of the medical part in the isotopes section should be in the applications section.
 * SNAP (isotope battery) can also merge with the applications section.


 * Applications
 * The applications mentioned above are not mentioned here!


 * Radioactive strontium isotopes
 * Why is this in the compound section?


 * General critics
 * I only say otolith and acantharians.
 * I always thought there are radiolarian or diatoms using that stuff?
 * A biology section is missing.
 * Much better now.

--Stone (talk) 09:29, 3 July 2012 (UTC)


 * .--Stone (talk) 20:11, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

Incorrectly categorised applications
The second half of the section under the header "Uses for radioactive strontium" is incorrectly located. It talks about naturally occurring strontium replacing calcium in bone and how this can be used for matching bone remains to a location. That is a use for the natural, non radioactive strontium. It shouldn't be listed under radioactive uses. Likewise the paragraph fowling that talks about 87Sr/86Sr ratios and how they can be used in geological studies. This again is not a radioactive use. Shouldn't these paragraphs be moved up the page under the genereal "Applications" heading. Rincewind42 (talk) 13:47, 29 March 2013 (UTC)
 * You are right. ✅. Double sharp (talk) 14:37, 29 March 2013 (UTC)

Chernobyl
Someone has inserted a sentence "The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident contaminated a vast area with 90Sr." in the Isotopes section. There is no citation for this insertion. Sr90 is not listed as a major released contaminant in the Chernobyl disaster article. Although strontium-90 is undoubtedly produced in nuclear fission, it's the volatile fission products such as iodine and cesium that are mostly released to be dispersed at a distance, while the refractory products such as strontium oxide are released as particulates that settle quickly or are retained in the corium melt. There is substantial release of strontium-90 in a thermonuclear explosion, because the much higher temperature volatilizes the more refractory materials. The article concludes that contamination by strontium-90 was limited to the immediate area surrounding Chernobyl. 24.108.28.165 (talk) 19:42, 24 May 2015 (UTC)


 * Changed to:

The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident contaminated about 30 000 km2 with greater than 10 kBq/m2 with 90Sr.



--Stone (talk) 15:51, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 07:10, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Health and safety issues
In the section Biological role subsection Effect on the human body the second and third paragraphs look problematic. The second paragraph reads like an advertizement for the oesteoporisis drug strontium ranelate. Since we already have an entire article about this drug, this looks a little much. Next, it doesn't mention that this is considered a dangerous drug for use as a last resort. In the US, it's not even allowed. In the EU, the maximum allowed dosage was first reduced to 680 mg, then it was restricted for use a last resort drug. (European Medicines Agency - Protelos - trade name of strontium ranelate)

The next paragraph seems to about the use of strontium as a nutritional supplement, but without mention how controversial it is. "Studies indicate a lack of undesirable side-effects.[72][73][74][75][76][77]" If you're taking strontium, you need to be under the supervision of a physician. The Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act of 1994 doesn't mention strontium or any dosage. It just authorizes the FDA to set upper safe limits for ingredients in nutritional supplements, even when the substance has no health value. Zyxwv99 (talk) 01:21, 23 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I was rather surprised to see all that glowing text, too. Like, with all this confetti, where is the Nobel prize?  I should have tagged it. Grammar's Li'l Helper  Talk 02:06, 23 June 2016 (UTC)

Here is a rather more sane review. Double sharp (talk) 08:19, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

Weird Units
SI units like Thermal Expansion are given here in micrometer/meter/Kelvin. They should be reduced to 1/K.
 * It means that strontium expands 22.5 micrometres per metre upon a one-Kelvin rise in temperature at 298 K. I suppose it could be reduced to 10−6 K−1, though spelling the ratio out may be useful. Double sharp (talk) 03:38, 28 October 2018 (UTC)