User:R8R/Radium

Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by symbol Ra. It is an almost pure white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope of radium-226, which has a half-life of 1601 years and decays into radon gas. Due to such instability, radium is luminescent; it gives off a faint blue color.

Radium was discovered by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie in 1898 in uraninite sample in form of radium chloride, publishing results of their research to French Academy of Sciences five days after the discovery. Radium was isolated in its metallic state by Curie and André-Louis Debierne through the electrolysis of a pure radium chloride in 1910. Since its discovery, it has given names like radium A and radium C2 to several isotopes of other elements that are decay products of radium-226.

In nature, radium is found in trace amounts in uranium ores in a very low quantity, as low as a gram per seven tonnes of uraninite. It is not incorporated into biochemical processes nor necessary or for life, being very dangerous due to high instability of its isotopes and chemical reactivity.

Physical characteristics
Although radium is not as well-studied as its stable lighter homologue barium, it has been revealed that radium shows properties very similar to those of barium. Their first two ionization energies are very similar: 509.3 and 979.0 kJ·mol−1 for radium, while barium ones are 502.9 and 965.2 kJ·mol−1. Such low figures lead to high reactivity of both elements and formation of very stable Ra2+ ion, similar to Ba2+.

Pure radium is a white silvery solid metal, melting at 700 °C (1292 °F), and boiling at 1737 °C (3159 °F), also very close to those of barium. Radium has density of 5.5 g•cm-3; radium—barium density radio is comparable to radium—barium atomic mass ratio, as these elements have very similar body-centered cubic structures.

Chemical characteristics
Radium is the heaviest alkaline earth metal; its chemical properties mostly resemble those of barium. When exposed to air, radium reacts violently with it, forming barium nitride,, which causes blackening of this white metal. Like other alkaline earth metals, radium reacts violently with water and oil to form radium hydroxide and is slightly more volatile than barium.

Isotopes
Radium has no stable isotopes; however, four isotopes of radium are present in decay chains, having atomic masses of 223, 224, 226 and 228, all of which present in trace amounts. The most abundant and the longest-living one is radium-226, with half-life of 1601 years. To date, 33 isotopes of radium have been synthesized, ranging in mass number from 202 to 234.

To date, at least 12 nuclear isomers have been reported; the most stable of them is radium-205m, with half-life of between 130 and 230 milliseconds. All ground states of isotopes from radium-205 to radium-214 and from radium-221 to radium-234 have longer ones.

Three other natural radio isotopes have received historical names in early twentieth century: radium-223 was known as actinium X, radium-224 as thorium X and radium-228 as mesothorium I. Radium-226 has given historical names to its decay products after the whole element, such as radium A for polonium-218.

Occurrence and preparation
All radium occurring today is produced by decay of heavier elements, being present in decay chains. Due to such short half-lives of isotopes, radium is not primordial but trace. It cannot occur in big quantities due to both isotopes of radium have short half-lives and parents nuclides have very long ones. Radium is found in tiny quantities in the uranium ore uraninite, and various other uranium minerals and in even tinier quantities in thorium ones.

Radium preparations maintain themselves at higher temperatures than of their surroundings. These also produce three kinds of radiation - alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays. More specifically, the alpha particles are produced by the radium decay, whereas the beta particles and gamma rays are produced by relatively short half-life elements further down the decay chain.

Applications
Some of the few practical uses of radium are derived from its radioactive properties. More recently discovered radioisotopes, such as and, are replacing radium in even these limited uses because several of these isotopes are more powerful emitters, safer to handle, and available in more concentrated form.

When mixed with beryllium, it is a neutron source for physics experiments.

Historical uses
Radium was formerly used in self-luminous paints for watches, nuclear panels, aircraft switches, clocks, and instrument dials. In the mid-1920s, a lawsuit was filed by five dying "Radium Girl" dial painters who had painted radium-based luminous paints on the dials of watches and clocks. The dial painters' exposure to radium caused serious health effects which included sores, anemia and bone cancer. This is because radium is treated as calcium by the body, and deposited in the bones, where radioactivity degrades marrow and can mutate bone cells.

During the litigation, it was determined that company scientists and management had taken considerable precautions to protect themselves from the effects of radiation, yet had not seen fit to protect their employees. Worse, for several years, the companies had attempted to cover up the effects and avoid liability by insisting that the Radium Girls were instead suffering from syphilis. This complete disregard for employee welfare had a significant impact on the formulation of occupational disease labor law.

As a result of the lawsuit, the adverse effects of radioactivity became widely known, and radium dial painters were instructed in proper safety precautions and provided with protective gear. In particular, dial painters no longer shaped paint brushes by lip. Radium was still used in dials as late as the 1960s, but there were no further injuries to dial painters. This further highlighted that the plight of the Radium Girls was completely preventable.

After the 1960s, radium paint was first replaced with promethium paint, and later by tritium bottles which continue to be used today. Although the beta radiation from tritium is potentially dangerous if ingested, it has replaced radium in these applications.

Radium was once an additive in products like toothpaste, hair creams, and even food items due to its supposed curative powers. Such products soon fell out of vogue and were prohibited by authorities in many countries, after it was discovered they could have serious adverse health effects. (See for instance Radithor.) Spas featuring radium-rich water are still occasionally touted as beneficial, such as those in Misasa, Tottori, Japan. In the U.S., nasal radium irradiation was also administered to children to prevent middle ear problems or enlarged tonsils from the late 1940s through early 1970s.

In 1909, the famous Rutherford experiment used radium as an alpha source to probe the atomic structure of gold. This experiment led to the Rutherford model of the atom and revolutionized the field of nuclear physics.

Radium (usually in the form of radium chloride) was used in medicine to produce radon gas which in turn is used as a cancer treatment, for example several of these radon sources were used in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. The isotope is currently under investigation for use in medicine as cancer treatment of bone metastasis.

History
Radium (Latin radius, ray) was discovered by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre on December 21, 1898 in pitchblende coming from North Bohemia, in the Czech Republic (area around Jáchymov). While studying pitchblende the Curies removed uranium from it and found that the remaining material was still radioactive. They then separated out a radioactive mixture consisting mostly of barium which gave a brilliant green flame color and crimson carmine spectral lines which had never been documented before. The Curies announced their discovery to the French Academy of Sciences on 26 December 1898.

In 1910, radium was isolated as a pure metal by Curie and André-Louis Debierne through the electrolysis of a pure radium chloride solution by using a mercury cathode and distilling in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas.

Radium was first industrially produced in the beginning of the 20th century by Biraco, a subsidiary company of Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK) in its Olen plant in Belgium. UMHK offered to Marie Curie her first gramme of radium.

Historically the decay products of radium were known as radium A, B, C, etc. These are now known to be isotopes of other elements as follows:

On February 4, 1936 radium E became the first radioactive element to be made synthetically in the US. Dr. John Jacob Livingood at the radiation lab at University of California, Berkeley was bombarding several elements with 5-MEV deuterons. He noted that irradiated bismuth emits fast electrons with a 5-day half-life ... the behavior of Radium E.

One unit for radioactivity, the non-SI curie, is based on the radioactivity of 226Ra (see Radioactivity).

Occurrence
Radium is a decay product of uranium and is therefore found in all uranium-bearing ores. (One ton of pitchblende typically yields about one seventh of a gram of radium). Radium was originally acquired from pitchblende ore from Joachimsthal, Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. Carnotite sands in Colorado provide some of the element, but richer ores are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes area of Canada, and can also be extracted from uranium processing waste. Large radium-containing uranium deposits are located in Canada (Ontario), the United States (New Mexico, Utah, and Virginia), Australia, and in other places.

Compounds
Its compounds color flames crimson carmine (rich red or crimson color with a shade of purple) and give a characteristic spectrum. Due to its geologically short half life and intense radioactivity, radium compounds are quite rare, occurring almost exclusively in uranium ores.
 * radium fluoride (RaF2)
 * radium chloride (RaCl2)
 * radium bromide (RaBr2)
 * radium iodide (RaI2)
 * radium oxide (RaO)
 * radium nitride (Ra3N2)

Isotopes
Radium (Ra) has 25 different known isotopes, four of which are found in nature, with 226Ra being the most common. 223Ra, 224Ra, 226Ra and 228Ra are all generated naturally in the decay of either Uranium (U) or Thorium (Th). 226Ra is a product of 238U decay, and is the longest-lived isotope of radium with a half-life of 1602 years; next longest is 228Ra, a product of 232Th breakdown, with a half-life of 5.75 years.

Radioactivity
Radium is over one million times more radioactive than the same mass of uranium. Its decay occurs in at least seven stages; the successive main products have been studied and were called radium emanation or exradio (now identified as radon), radium A (polonium), radium B (lead), radium C (bismuth), etc. Radon is a heavy gas and the later products are solids. These products are themselves radioactive elements, each with an atomic weight a little lower than its predecessor.

Radium loses about 1% of its activity in 25 years, being transformed into elements of lower atomic weight with lead being the final product of disintegration.

The SI unit of radioactivity is the becquerel (Bq), equal to one disintegration per second. The Curie is a non-SI unit defined as that amount of radioactivity which has the same disintegration rate as 1 gram of Ra-226 (3.7 x 1010 disintegrations per second, or 37 GBq).

Safety
Handling of radium has been blamed for Marie Curie's death due to aplastic anemia.


 * Radium is highly radioactive and its decay product, radon gas, is also radioactive. Since radium is chemically similar to calcium, it has the potential to cause great harm by replacing it in bones. Inhalation, injection, ingestion or body exposure to radium can cause cancer and other disorders. Stored radium should be ventilated to prevent accumulation of radon.
 * Emitted energy from the decay of radium ionizes gases, affects photographic plates, causes sores on the skin, and produces many other detrimental effects.
 * At the time of the Manhattan Project in 1944, the "tolerance dose" for workers was set at 0.1 microgram of ingested radium.