What is Radium?

Radium is a highly radioactive chemical element classified among the alkaline earth metals of the periodic table of elements. This element has several research uses, and historically it was used in a wide range of industries. Before the realization that radiation was harmful, radium was actually used as a health additive in personal care products, and its inclusion was an advertising point to make these products appeal to consumers. Unfortunately, numerous radiation-related deaths occurred before the scientific community realized that radium and other radioactive elements posed a health threat.

Radium is found in trace amounts in uranium ore, and it is significantly more radioactive than uranium, a well known element due to its use in atomic weapons. This element is the heaviest of the alkaline earths, and when it is isolated, it proves to be a pure white metal which demonstrates luminescence in the dark. Radium reacts quickly with the air, turning black when it is exposed, and it also interacts with the containers it is stored in, making it difficult to safely handle. The element has an atomic number of 88, and it is identified with the symbol Ra on the periodic table of elements.

The discovery of radium is credited to Marie Curie and her husband Pierre, who discovered radium and polonium while researching uranium in Curie's native Poland in the 1880s. By 1911, Curie had successfully isolated the element, after receiving the Nobel Prize in 1903 for her work; she received another in 1911 for her isolation of radium. Curie was a truly remarkable women for the time in which she worked; she was an accomplished chemist and physicist, and her contributions to the sciences are honored by the element curium and the Curie, a unit of radiation.

Curie named the element radium for the Latin radius, or “ray,” in a reference to the element's radioactive properties. Commercially, the element was used in a wide range of luminescent products, especially paints, until the scientific community realized that these uses were dangerous. During the period of time in which radium was used commercially, numerous workers got sick as a result of their exposure, and some lobbied for better worker protections in the hopes of preventing more cases of work-related illnesses in the future.

In research, radium is used as a source of neutrons in laboratories, and it is also researched by scientists who are interested in learning more about it and its isotopes. Radium is also sometimes used in treatment for cancers and in medical imaging. Some antiques like watches with luminescent dials contain radium, a testimony to the element's once widespread commercial use.