Do you think that uranium is radioactive? Do not touch the Radium!
Radium is two million times more radioactive than uranium! It is used to treat certain types of cancer in fault detection instruments metal objects and for geophysical prospecting of oil. See!
The first radioactive chemical element to be discovered was uranium, by scientists Antoine Henri Becquerel [1852-1908], Marie Skłodowska Curie [1867-1934] and Pierre Curie [1859-1906]. The discovery of radioactivity led them to win the prize Nobel of Physics, in 1903.
The Curies then went on to study more deeply the radioactivity and conduct a series of experiments with two uranium minerals — pitchblende (uranium oxide) and calcolita (copper and uranyl phosphate). However, what most caught their attention is that these ores were even more radioactive than the uranium metal itself isolated, then leading them to the conclusion that there would be another radioactive element present in minerals.
They then embarked hard work to separate the constituents of pitchblende, seeking another element that could be contributing to the observed radiation. Scientists succeeded, the Austrian government, a ton of pitchblende, coming Joachimstal mines, located in Bohemia (Czech Republic). After three months, they were able to isolate a new radioactive element, polonium (named after the birthplace of Marie). However, the pure ore still showed more radioactive than would be explained only by the presence of polonium, so the work continued.
In one of the two radioactive fractions they finally managed to get was a new element, which was named “radium” (Latin radius, ray), because it is more radioactive than any other element. Today we know that the radium is two million times more radioactive than uranium.
Some properties of this element are listed below:
— Atomic number: 88
— Family: IIA [alkaline earth metal]
— Group: 2 [alkaline earth metal]
— Period: 7
— Electrons: 2,8,18,32,18,8,2
— Electronic configuration: [Rn] 7s²
— Physical State: Solid
— Density: 5500 kg / m³ [water = 100 kg / m³]
— Melting point: 700 °C [1292 °F]
— Boiling point: 1737 °C [3159 °F]
Spectroscopic analysis was performed on the mixture of radium that had been obtained and there was the emergence of a new line in the ultraviolet region [381.47 nm], which represents an important proof of the discovery of radium.
But they had not yet succeeded in isolating radium, so the Curies began this task from a ton of pitchblende residues. After three consecutive years of work, with extreme patience and perseverance, the couple isolated 1 decigram pure radium in 1902. He glowed in the dark and was always higher than the temperature of the surrounding environment.
The following year, Marie Curie received her second Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of radium and polonium, by isolating radium and studying its metallic compounds. She was the first person to receive two Nobel Prizes.
In 1908, Frederick Soddy [1877-1956] said that the energy released in the disintegration of radium was almost one million times higher than that obtained by the same mass of matter subjected to any of the previously known transformations to the discovery of radioactivity. This caused people to begin to use this great source of energy for multiple purposes, such as curing skin problems, strengthen the body, clear objects and even to cure cancer.
Came to consider the radium as a miracle substance with powers like the ability to be responsible for the generation of life, to rejuvenate and revitalize the skin. He went on to be used in facials, for the elimination of wrinkles, acnes, blackheads, skin bleaching and has been incorporated into various products like beauty creams, shampoos, soaps, bath salts, invigorating tonics (which were intended to recover and keep the zips mental, physical and sexual), articles on physician-prescribed pharmaceuticals against anything less than 150 endocrinological diseases, pills, shaving razors, toothpaste, tampons, “sources” of radioactive water, etc…
The misunderstanding of the application of radium led to many ailments and even death of many people. To cite one example, it was used in paint used on pointers and dials of watches. Women who applied this thinned paint brushes in his mouth, and with it, they swallow small portions of radium. Within about two years, nine women died with severe anemia, accompanied by lesions in the mouth and jaw.
Marie Curie died in 1934, a victim of radiation he was exposed to at work. But before she came to Brazil in August 1926, where he visited Belo Horizonte and was the “Radium Institute”, the first center for the fight against cancer in our country.
This unbridled application of radium not come to Brazil, due to the high cost of treatment with salts of radium.
The “era of radium” disappeared in the United States in early 1930, and in Europe lasted until the beginning of World War II.
Today radium is used in the treatment of some cancers in fault detection instruments metal objects and for geophysical prospecting of oil.
Source: Brasil Escola; Wikipedia
