Definition of RADIUM. Meaning of RADIUM. Synonyms of RADIUM

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Definition of RADIUM

Radium
Radium Ra`di*um, n. [NL., fr. L. radius ray.] (Chem.) An intensely radioactive metallic element found (combined) in minute quantities in pitchblende, and various other uranium minerals. Symbol, Ra; atomic weight, 226.4. Radium was discovered by M. and Mme. Curie, of Paris, who in 1902 separated compounds of it by a tedious process from pitchblende. Its compounds color flames carmine and give a characteristic spectrum. It resembles barium chemically. Radium preparations are remarkable for maintaining themselves at a higher temperature than their surroundings, and for their radiations, which are of three kinds: alpha rays, beta rays, and gamma rays (see these terms). By reason of these rays they ionize gases, affect photographic plates, cause sores on the skin, and produce many other striking effects. Their degree of activity depends on the proportion of radium present, but not on its state of chemical combination or on external conditions.The radioactivity of radium is therefore an atomic property, and is explained as result from a disintegration of the atom. This breaking up occurs in at least seven stages; the successive main products have been studied and are called radium emanation or exradio, radium A, radium B, radium C, etc. (The emanation is a heavy gas, the later products are solids.) These products are regarded as unstable elements, each with an atomic weight a little lower than its predecessor. It is possible that lead is the stable end product. At the same time the light gas helium is formed; it probably consists of the expelled alpha particles. The heat effect mentioned above is ascribed to the impacts of these particles. Radium, in turn, is believed to be formed indirectly by an immeasurably slow disintegration of uranium.

Meaning of RADIUM from wikipedia

- Radium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline...
- The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting radium dials – watch dials and hands with self-luminous paint...
- isotope of radium is 226Ra with a half-life of 1600 years. 226Ra occurs in the decay chain of 238U (often referred to as the radium series). Radium has 34...
- Radium dials are watch, clock and other instrument dials painted with luminous paint containing radium-226 to produce radioluminescence. Radium dials...
- Radium jaw, or radium necrosis, is a historic occupational disease brought on by the ingestion and subsequent absorption of radium into the bones of radium...
- research on radium. Mrs. William Brown Meloney, after interviewing Curie, created a Marie Curie Radium Fund and raised money to buy radium, publicising...
- Radium girl may refer to: The Radium Girls, female workers who painted glowing radium watch dials in the 1920s and suffered from radium jaw and death...
- refer to: Radium, Colorado, United States Radium, Kansas, United States Radium, Minnesota, United States Radium, Virginia, United States Radium Hot Springs...
- Radium Springs may refer to: Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia, a village in British Columbia Radium Hot Springs Airport Radium Springs, Georgia Radium...
- and District Radium Institute National Radium Institute, Denver, Colorado, United States Sino-Belgium Radium Institute Institute for Radium Research, Vienna...