Radium is a member of the alkaline earth metals group (group 2).

white-ish silvery.

The first use of radium was in the preparation of luminescent paints for the instrument dials.

Radium is a radioactive chemical element, very dangerous, an alpha radiations emitter; radium is also a source of radon, by decay - also radioactive and dangerous gas.

Radium exists in very low concentrations in uranium ores; uranium may occur also in very low concentrations in granitic rocks (10-20 ppm).

The radium cation is Ra2+.

Today radium has only limited applications in research laboratories, for example for the preparation of radon standard solutions, in neutron sources of the type Ra-Be, etc.

Possible use in radiotherapy of some cancers.

Radium was used in the past for luminescent painting of watches and other instruments, was used in toothpaste, cosmetics, etc. These applications are not permitted now because radium is strongly radioactive and dangerous.

The New York Times article questioning the price of radium -- at US$120,000 per gram -- could be interpreted to mean that these two minerals may be competitors in the price wars. (Below.)

A diamond weighing a gram would weigh about five carats. If the stone were of a high colour, high clarity, and superior cut, it might cost about the same amount of money.

A fancy intense vivid stone with the same description would probably cost more.

Radium decays in any of (at least) four different ways, depending on isotope and, in some cases, on luck, as some isotopes can decay in different ways.

The most important way radium can decay is by alpha emission. Nearly all naturally occurring radium decays this way, and so do the majority of synthetic isotopes. In this case, radium emits an alpha particle, which can be regarded as a helium nucleus, and the daughter atom is radon. The isotope of radon is depends on the isotope of radium involved; the mass number of the radon is always equal to the mass number of the radium minus four.

Some heavier radium isotopes undergo negative beta decay, in which case the decay products are an actinium atom and a negative beta particle, which can be viewed as an electron.

Some lighter radium isotopes undergo positive beta decay, in which case the decay products are a francium atom, a positive beta particle, which can be viewed as a positron, and an electron type antineutrino.

A few radium isotopes also rarely undergo what is called cluster decay, and the most important naturally occurring isotope, radium-226 is among these. Cluster decay involves emission of a nucleus larger than an alpha particle, and in the case of radium all known cluster decays emit carbon-14 nuclei. In this case, the daughter atom is lead, with a mass number that is 14 lower than the mass number of the parent. So radium-226 can emit a carbon-14 nucleus, leaving a lead-212 atom.

Radium

1. Marie Curie, Pierre Curie and Gustave Bemont discovered radium in 1898.

2. Maria and Pierre Curie isolated radium chloride in Paris in 1902.

3. Marie Curie, Pierre Curie and Andre Louis Debierne prepared radium as a pure metal in 1910.

They were playing hide and seek and it was Pierre's turn to hide.

SO Marie was hunting around for him in the house.

After about 5 minutes of looking, she could not find him.

She decided he was probably hiding outside of the house.

She went out back and looked through some bushes.

No Pierre!

As she was scoping around a little more she spied the workshed.

"Ah-HA", she exclaimed!

She hurried over to the shed door and yanked it open.

Pierre was nowhere to be found in the workshop, but under an old shop rag she found radium... Just sitting there!

It is amazing how some things are found on accident!

Radium chloride, RaCl2, was the first radium compound to be prepared in a pure state and was the basis of Marie Curie's original separation of radium from barium. The first preparation of radium metal was by the electrolysis of a solution of radium chloride using a mercury cathode.

Hi Radishes like all vegetables contain a lot of water and minerals. A typical scenario for conduction of electricity requires those two components to be present (absolutely pure water does not conduct electricity very well). It is the dissolved minerals that carry the charge to the positive and negative poles in a 'solution'. In solids it is the transfer from one atom to another that is the primary source of charge transfer to the poles. So in short, the answer is yes

it contains lr

1. Radium has 88 protons.

2. Radium has not... americium !

The chemical symbol of radium (the term abbreviation is not correct) is Ra.

Radium react with halogens (F, Cl, Br, I), oxygen, nitrogen, water, etc.

Yes & no. Radium is radioactive, but not terribly much so; it has a half-life of 1622 years. The average human being receives about 100 mR/year, and wearing a watch with radium in it 24/7/365 will give you an additional dose of about .008 mR/hr (70 mR/yr).

The nuclear regulatory commission has determined that Anything under 200 mR/yr is harmless, and the maximum safe annual dose is 500 mR/yr. Anything above that is considered unsafe. Bear in mind that these are extremely cautious guidelines.

The bad rep with Radium came from the "Radium Girls", which became a fantastically famous court case. These women painted radium on watch and clock dials & hands from roughly 1917-1940. They suffered severe radiation effects because of the manner in which they were painting on the radium.... they would put the brushes in their mouths to moisten them & sharpen the tips.... thereby ingesting large quantities of radium over the course of their career.

It isn't clear how well known the dangers of radium were in 1917 but no warning was given to these poor ladies.

Symbol:Ra

Atomic Number:88

Atomic Mass:226

[sources: memory, experience & other various sources. This is all easily verified with a couple of Google searches.]

Marie Curie was a pioneer in the field of the treatment of some cancers by radium irradiation.

Yes, radon is a decay product in the uranium, thorium and actinium decay series.