![]() In 1902 radium was isolated into its pure metal by Curie and Andre Debierne through the electrolysis of a pure radium chloride solution by using a mercury cathode and distilling in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas. They then separated out a radioactive mixture mostly consisting of barium which gave a brilliant red flame colour and spectral lines which had never been documented before. While studying pitchblende the Curies removed uranium from it and found that the remaining material was still radioactive. Radium (Latin radius, ray) was discovered by Maria Skłodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre in 1898 in pitchblende/ uraninite from North Bohemia (area around Jáchymov). Spas featuring radium-rich water are still occasionally touted as beneficial, such as those in Misasa, Tottori, Japan.Such products soon fell out of vogue, and were prohibited by authorities in many countries, after it was discovered they could have real and serious adverse health effects. At the turn of the 20th century radium was a popular additive in products like toothpaste, hair creams, and even food items due to its supposed curative powers.One unit for radioactivity, the non- SI curie, is based on the radioactivity of radium-226 (see Radioactivity).Radium-223 is currently under investigation for use in medicine as cancer treatment of bone metastasis.Radium was also put in many foods for taste and a preservative, but also exposed many people to radiation.Radium (usually in the form of radium chloride) is used in medicine to produce radon gas which in turn is used as a cancer treatment.When mixed with beryllium it is a neutron source for physics experiments.Although tritium's beta radiation is potentially dangerous if ingested, it has replaced radium in these applications. Objects painted with this paint may still be dangerous, and must be handled properly. ![]() ![]() Radium was still used in dials as late as the 1950's. Soon afterward, the adverse effects of radioactivity became widely known. More than 100 former watch dial painters who used their lips to shape the paintbrush died from the radiation.
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