Radium

Radium, 88Ra
Radium
Pronunciation/ˈrdiəm/ (RAY-dee-əm)
Appearancesilvery white metallic
Mass number[226]
Radium in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium
Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
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Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon
Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson
Ba

Ra

(Ubn)
franciumradiumactinium
Atomic number (Z)88
Groupgroup 2 (alkaline earth metals)
Periodperiod 7
Block  s-block
Electron configuration[Rn] 7s2
Electrons per shell2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 8, 2
Physical properties
Phase at STPsolid
Melting point973 K ​(700 °C, ​1292 °F) (disputed)
Boiling point2010 K ​(1737 °C, ​3159 °F)
Density (near r.t.)5.5 g/cm3
Heat of fusion8.5 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization113 kJ/mol
Vapor pressure
P (Pa) 1 10 100 1 k 10 k 100 k
at T (K) 819 906 1037 1209 1446 1799
Atomic properties
Oxidation states+2 (expected to have a strongly basic oxide)
ElectronegativityPauling scale: 0.9
Ionization energies
  • 1st: 509.3 kJ/mol
  • 2nd: 979.0 kJ/mol
Covalent radius221±2 pm
Van der Waals radius283 pm
Color lines in a spectral range
Spectral lines of radium
Other properties
Natural occurrencefrom decay
Crystal structurebody-centered cubic (bcc)
Body-centered cubic crystal structure for radium
Thermal conductivity18.6 W/(m⋅K)
Electrical resistivity1 µΩ⋅m (at 20 °C)
Magnetic orderingnonmagnetic
CAS Number7440-14-4
History
DiscoveryPierre and Marie Curie (1898)
First isolationMarie Curie (1910)
Isotopes of radium
Main isotopes[1] Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
223Ra trace 11.43 d α 219Rn
224Ra trace 3.6319 d α 220Rn
225Ra trace 14.9 d β 225Ac
226Ra trace 1599 y α 222Rn
228Ra trace 5.75 y β 228Ac
 Category: Radium
| references
Radium 226 radiation source.
Activity 3300 Bq (3.3 kBq)

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 earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather than oxygen) upon exposure to air, forming a black surface layer of radium nitride (Ra3N2). All isotopes of radium are radioactive, the most stable isotope being radium-226 with a half-life of 1,600 years. When radium decays, it emits ionizing radiation as a by-product, which can excite fluorescent chemicals and cause radioluminescence.

Radium, in the form of radium chloride, was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898 from ore mined at Jáchymov. They extracted the radium compound from uraninite and published the discovery at the French Academy of Sciences five days later. Radium was isolated in its metallic state by Marie Curie and André-Louis Debierne through the electrolysis of radium chloride in 1911.[2]

In nature, radium is found in uranium ores and (to a lesser extent) thorium ores in trace amounts as small as a seventh of a gram per ton of uraninite. Radium is not necessary for living organisms, and its radioactivity and chemical reactivity make adverse health effects likely when it is incorporated into biochemical processes because of its chemical mimicry of calcium. As of 2014, other than its use in nuclear medicine, radium has no commercial applications. Formerly, from the 1910s to the 1970s, it was used as a radioactive source for radioluminescent devices and also in radioactive quackery for its supposed curative power. These applications have become obsolete owing to radium's toxicity; as of 2020, less dangerous isotopes (of other elements) are instead used in radioluminescent devices.

  1. ^ Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S.; Audi, G. (2021). "The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C. 45 (3): 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddae.
  2. ^ "Radium". Elements / Periodic Table. rsc.org. Royal Society of Chemistry. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 5 July 2016.