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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 (Ra 3 N 2).
Radium, like radon, is radioactive and is found in small quantities in nature and is hazardous to life if radiation exceeds 20-50 mSv/year. Radium is a decay product of uranium and thorium. [2] Radium may also be released into the environment by human activity: for example, in improperly discarded products painted with radioluminescent paint.
Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the environment, such as uranium, thorium and potassium and any of their decay products, such as radium and radon. [1]
Radium: Actinium: Thorium: Protactinium: Uranium: Neptunium: Plutonium: ... Although radon is a noble gas and does not adhere to lung tissue (meaning it is often ...
The longest lived isotope of radium is radium-226 with a half-life of 1600 years; it along with radium-223, -224, and -228 occur naturally in the decay chains of primordial thorium and uranium. Beryllium-8 is notable by its absence as it splits in half virtually instantaneously into two alpha particles whenever it is formed.
Radium oxide (RaO) has not been characterized well past its existence, despite oxides being common compounds for the other alkaline earth metals. Radium hydroxide (Ra(OH) 2) is the most readily soluble among the alkaline earth hydroxides and is a stronger base than its barium congener, barium hydroxide. [3]
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Radium (88 Ra) has no stable or nearly stable isotopes, and thus a standard atomic weight cannot be given. The longest lived, and most common, isotope of radium is 226 Ra with a half-life of 1600 years. 226 Ra occurs in the decay chain of 238 U (often referred to as the radium series). Radium has 34 known isotopes from 201 Ra to 234 Ra.