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Some of the few practical uses of radium are derived from its radioactive properties. More recently discovered radioisotopes, such as cobalt-60 and caesium-137, are replacing radium in even these limited uses because several of these isotopes are more powerful emitters, safer to handle, and available in more concentrated form. [77]
Radium was used in luminous paint until the 1960s, when it was replaced with the other radioisotopes mentioned above due to health concerns. [1] In addition to alpha and beta particles , radium emits penetrating gamma rays , which can pass through the metal and glass of a watch dial, and skin.
Radium dials were typically painted by young women, who used to 'point' their brushes by licking and shaping the bristles prior to painting the fine lines and numbers on the dials. This practice resulted in the ingestion of radium, which caused serious jaw-bone degeneration and malignancy and other dental diseases.
Rhodium is used as an alloying agent for hardening and improving the corrosion resistance [25] of platinum and palladium. These alloys are used in furnace windings, bushings for glass fiber production, thermocouple elements, electrodes for aircraft spark plugs, and laboratory crucibles. [50] Other uses include:
Radium paint used zinc sulfide phosphor, usually trace metal doped with an activator, such as copper (for green light), silver (blue-green), and more rarely copper-magnesium (for yellow-orange light). The phosphor degrades relatively fast and the dials lose luminosity in several years to a few decades; clocks and other devices available from ...
Barium is used in vacuum tubes as a getter to remove gases. [61] Barium sulfate has many uses in the petroleum industry, [4] [80] and other industries. [4] [61] [81] Radium has many former applications based on its radioactivity, but its use is no longer common because of the adverse health effects and long half-life.
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Following its discovery by Marie and Pierre Curie in 1898, radium (principally 226 Ra) has had a number of uses. In the early 20th century, when the hazards of radiation were not well-known, radium was commonly used in consumer items such as toothpaste and hair creams.