Radium (Ra) Fun Facts
"The Glow-in-the-Dark, a hero from a bygone era who painted the world with a dangerous, radioactive light."
The true essence of Radium (Ra) on the molecular frontier.
Radium is a silvery-white, highly radioactive metal.
Radium is found in the glowing hands on an antique watch or clock.
Radium�s tragic history is tied to the �Radium Girls,� who suffered radiation poisoning from luminous paint.
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Did You Know?
It was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie, who laboriously extracted a tiny amount from tons of uranium ore.
For decades, radium was used in self-luminous paints for the dials of watches, clocks, and aircraft instruments, until the severe health risks to the dial painters became known.
The "Radium Girls" were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint.
It is over a million times more radioactive than the same mass of uranium.
The element's name comes from the Latin word 'radius', meaning 'ray', because of the intense radiation it emits.