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- Name : Radium
- Symbol : Ra
- Atomic # : 88
- Atom weight: 226
- Melting P. : 700
- Boiling P. : 1140
- Oxidation : +2
- Pronounced : RAY-di-em
- From : Latin, radius, "ray"
- Identified : Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898
- Appearance : Silvery white, radioactive element
- Note : Glows in dark with an eerie bluish light
-
- [Properties]
-
- Radium is the last element in Group IIA on the periodic chart. This means
- it is the heaviest of the alkaline-earth metals that comprise this group.
- Like the others in the group, radium is metallic and thus a good conductor
- of electricity. It appears to have a brilliant white color when fresh cut,
- but the intensity quickly lessens as a thin nitride coating develops.
- Virtually all radium is derived fromthe byproducts of uranium refining
- operations as radium chloride and radium bromide.
-