radium

Radium is a silver-white, highly radioactive element. It’s atomic number is 88, and it is the heaviest alkali earth metal, having a mass number of 226.025 (See Figure 1). Radium has at least twenty six isotopes, and all are radioactive (Shriver 1995). Since radium is chemically similar to calcium and magnesium, it is absorbed by the bones of animals. Once in the bones, it emits alpha, beta, and gamma rays (Shriver 1993). These rays shrink or destroy tissues and …showed first 75 words of 2285 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2285 total…has evolved greatly. Marie Curie has definitely helped it progress with her discovery of radium. The discovery of radium has caused the field of radioactivity to be more understood and researched, as well as being one of the first soldiers in the fight for cancer. Although there have been times when Bailey or even the United States government has misused radium, without the element, the world that exists today would not scientifically be the same.