Radium

Applications

Some of the practical uses of radium are derived from its radiative properties. More recently discovered radioisotopes, such as cobalt-60 and caesium-137, are replacing radium in even these limited uses because several of these are much more powerful and others are safer to handle.

Related Topics:
Radioisotope - Cobalt - Caesium

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• Formerly used in self-luminous paints for watches, clocks and instrument dials. More than 100 former watch dial painters who used their lips to shape the paintbrush died from the radiation. Soon afterward, the adverse effects of radioactivity were popularized. Radium was still used in dials as late as the 1950's. Objects painted with this paint may still be dangerous, and must be handled properly. Currently, tritium is used instead of radium.
• When mixed with Beryllium it is a Neutron source for physics experiments.
• Radium (usually in the form of radium chloride) is used in medicine to produce radon gas which in turn is used as a cancer treatment.
• One unit for radioactivity, the non-SI curie, is based on the radioactivity of radium-226 (see Radioactivity).