Radium - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition radium

Definition :

An intensely radioactive metallic element found combined in minute quantities in pitchblende and various other uranium minerals Symbol Ra atomic weight 2264 Radium was discovered by M and Mme Curie of Paris who in 1902 separated compounds of it by a tedious process from pitchblende Its compounds color flames carmine and give a characteristic spectrum It is divalent resembling barium chemically The main isotope of radium found in pitchblende radium 226 has a half life of 1620 years decaying first by alpha emission to radon