Marie Curie and Irène Curie on radium

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

Spectrum.—If we do not consider the chemical actions of the radiations it emits, radium has exactly the properties that can be expected from its place in chemical classification. Radium is placed by its atomic weight 226, in the second column of the Mendelyeev table. With an atomic number 88, it is the last term of the alkaline earth series. The salts of radium are colourless and nearly all soluble in water; the sulphate and carbonate are insoluble. Radium chloride is insoluble in concentrated hydrochloric acid and in alcohol. Radium and barium salts are isomorphous.

Preparation of Radium.—Metallic radium has been prepared in the same way as metallic barium, by electrolysis of a radium salt with a mercury cathode, mercury being eliminated by heating the amalgam in dry hydrogen. The metal is white and melts at about 700°. It attacks water and is rapidly altered by the contact of air. The atomic weight can be determined by the methods used for barium, e.g., by weighing the anhydrous radium chloride and the equivalent silver chloride or bromide.

Optical Spectrum.—The optical spectrum is composed, as with the other alkaline earth metals, of a relatively small number of lines of great intensity; the strongest line in the limit of the violet spectrum is 3814.6Å, and this line is a very sensitive test for the presence of radium; but spectral analysis is little used in the detection of radioelements, the radioactive properties offering a considerably higher degree of sensitivity. The high frequency spectrum is in accordance with the prediction for the element of atomic number 88.

RADIOACTIVE PROPERTIES

Radioactive Elements in General.—The theory of radioactive transformation has been established by Rutherford and Soddy (see RADIOACTIVITY). If n is the number of atoms of a radioelement, the proportion of the atoms destroyed in a certain time t is always the same, whatever n may be; the number of atoms decreases with the time t according to an exponential law, n = n₀e^-λt where λ is the radioactive constant of the substance.

The reciprocal of λ is called the “average life” of the element; the time T necessary for the transformation of the half of the atoms is called the “period” and related to the constant λ by the expression T = logε2/λ.

Radioactive substances emit three kinds of rays known as α-, β- and γ-rays. The α-rays are helium nuclei carrying each a positive charge equal to double that of the elementary charge; they are expelled from the nuclei of the radioactive atoms with a great velocity (about 1.5 X 10⁹ to 2.3 X 10⁹ cm./sec.). The β-rays are electrons of various velocities which may approach the velocity of light. The γ-rays constitute an electromagnetic radiation of the same kind as light or X-rays, but their wave-length is generally much smaller and may be as short as 0.01Å. While the emission of some radioelements consists almost entirely of α-rays whose penetrating power is very small, other radioelements emit β- and γ-rays which are able to penetrate a considerable thickness of matter.

Uranium-Radium Family.—Radium is a member of the uranium family, i.e., one of the elements resulting from the transformation of the uranium atom; its period is about 1,700 years. […]

The atoms of each element are formed out of the destroyed atoms of the preceding element. None of these atoms can exist in nature otherwise than in uranium minerals, unless recently transferred from such minerals by a chemical or physical process. When separated from the uranium mineral they must disappear, their destruction not being compensated by their production. Only uranium and thorium are radioelements of so long a life that they have been able to last through geological times without any known production.

According to the laws of radioactive transformation, in very old minerals a state of equilibrium is attained where the ratio of the number of the atoms of the different substances is equal to the ratio of their average life. The ratio radium/uranium is about 3.40 X 10^-7 in the older minerals; accordingly we cannot expect to find a mineral containing a high proportion of radium. Yet pure radium can be prepared in ponderable quantities while the other radioelements, except the slowly disintegrating uranium and thorium, are not capable of preparation in quantity, most of them because they exist in much smaller quantities. The quicker the disintegration of a radioactive substance, the smaller is its proportion among the earth’s minerals, but the greater its activity. Thus radium is several millions of times more active than uranium and 5,000 times less than polonium.

Radiation of a Radium Tube.—Small quantities of radium are frequently kept in sealed glass tubes called “radium tubes.” Radium emits only α-rays and a feeble β-radiation; the penetrating radiation emitted by a radium tube comes from the disintegration products gradually accumulated by the radioactive transformations of radium; first, radon or radium emanation, a radioactive gas, the next term to xenon in the series of inert gases; secondly, radium A, B, C, called “active deposit of rapid change”; thirdly, radium D, E and radium F or polonium, called “active deposit of slow change”; finally, inactive lead, and also helium generated in the form of α-rays.

The strong penetrating radiation of a radium tube is emitted by radium B and C. When pure radium salt is sealed in a tube, the activity increases during about a month, till a state of equilibrium is attained between radium, radon and the active deposit of rapid change, when the production of each of these elements is compensed by their destruction. The penetrating radiation consists in β-rays and in γ-rays, the latter particularly known by its valuable use in therapy.

The quantity of radon in equilibrium with one gramme of radium is called the “curie.” If the radon is extracted and sealed separately in a tube, radium A, B, C, will accumulate and the penetrating radiation for one curie of radon will be the same as for one gramme of radium. But the activity of the radon tube decreases to half its value in 3.82 days, the period of radon, while the activity of a radium tube remains practically constant after equilibrium has been attained; the decrease is only 0.4% in 10 years.

Effects of Radiation.—Radiation of radium produces all the ordinary effects of rays (see RADIOACTIVITY); ionisation of the gases, continuous production of heat, excitation of the phosphorescence of certain substances (zinc sulphide, etc.), colouration of glass, chemical actions (decomposition of water for instance), photographic actions, biologic actions. Radium compounds observed in the dark exhibit a spontaneous luminosity, which is particularly bright in freshly prepared chloride or bromide, and is determined by the action on the salt of its own radiation.

Activity of Radium.—The α-rays belonging to radium itself have a range of 3.4 cm. in air at 15°C. and normal pressure. The number of α particles emitted by radium was measured by different methods of numeration (scintillations or counting chamber); the result varies from 3.40 X 10¹⁰ to 3.72 X 10¹⁰ particles per sec. and per gram of radium; from this data the average life of radium can be deduced. Three other groups of α-rays, of ranges 4.1 cm., 4.7 cm. and 7 cm. are emitted by radon and the active deposit, radium A, B, C. The heat produced by radium itself is about 25 calories per hour and per gramme. For a tube of radium in equilibrium with the disintegration products of rapid change, the production of heat is about 137 calories per hour and per gramme. This heating effect is principally due to the absorption of the energy of the α-rays.