What is polonium and radium used for today?

What is polonium and radium used for today?

Curie needed to refine several tons of pitchblende in order to obtain tiny amounts of radium and polonium, another radioactive element discovered by Curie. Radium is used to produce radon, a radioactive gas used to treat some types of cancer.

What are three interesting facts about radium?

Interesting Facts about Radium

• The element “curium” is named for the discoverers of radium.
• Marie Curie also discovered the element polonium while experimenting with pitchblende.
• Before the dangers of radiation were understood, radium was called the wonder metal because it gave off heat and light.

What is special about polonium?

Polonium (Po) is a very rare and highly volatile radioactive metal. Before Polish-French physicist Marie Curie’s discovery of polonium in 1898, uranium and thorium were the only known radioactive elements. Curie named polonium after her homeland, Poland.

Where did polonium come from?

Polonium is a very rare natural element. It is found in uranium ores but it is uneconomical to extract it. It is obtained by bombarding bismuth-209 with neutrons to give bismuth-210, which then decays to form polonium. All the commercially produced polonium in the world is made in Russia.

Which is more rare, radium or polonium?

Polodium The polonium is also as rare chemical element as radium which carry the atomic number 84, as radium it is also one of the radioactivity elements. The polonium is very expensive element that can be extracted out from the ore of the uranium. One hundred micrograms of polonium can be extracted from metric ton of uraninite.

What are the uses of radium and polonium?

Radium is the source of alpha rays which is used in cancer treatment, it is also used in industries in order to detect the defects of metals and the radium is used in searching for oil. The polonium is also as rare chemical element as radium which carry the atomic number 84, as radium it is also one of the radioactivity elements.

Where did the name of the element polonium come from?

Facts About Polonium. Word origin: Polonium is named after the country of Poland, the native home of chemist Marie Curie. Discovery: Marie Curie discovered polonium, also called radium F, in 1898.

How did Marie Curie come up with the name polonium?

Polonium is a radioactive element. (Image: © Shutterstock) Polonium (Po) is a very rare and highly volatile radioactive metal. Before Polish-French physicist Marie Curie’s discovery of polonium in 1898, uranium and thorium were the only known radioactive elements. Curie named polonium after her homeland, Poland.