Radium is a chemical element with symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is almost colorless, but it readily combines with nitrogen (rather than oxygen) on exposure to air, forming a black surface layer of radium nitride (Ra3N2).
Three reasons Radium stands out
- 1
Radioactive, used in luminous paint.
- 2
Factory workers who painted watch dials with its paint and licked their brushes suffered fatal radiation poisoning, becoming known as the Radium Girls.
- 3
Before its dangers were understood, it was added to health tonics and drinking water as a supposed miraculous cure-all.
The glowing promise that became a tragedy
Radium’s intense radioactivity once inspired luminous paints, patent medicines, and reckless health claims. Dial painters who ingested it exposed the lethal consequences and transformed workplace protections. Radium behaves like calcium, so the body can deposit it in bone, where radiation damages nearby tissue.