Radiumchloride, RaCl2, is a salt commonly used for research and medicine. General Name, Symbol, Number Radium, Ra, 88 Series Alkali earth metals Group, Period, Block 2(IIA), 7, s Density, Hardness 5000 kg/m3, no data Appearance Silvery white metallic Atomic Properties Atomic weight (226. ... The chloride ion is formed when the element chlorine picks up one electron to form the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. The salts of hydrochloric acid HCl contain chloride ions and are also called chlorides. ... In chemistry, salt is a general term used for ionic compounds composed of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, so that the product is neutral and without a net charge. ...
Radium was discovered in the ore pitchblende by the French chemists Marie Curie and Pierre Curie in 1898.
Radium is formed by the radioactive disintegration of uranium and is consequently found in all uranium ores.
Radium is now used in the treatment of only a few kinds of cancer; radiumchloride or radium bromide is enclosed in a sealed tube and inserted in the diseased tissue.
Radium preparations are remarkable for maintaining themselves at a higher temperature than their surroundings, and for their radiations, which are of three kinds: alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays.
In 1902 radium was isolated into its pure metal by Curie and Andre Debierne through the electrolysis of a pure radiumchloride solution by using a mercury cathode and distilling in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas.
Radium was originally acquired from pitchblende ore from Joachimsthal, Bohemia (7 metric tons of pitchblende yields 1 gram of radium).