Radium

Uses: Radium has been used to produce neutron sources, luminous paints, and medical radioisotopes.

Sources: Radium was discovered in pitchblende or uraninite. Radium is found in all uranium minerals. There is approximately 1 gram of radium for each 7 tons of pitchblende. Radium was first isolated by electrolysis of a radium chloride solution, using a mercury cathode. The resulting amalgam yielded pure radium metal upon distillation in hydrogen. Radium is commercially obtained as its chloride or bromide and tends not to be purified as an element.