From Arsenic to Zirconium

RADIUM, Ra

WONDROUS GLOW

The Curies slaved o’er pitchblende (in their shed!) and found Ra,

Alas, its wondrous glow belied the harm of its decay.

Time was ’twas sold in goods galore,

Its “shells” laid bare Au’s dense core.

The tragic fate of Ra’s girls shaped labor laws today.

 arr-ray

The Curies slaved o’er pitchblende (in their shed!) and found Ra,

THE LAST OF THE GROUP 2 ALKALINE EARTH METALS

Radium—a soft, lustrous, and radioactive element—is the heaviest of all the alkaline earth metals. The element was discovered in 1898 by Marie Skłodowska Curie with assistance from her husband Pierre Curie. Its discovery arguably owed as much to dogged ...