RADIUM'S WONDERFUL PROPERTIES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 7606, 2 November 1903, Page 4

RADIUM'S WONDERFUL PROPERTIES.

" Probably if half a kilogram of radium (or a little over a pound) were in a bottle od that table," said Professor Sir William Crookes, in a recent lecture, "It would kill us all. It would almost cortaiuly destroy our sight and burn our skins to such extent that we could not survive." Badium is a constituent of pitchblende, which itself is rare. From a ton of pitchblende only fifteen and a half grains of radium can be extracted, and that with the greatest difficulty. A grain of radium is estimated to.be worth about £400, and the value of a kilogram is placed at £400,000. An interesting fact concerning thiß marvellous newly-discovered element is that it was first identified by a woman, Madame Curie, who engages in complex chemical experiments, in company with her husband. The more that is learned of radium the more wonderful does the metal seem. It is self-luminous, shining with a bluish light. It also continuously gives off ''particles" or "electrons," with a velocity approaching that of light. Tho energy so developed by a single grain is said by Professor Crookes to be " enough to lift the whole of the British fleet to the top of Ben Nevis: and lam cot quite certain that we could not throw in the French fleet as well." Whence comes this tremendous energy ? That is the question which now perplexes physicists. The law of conservation of energy seems to be in the balance. From nothing can coma nothing is the first law of physics, yet radium appears to give off particles indefinitely and to lose not at all in tho mass. And as if this were not sufficiently wonderful, M. .Curie stated recently to tho French Academy that radium gives offbeat, constantly maintaining its temperature 2.7 degrees abovo its environment. From where does this heat come? Probably it will be found that radium does actually lose in weight, but the loss must be infinitesimal. The chemicophysicai questions which have been raised regarding radium are certainly the most interesting in the world of science since tho discovery of the Bontgen i "tf 8 ' ____________