What is radium used for?
In the early 1900’s, when it was newly discovered, no one understood the dangers of radium. People were fascinated with its mysterious properties, especially the luminescence produced when it is mixed with a phosphor. Industries sprang up to manufacture hundreds of consumer products containing radium. Advertisements proclaimed its special powers and unique effects in such products such as hair tonic, toothpaste, ointments, and elixirs. Glow in the dark watch and clock faces were immensely popular. Most of its original uses have been halted for health and safety reasons, but its wide use in luminescent paints continued through World War II, because the soft glow of radium’s luminescence made aircraft dials, gauges and other instruments visible to their operators at night. Radium was also an early radiation source for cancer treatment. Small seeds were implanted in tumors to kill cancerous cells. Safer, more effective radiation sources, such as cobalt-60 have mostly replaced it. Radium i
