Description Pure metallic radium is brilliant white when freshly prepared, but blackens on exposure to air, probably due to formation of the nitride. Radium imparts a carmine red colour to a flame. Radium emits a , b , and g rays and when mixed with beryllium produces neutrons. Inhalation, injection, or body exposure to radium can cause cancer and other body disorders.
Radium is over a million times more radioactive than the same mass of uranium.
Both values are quoted on the Pauling scale. The following CrystalMaker image represents the solid state structure. For most elements, the most stable allotrope is illustrated. This section gives some data for naturally occurring isotopes. Copyright 1997 Mark Winter Department of Chemistry at the University of Sheffield , Sheffield S3 7HF, England.