The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1916-07-13

uACl URANIUM.
Radium is not found free" in ma
ture, but is obtained only as trans
formation product from Uranium
Therefore uranium ores are also the
ores of radium, and the prospector
and miner has only to do with the
ores of uranium.
Radio-activity is the property a sub
stance has of emitting a certain kind
of ray.
Radium was discovered, not by di-
rect observation, but through its de-
monstrations and effects.
The rays of radium are divided into
three classes according to the physi-
cal properties exhibited by each, and
are designated by the three Greek
letters Alpha, Beta, Gamma
Alpha Rays.
These have little penetration
and are stopped, or absorbed
by an ordinary thick sheet of paper
They have very little Photographic
effect. They are electrically positive
strongest ionizers, j. e. when allowed
to pass through a non conducting gas
they make it conducting to electricity.
This effect is called ionization. In
a hundred radium particles ninety of
them are Alpha rays.
Beta Rays.
These have more penetration than
Alpha rays, but are absorbed by a
thin sheet of copper or tin foil or five
milimeters thickness of aluminium.
They have the greatest Photographic
effect, but less power of onization
than Alpha rays. They are negatively
charged particles. These rays are
found to stimulate cancer growth. In
a hundred radium ray particles nine
OF them are Beta rays.
Gamma Rays.
These have the greatest power of
penetration, and will pass through 80
centimeters of iron, or a <f1alf-inch
steel bar, without apparent diminu-
ton in intensity. These rays travel
through space at the rate of about
100000 miles per second. They
have little Photographic action
and little power to ionization.
They do not appear to be
charged with electricity These are
the rays now used in the cure of can
Ger. By wrapping metal foil around
the tube of radum salts the Alpha
and Beta rays are excluded from pas
sage, while it is no obstruction to the
Gamma rays. In a hundred radium
particles one of them is the Gamma
ray but it is the most wonderful of
all.
Radium exhibits the wonderful pow
er of continuous emission of energy
in the form of heat without apparent
diminution of it's substance, and from
no source except itself 1t is found
that one half grain of radium bromide
gives out heat at the rate of two
CaOries per hour; and radium, there
fore, doubtless contains a greater store
of energy for the worlds use than
any other supply known today.
Radium has usually been placed on
the market in the form of radium
bromide or radium chloride--the latter
containing 76 per cent radium and the
former less than SO per cent.
The ratio of radium present tol
uranium in raw unaltered mineral as
pitchblende or carnotite, is constant
and stated by Rutherford and Bolt
wood to be 00O0O3S grams of radium
to one gram of uranium, or in other
words, one ton Of 60 per cent uranium
ore will contain 2-tenths of a gram
of radium.
1t takes about 215 tons of per
cent uranium ore to produce one gram
of radium, if 100 per cent is saved.
More than 40 different uranium
minerals have been discovered of
which pitchblende, carnotite, autunite |
and tobernite have been of commercial
mportance--carnotite and pitchblende |
having thus far produced practically |
all the radium we have.
Pitchblende, of which the chrystal-
line variety is called uraninite is
perhaps the richest ore of uranium
not infrequently carrying from 20 to
60 per cent uranium.
Ptchblende in commercial quanti- |
ties has been usually found in fissure |
veins in the igneous rocks, as granite, !
gneiss, schists, etc, in the same veins
with gold, silver, copper, lead zinc,
tin, etc.
Color; Pitch black to brownish
black sometimes with greyish or
greenish cast.
Lustre: Dull, dull-metallic, or pitch
like.
Fracture: COnchoidal.
Hardness: 5 to 6.
Specific gravity: to 81 in chrys-
tails or GA and higher in massive
form.
Where Radium Is Found.
Carnotite has so far produced the
most radium and is the chiefly mined |
uranium mineral in Colorado and |
Utah, It's color is bright canary vel !
low. 1t has usually been found in