how is radium used
Applications. Radium is used in luminous paint (in the form of radium bromide). Radium and beryllium were once used as a portable source of neutrons. Radium is used in medicine to produce radon gas, used for cancer treatment. At the beginning of the 19th century radium was used as additive in products like toothpaste, hair creams and even food items. Radium in the environment.
Ra-226 has been used in numerous applications following its discovery over 100 years ago. At the beginning of the 20 th Century, radium was a popular additive in consumer products such as toothpaste, hair creams, and even food items due to its supposed beneficial health properties.
Ra-226 was used in numerous medical applications during the 20 th Century as well. It was used in sealed and unsealed sources for cancer therapy applications. Ra-226 was fashioned into various sizes and types of sealed sources, many of which were called âneedlesâ because of their shape. Radium needles and other forms were implanted into cancerous tumors to arrest the cancerous growth. In unsealed form, Ra-226 has been used as a source of radon-222 for inhalation therapy.