Strontium Facts
Strontium Facts
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| Interesting Strontium Facts: |
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| Strontium was first declared to exist in the strontianite mineral in 1790 by Adair Crawford. |
| Crawford referred to strontium extracted from the ore mined near the Scottish town of Strontian as "a new species of earth." |
| In 1808, Sir Humphry Davy isolated the element strontium from the strontianite. |
| Strontianite is now known to be strontium carbonite. |
| While originally a silvery white color, strontium turns yellow when exposed to air. |
| Strontium is an alkaline earth metal that is even softer than calcium. |
| When combined with water, strontium reacts immediately to give off hydrogen gas and strontium hydroxied. |
| Because of the way it reacts with air and water, strontium only exists in nature when combined to form minerals. |
| Naturally occurring strontium is stable, but its synthetic isotope Sr-90 is only produced by nuclear fallout. |
| Sr-90 has a half-life of less than thirty years. |
| Strontium has four stable isotopes which occur in nature. |
| There are sixteen known unstable isotopes of strontium. |
| As many as 150,000 tons of strontium were used per year leading up to World War I. |
| It was used then to produce sugar from the sugar beet plant. |
| Most of the strontium used in the process of making sugar was recyclable. |
| The aritifical radioactive isotope Sr-89 is used to treat bone cancer. |
| Strontium is the fifteenth most common element in the Earth's crust in mineral or compound form. |
| Strontium is found at around 360 part per million in the Earth's crust. |
| China has typically been the top producer of strontium, along with Spain, Mexico, and several other countries. |
| Around 300,000 tons of strontium are produced globally each year. |
| Strontium's dominant use is currently in the production of television cathode tubes, where it prevents the emission of X-rays. |
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