Electron radius configuration

The electron configuration of Radium is Rn 7s2. Radium is a chemical element of the periodic table which is represented by the symbol Ra, whose atomic number corresponds to 88 and is located in group IIA.

Its color is pristine white which turns black when exposed to air. It is found in trace amounts in Ukrainian mines and is the heaviest of the alkaline earth metals. It is extremely radioactive, exceeding a million times uranium.

The most stable isotope of radium is Ra-226, and it takes 1,602 years to decay. Radon is the result of its decay. The Electron configuration of radium is Rn 7s2, its atomic mass is 226 u, and the number of its electrons per level is 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 8, 2. It was discovered on December 21, 1898 by the scientist Marie Curie (Polish) and the French physicists Pierre Curie and André-Louis Debierne.

Electron radius configuration

The radius setting is 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s2 4p6 4d10 5s2 5p6 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p6 7s2. Adding all these indices, the total is 88, which corresponds to the total number of electrons that radium has, which is equal to its atomic number.

According to their Electron configuration, these are distributed as follows:

• 2 electrons orbiting 1s
• 2 electrons in 2s orbit
• 6 electrons in 2p orbit
• 2 electrons in 3s orbit
• 6 electrons in 3p orbit
• 10 electrons in 3d orbit
• 2 electrons in 4s orbit
• 6 electrons in 4p orbit
• 10 electrons in 4d orbit
• 2 electrons orbiting 5s
• 6 electrons in 5p orbit
• 14 electrons orbiting 4f
• 10 electrons in 5d orbit
• 2 electrons in 6s orbit
• 6 electrons in 6p orbit
• 6 electrons in 7s orbit

Isotopes of radium

This element has no stable isotopes, so it is not possible to offer a standard atomic weight. It has a total of 13 radioactive isotopes; four of them are found in nature and the remaining 9 are produced synthetically.

Only 226Ra, which is the longest-lived, reaching 1600 years and the most common, is important in the field of technology and is found abundantly distributed in nature, usually in trace amounts. Its most concentrated source is uraninite. This isotope is produced in the 238U decay chain. Radium has 33 isotopes from 202Ra to 234Ra.

In 2013, the radium-224 nucleus was discovered to have a pear-like shape. What was the first discovery related to an asymmetric nucleus.

The four radioactive isotopes of radium found in nature have half-lives much shorter than the age of the Earth, so they come from different decay chains, which are: 238U, 235U and 232Th and 226Ra

228Ra (T1/2) is 5.75 years old and was discovered by O. Hahn in 1905. 224Ra (T1/2) is 3.6 days old and was discovered by F. Soddy and E. Rutherford in 1902. Both belong to the chain of 232Th. 223Ra (T1/2) is 11.4 days old and was discovered by T. Godlewski in 1905. It belongs to the 235U chain.

It is possible to obtain radium by extracting it from uranium ores such as monazite, uranite, among others. Also by fuel waste in the nuclear industry. This metal can be prepared by electrolytic reduction of its salts and has a very high chemical reactivity.

Uses of radium

Radium has few uses and these are based on radioactivity, which is the characteristic that represents it.

In the decades corresponding to the 1940s and 1950s, this element was used as a medical treatment, but its use was reduced to minimal applications due to its high cost and the risk involved, since its handling in minimal quantities was very complex. Today, radium continues to be applied primarily in medical therapy.

Currently, several treatments use the 226Ra isotope in brachytherapy. It is also used as an alpha emitter to treat bone metastases from prostate cancer. Additionally, radioisotopes are often used in industrial radiography, radiochemical standard techniques, among others.