1920s Documentary: Radium City

In the early 1900’s, the discovery of a luminescent material, radium, arrived on the scene to the delight of a fascinated and eager public. At first, it seemed to be a miracle remedy, not just harmless but even beneficial. However, when a multitude of watch dial painters were exposed to this substance on an extremely consistent basis, the negative effects began bubbling to the surface. These “Radium Girls” were unknowingly consuming a potentially lethal substance and would be the first victims of radium poisoning and radioactivity. Not many people knew about the dangers of radioactive substances or radium poisoning and many others had made judgements that were clouded by the perfection of the glowing sensation. In spite of this, the horrific afflictions that the Radium Girls endured helped shift the public perspective of radium from “wonder drug” to “pitiless poison” and started the country on a path to regulating the handling of radioactive

Until the early 1900's, scientists used several methods of measurement in their efforts to determine the age of the Earth. They studied sedimentation and erosion, stratification (with fossil evidence), measured the salinity of the oceans, and used thermodynamics to determine loss of heat since the Earth's beginning. Each of these approaches yielded estimates that the Earth was anywhere from 24 to 100 million years old.

The book “Radioactive Boy Scout” is a true story about a boy named David Hahn that attended a Michigan high school. His goal was to set out and build a fast breeder reactor in his garden shed. He educated himself in these things by reading popular mechanics and the golden book of chemistry experiments. Whatever he could not get from laboratory suppliers, universities, hospitals, and nuclear agencies, he made himself. David collected household smoke detectors and extracted americium-24. He also got assembled gas mantle covers and pulverized them to get radioactive thorium and took the Geiger counter in to an antique shop where he found a clock with a phial of radium paint left in it. With a little bit of things he had

These Shining Lives by Melanie Marnich was performed by Grapevine High School Theatre, December First and Second at Grapevine High School. These Shining Lives is the story of Catherine Donahue. Catherine Donahue was employed at the Radium Dial Factory, a factory known for its generous pay with easy labor. Radium Dial produced glow in the dark watches hand-painted with a radium compound. Working at the factory all of the factory workers were using a technique known for painting china, where the painter would twist the brush in between their lips to get a fine point upon the brush. When the material was consumed, it permanently embedded itself within the bones of the workers, where it continued to emit radiation for the entirety of the victim's

Urainum-238 has a half-life of around 4.5 billion years, meaning that half the atoms in any sample will decay in that amount of time (4.5 billion years). Uranium-238 emits alpha particles which are less powerful than other forms of radiation, and weak gamma rays. As long as it remains outside the body, uranium poses little health

who said “All this colonial business is a sham, but we need it for elections”

The doctors failed to educate her on numerous issues concerning her health care, Such as the effects of radium

The city of Waukesha was “pleased to report” that their water tested negative for everything but Radium and Gross Alpha. Radium is element number 88 on the periodic table and from the name, you can guess that this element is highly radioactive and can be very harmful to the human body. For starters, if radium is ingested and absorbed into the cells and tissues, it can and will start to deteriorate the surrounding tissues. Specifically, radium may cause problems in the immune system including anemia. Radium can cause cataracts and fractured teeth (from breaking down tissue, including bone tissue). High levels of radium have also been known to cause an increased risk in bone, liver, and breast cancers. Gross Alpha is a type of radiation that is released when any naturally occurring radioactive element changes to produce a “decay product”, such as radium. These decay products are formed after billions of years. Alpha radiation is everywhere, in our soil, air, and in our water. This is because or earth’s bedrock consists of varying amounts of radioactive elements. The alpha radiation also varies in our water, due to the water in deep aquifers or wells touching the bedrock; the water may contain the same or less than the same amount of elemental decay. Alpha radiation in drinking / ground water can be in the form of dissolved minerals, or as a gas

It is now known that radium, shown in figure 4, is a potent carcinogen (a substance the cause’s cancer (Wilbraham, Staley, Marta, & Waterman, 2005)). It emits a form of ionizing radiation which “includes electromagnetic radiation (e.g., gamma rays and X-rays) as well as particles (e.g., alpha particles, beta particles, high-speed neutrons, high-speed electrons, high-speed protons, etc.)” (National Library of Medicine, n.d.). Acute studies have been done on the effects of radium exposure on the human body by organizations like the Geneva World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Man. As a result of their findings, The National Library of Medicine states that sufficient evidence has been provided showing that prolonged exposure to Raduim-224, Radium-226,

According to dictionary.com, the term radium is defined as, “the chemical element of atomic number 88, a rare radioactive metal of the alkaline earth series. It was formerly used as a source of radiation for radiotherapy” (dictionary, 2005). In 1898, this radioactive material was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie. Radium comes from the radioactive mineral, uranium. Marie and Pierre Curie studied the material uranium and determined that radium is still radioactive when pulled off of uranium.

“A tiny speck of plutonium-239, as little as three millionths of a gram, can cause lung cancer. One pound of plutonium-239 contains enough specks to kill nine billion people instantly” (Pringle 26). Plutonium-239 is a human-made element, also known as the most dangerous substance on earth. As a by-product of uranium fission, plutonium-239 is created by generating electricity from nuclear sources. Contrary to popular belief, nuclear energy is hazardous and threatening to health. The use of nuclear energy should be banned as evidenced by the number of accidents, health effects, and global impact.

In an effort to address the issue of radio frequency radiation exposure in this community, we will provide a background on the sources of radio frequency radiation as well as the known and suspected health effects. We will also proposed two epidemiological studies and discuss risk management and

It is not until recently that people have become dependent on this element, and not necessarily for the good of it, and the world. There is an obsession with uranium because of its unique properties. Uranium is extremely powerful because of its radioactive properties and unstable nuclei, especially that of Uranium-235. It is able to break down and release high frequency radiation through alpha and beta decay. It is because of these characteristics that Uranium has such a craze on the population of the world (Cox, 1995; Scerri, 2007). The properties of uranium allow people to create powerful plants to produce electricity, and weapons strong enough to destroy the world.

The use of radioactive elements in medicine is still growing to this day. Many oncologists use it to treat their patients who have cancer. Many cancer patients use this option. They use the radiation to kill off cancer cells. X-ray technicians or radiologists will also use it to administer x-rays to people who may have a broken bone, or need an MRI. The patient is injected with a radioactive material that helps the doctor be able to see inside the body better, whether it be with pictures or ultrasound. Radioactive material is defined as “material that contains radioactivity and thus emits ionizing radiation. It may be material that contains natural radioactivity from the environment or a material that may have been made radioactive.” (The Healthy Physics Society). This happens when someone needs a colonoscopy. They have to drink or are injected with this liquid that helps their organs and all other masses in the body be seen better by the radioactive materials.

radiation (the kind used in X-rays) is known to cause cancer at high doses, the risks of