Hello Steemians! Let's learn!
Today will swim in some new waters and talk about Marie @curie! Who was this amazing woman, how she helped the human race get better and more in this post! Changing the world is life's biggest achievement! Let's get right to it shall we?
Marie Skłodowska @curie (1867 – 1934)
I guess our little @atom above us gave you an idea. Marie was a Polish scientist born in Warsaw, in those times that was the Russian Empire. She studied at Warsaw's clandestine Flying University and began her practical scientific training in Warsaw. In 1891, aged 24, she followed her older sister Bronisława to study in Paris, where she earned her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work. Won the Nobel prize, twice! She shared the 1903 Prize in Physics with her husband Pierre Curie and with physicist Henri Becquerel. Shortly after she also won the 1911 Prize in Chemistry. She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris. French is not easy to learn and to come from a totally different background making such progress is just mind-blowing. Smart girl...
RADIOACTIVITY ☣
She made ground-breaking work in the field of Radioactivity, enabling radioactive isotypes to be isolated for the first time. Though it was Henri Becquerel that discovered radioactivity, it was @curie who coined the term. Using a device invented by her husband and his brother, that measured extremely low electrical currents, @curie was able to note that @uranium electrified the air around it. Further investigation showed that the activity of uranium compounds depended upon the amount of uranium present and that radioactivity was not a result of the interactions between molecules, but rather came from the atom itself. Using Pitchblende she found that @thorium was radioactive as well. Did you know there are people around the world living in areas that are like a "1000x" times above the regulated limit of radioactivity?
NEW ELEMENTS ☣
Several years later she came up to these new elements that were a huge discovery by @curie since these elements are difficult to extract and extremely rare. Let me introduce to you...
Polonium
A rare & highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character resembles that of its horizontal neighbors in the periodic table: thallium, lead, and bismuth. Due to the short half-life of all its isotopes, its natural occurrence is limited to tiny traces of the fleeting polonium-210 (with a half-life of 138 days) in uranium ores, as it is the penultimate daughter of natural uranium-238. Though slightly longer-lived isotopes exist, they are much more difficult to produce. Today, polonium is usually produced in milligram quantities by the neutron irradiation of bismuth. Due to its intense radioactivity, which results in the radiolysis of chemical bonds and radioactive self-heating, its chemistry has mostly been investigated on the trace scale
It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rather than oxygen) on exposure to air, forming a black surface layer of radium nitride (Ra3N2). All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226, which has a half-life of 1600 years and decays into radon gas (specifically the isotope radon-222). When radium decays, ionizing radiation is a product, which can excite fluorescent chemicals and cause radioluminescence.In nature, radium is found in uranium and (to a lesser extent) thorium ores in trace amounts as small as a seventh of a gram per ton of uraninite. Radium is not necessary for living organisms, and adverse health effects are likely when it is incorporated into biochemical processes because of its radioactivity and chemical reactivity. Currently, other than its use in nuclear medicine, radium has no commercial applications; formerly, it was used as a radioactive source for radioluminescent devices and also in radioactive quackery for its supposed curative powers. Today, these former applications are no longer in vogue because radium's toxicity has since become known, and less dangerous isotopes are used instead in radioluminescent devices. Radium is the heaviest known alkaline earth metal and is the only radioactive member of its group. Its physical and chemical properties most closely resemble its lighter congener @barium.
“Humanity needs practical men, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguard their own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit.” – Marie @curie
"X-ray-Mobile"
Few will know she was also a major hero of World War I. Yes, you read that right! X-rays, a type of electromagnetic radiation, had been discovered in 1895 by Curie’s fellow Nobel laureate, Wilhelm Roentgen. What she did is use this technology to equip hospitals and also soldiers on the field. Lord behold, a radiological car was born. "Armed" with an X-ray machine and photographic darkroom equipment, which could be driven right up to the battlefield where army surgeons could use X-rays to guide their surgeries. A big problem with this solution was the electricity factor, but yet again @curie solved it. Its called @dynamo, a type of electrical generator into the car’s design. The petroleum-powered car engine could thus provide the required electricity.
As one of the most famous women scientists to date, Marie Curie has become an icon in the scientific world and has received tributes from across the globe, even in the realm of pop culture. Really just an amazing woman, I should be ashamed to just find out about her great work and contribution to the world...
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This post was made with the help of...
And desire to learn!
https://chem.libretexts.org/Core/Physical_and_Theoretical_Chemistry/Nuclear_Chemistry/Radioactivity/Discovery_of_Radioactivity
http://theconversation.com/marie-curie-and-her-x-ray-vehicles-contribution-to-world-war-i-battlefield-medicine-83941
https://www.biographyonline.net/scientists/marie-curie.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium
Feel free to do more research & start with these links!
For everyone who doesn't know, we have our own @curie here on @steemit. Yes its true! Helping us @minnow fish 24/7 with changing our world here on @steemit! Thank you everyone!
@steemiteducation is also supporting posts like this (I HOPE:). A great way to get motivated if you ask me!
Please check this link to learn more about it!
https://steemit.com/education/@steemiteducation/steemiteducation-now-needs-your-support-help-us-to-help-you-day-132
STEEM ON Folks!
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