the.com/strontium
The element that paints fireworks crimson and impersonates calcium inside your unsuspecting bones.
means A soft, silvery metallic element (atomic number 38) whose compounds burn bright red, making it the workhorse of red flares and fireworks; its radioactive isotope strontium-90 is the notorious fallout product that slips into bone in place of calcium.
from Named for Strontian, a village in the Scottish Highlands, near whose lead mines the mineral strontianite was found in the late 18th century. The element was isolated soon after and given the Latinized name strontium — making it one of the few elements named for a small Scottish town rather than a god, planet, or chemist.
- red glow
- Gives fireworks and flares their deep crimson color
- bone double
- Mimics calcium, lodging silently in human skeletons
- named after
- A Scottish village, Strontian, where it was found
- fallout marker
- Strontium-90 from nuclear tests still haunts old teeth
- glow-paint past
- Once made watch dials shine eerily in the dark
strontium-90 — radioactive isotope produced in nuclear fallout, half-life of 28.8 years, major concern after chernobyl and fukushima
celestite deposits — primary mineral ore of strontium found in gloucestershire england and mexico, used since 1790s for extraction
strontium carbonate — compound used in fireworks since 1800s to produce deep red color, standard in pyrotechnics industry