strontium Chem.
(ˈstrɒntɪəm, ˈstrɒnʃ(ɪ)əm)
[f. strontia: see -ium.]
The metallic base of strontia; a dark-yellow metal, fusible at red heat. Symbol Sr. Also attrib. and Comb., as strontium chloride, etc.; strontium 90, a radioactive isotope of strontium which is one of the chief products of the fission of uranium 235, can pass from fall-out into plants and animals and hence into human tissue (where it is concentrated in bones and teeth), and has been used in radiotherapy.
The salts of strontium are chiefly used for imparting a deep-red colour to flame.
| 1808 Sir H. Davy in Phil. Trans. XCVIII. 346, I shall venture to denominate the metals from the alkaline earths barium, strontium, calcium, and magnium. 1868 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 178 Copper is the only red-coloured metal known, whilst gold, strontium, and calcium, are yellow. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 447 [Price list enumerates:] Strontium acetate, bromide, carbonate, chloride, iodide, nitrate (pure, recrystallised), nitrate (commercial). 1916 Med. Press & Circular 10 May 419/2 Lactate of strontium 2 grammes a day, to control the albuminuria. 1955 Sci. News Let. 28 May 345/1 Strontium 90 is of particular interest because, being chemically similar to calcium, it may be deposited in human bone. 1961 Lancet 12 Aug. 366/1 Measurements of strontium 90 in human bone in the United Kingdom. 1978 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 257/1 Two fission products, Strontium 90 and Caesium 137 have particularly awkward half-lives of about 30 years. |