Strontium (
/ˈstrɒnʃiəm/ STRON-shee-əm, /ˈstrɒntiəm/ STRON-tee-əm, or /ˈstrɒnʃəm/ STRON-shəm) is a chemical element with the symbol Sr and the atomic number 38. An alkaline
earth metal, strontium is a
soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element that is highly reactive
chemically. The metal turns yellow when exposed to air. It occurs naturally in
the minerals celestine and strontianite.
The 90Sr
isotope
is present in radioactive fallout
and has a half-life of 28.90 years. Both strontium and
strontianite are named after Strontian,
a village in Scotland near which the mineral was first discovered.
Detailed descrption
Strontium is a
grey, silvery metal that is softer than calcium and even more reactive in water, with which it reacts on contact to produce strontium
hydroxide and hydrogen gas. It burns in air to produce both strontium oxide and strontium nitride, but since it does not react with nitrogen below 380 °C, at room temperature it
will only form the oxide spontaneously.[2]
Because of its
extreme reactivity with oxygen and water, this element occurs naturally only in
compounds with other elements, such as in the minerals strontianite and celestite. It is kept under a liquid
hydrocarbon such as mineral oil or kerosene to prevent oxidation; freshly exposed strontium metal
rapidly turns a yellowish color with the formation of the
oxide. Finely powdered strontium metal will ignite spontaneously in air at room
temperature. Volatile strontium salts impart a crimson color to flames, and these salts are used in pyrotechnics and in the production of flares. Natural strontium is a mixture of
four stable isotopes.[2]
History
Strontium is
named after the Scottish village of Strontian, having been discovered in the ores
taken from the lead mines.[3] In 1790, Adair Crawford, a physician engaged in the
preparation of barium, recognised that the Strontian ores exhibited different
properties to those normally seen with other "heavy spars" sources.
This allowed him to conclude "... it is probable indeed, that the scotch
mineral is a new species of earth which has not hitherto been sufficiently
examined". The new mineral was named strontites in 1793 by Thomas
Charles Hope,
a professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow.[4] He confirmed the earlier work of
Crawford and recounted: " ... Considering it a peculiar earth I thought it
necessary to give it an name. I have called it Strontites, from the place it
was found; a mode of derivation in my opinion, fully as proper as any quality
it may possess, which is the present fashion". The element was eventually
isolated by Sir Humphry
Davy in 1808 by the electrolysis of a mixture containing strontium
chloride and mercuric oxide, and announced by him in a lecture to
the Royal Society on 30 June 1808.[5] In keeping with the naming of the
other alkaline earths, he changed the name to strontium.[6][7][8]
The first large
scale application of strontium was in the production of sugar from sugar beet. Although a crystallisation process
using strontium hydroxide was patented by Dubrunfaut in 1849[9] the large scale introduction came
with the improvement of the process in the early 1870s. The German sugar
industry used the process well into the 19th century. Prior to the World War I the beet sugar industry used 100000
to 150000 tons of strontium hydroxide for this process per year. [10] The strontium hydroxide was recycled
in the process, but the demand to substitute losses during production was high
enough to create a significant demand initiating mining of strontianite in the Münsterland. The mining of strontianite in
Germany ended when mining of the celestite deposits in Gloucestershire started.[11] These mines supplied most of the
world strontium supply from 1884 to 1941 [12]
Occurrence
According to the British
Geological Survey,
China was the top producer of strontium in 2007, with over two-thirds world
share, followed by Spain, Mexico, Turkey, Argentina and Iran.[13]
Strontium
commonly occurs in nature, the 15th most abundant element on earth, averaging
0.034% of all igneous rock and is found chiefly as the form of the sulfate mineral celestite (SrSO4) and the carbonate strontianite (SrCO3). Of the two,
celestite occurs much more frequently in sedimentary deposits of sufficient
size to make development of mining facilities attractive. Strontianite would be
the more useful of the two common minerals because strontium is used most often
in the carbonate form, but few deposits have been discovered that are suitable
for development.[14] The metal can be prepared by electrolysis of melted strontium
chloride mixed with potassium
chloride:
Sr2+ + 2 e− → Sr
2 Cl− → Cl2 (g)
+ 2 e−
Alternatively it
is made by reducing strontium oxide with aluminium in a vacuum at a temperature at which strontium distills off. Three allotropes of the metal exist, with transition points at 235 and 540 °C.
Isotopes
Strontium has
four stable, naturally occurring isotopes: 84Sr (0.56%), 86Sr
(9.86%), 87Sr (7.0%) and 88Sr (82.58%). Only 87Sr
is radiogenic; it is produced by decay from the radioactive alkali metal 87Rb, which has a half-life of 4.88 × 1010 years.
Thus, there are two sources of 87Sr in any material: that formed in
stars along with 84Sr, 86Sr and 88Sr, as well
as that formed by radioactive decay of 87Rb. The ratio 87Sr/86Sr
is the parameter typically reported in geologic investigations; ratios in minerals
and rocks have values ranging from about 0.7 to
greater than 4.0. Because strontium has an atomic radius similar to that of calcium, it readily substitutes for Ca in minerals.
Applications
As a pure metal
strontium is used in strontium 90%-aluminium 10% alloys of an eutectic composition for the modification of
aluminium-silicon casting alloys.[15] Strontium is 2% by weight of AJ62 alloy, a durable, creep-resistant magnesium alloy used in car and motorcycle engines by
BMW.
Strontium is used
in scientific studies of neurotransmitter release in neurons. Like calcium,
strontium facilitates synaptic vesicle fusion with the synaptic membrane.
But unlike calcium, strontium causes asynchronous vesicle fusion. Therefore,
replacing calcium in the culture medium with strontium allows scientists to
measure the effects of a single vesicle fusion event, e.g., the size of the
postsynaptic response elicited by the neurotransmitter content of a single
vesicle.[16][17]
Compounds
The primary use
for strontium compounds is in glass for colour television cathode ray tubes to prevent X-ray emission.[18][19] All parts of the CRT tube have to
absorb X-rays. In the neck and the funnel of the tube lead glass is used for
this purpose, but this type of glass shows a browning effect due to the
interaction of the X-rays with the glass. Therefore the front panel has to use
a different glass mixture, in which strontium and barium are the X-ray
absorbing materials. The average values for the glass mixture determined for a
recycling study in 2005 is 8.5% strontium oxide and 10% barium oxide.[20]
Other
applications are as follows:
- Ferrite
magnets
and refining zinc.[2]
- Strontium
titanate
has an extremely high refractive
index
and an optical
dispersion
greater than that of diamond, making it
useful in a variety of optics applications. This quality has also led to
it being cut into gemstones, in
particular as a diamond
simulant.
However, it is very soft and easily scratches so it is rarely used.[2]
- Strontium
carbonate,
strontium
nitrate,
and strontium
sulfate
are commonly used in fireworks for red
color sometimes for other colors too.
- Strontium
aluminate
is used as a bright phosphor with long
persistence of phosphorescence.
- Strontium
chloride
is sometimes used in toothpastes for
sensitive teeth. One popular brand includes 10% total strontium chloride
hexahydrate by weight.
- Strontium
oxide
is sometimes used to improve the quality of some pottery glazes.
- Strontium
ranelate
is used in the treatment of osteoporosis. It is a prescription drug in the
EU, but not in the USA.
- Strontium
barium niobate
can be used in outdoors holographic 3D displays as a "screen".[21]
- Strontium
phosphide is an inorganic compound with the formula Sr3P2
and is used as a laboratory reagent and in the manufacture of chemically
reactive devices.
Radioactive strontium isotopes
89Sr is the active ingredient in Metastron, a radiopharmaceutical used for bone pain secondary to metastatic bone cancer. The strontium acts like calcium and is preferentially incorporated
into bone at sites of increased osteogenesis. This localization focuses the
radiation exposure on the cancerous lesion.
90Sr has been used as a power source for radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). 90Sr produces
about 0.93 watts of heat per gram (it is lower for the form of 90Sr
used in RTGs, which is strontium
fluoride).[22] However, 90Sr has a
lifetime approximately 3 times shorter and has a lower density than 238Pu, another RTG fuel. The main advantage of 90Sr
is that it is cheaper than 238Pu and is found in nuclear waste.
90Sr is also used in cancer therapy. Its beta emission and long half-life
is ideal for superficial radiotherapy.
Because strontium
is so similar to calcium, it is incorporated in the bone. All four stable
isotopes are incorporated, in roughly similar proportions as they are found in
nature (please see below). However the actual distribution of the isotopes
tends to vary greatly from one geographical location to another. Thus analyzing
the bone of an individual can help determine the region it came from. This
approach helps to identify the ancient migration patterns as well as the origin
of commingled human remains in battlefield burial sites. Strontium thus helps
forensic scientists too.
87Sr/86Sr ratios are commonly
used to determine the likely provenance areas of sediment in natural systems,
especially in marine and fluvial environments. Dasch (1969) showed that surface
sediments of Atlantic displayed 87Sr/86Sr ratios that
could be regarded as bulk averages of the 87Sr/86Sr
ratios of geological terranes from adjacent landmasses.[23] A good example of a fluvial-marine
system to which Sr isotope provenance studies have been successfully employed
is the River Nile-Mediterranean system,[24] Due to the differing ages of the
rocks that constitute the majority of the Blue and White Nile catchment areas
of the changing provenance of sediment reaching the River Nile delta and East
Mediterranean Sea can be discerned through Sr isotopic studies. Such changes
are climatically controlled in the Late Quaternary.
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