Radium chloride radium chloride is weakly paramagnetic with a magnetic susceptibility of 1.05. It also differs from barium chloride by the flame color, which is red as opposed to green for barium chloride. Radium chloride is still used for the initial stages of the separation of radium from barium during the extraction of radium from pitchblende. The large quantities of material involved (tonnes of ore for milligrams of radium) favour this less costly (but less efficient) method over those based on radium bromide or radium chromate (used for the later stages of the separation). It was also used in medicine to produce
Radium dials loosely referred to as radium jaw. Inhaled or ingested particles may deposit a high local dose with a risk of lung or gastrointestinal cancer due to the radiation dose. The risks are hard to quantify due to the variable levels of radium in the paint and the quantity ingested or inhaled. Care should be taken in handling these materials especially where the paint is damaged. The most common isotope of Radium is Ra, which primarily emits alpha particles. Alpha particles are shielded by most thin materials including paper. However, Ra only emits alpha particles 97 percent of the time with