B+Pierre+Curie

= = = = == =__Isotope and Radioactivity__ = = = =Name of radioactive isotope/electromagnetic radiation/scientist:= Pierre Curie = = = = =Explanation of interesting facts: (how used/works.experiments/discoveries)=
 * 1) In 1880 he and his older brother, Jacques, had earned notice for their work demonstrating the electrical potential of quartz crystals when pressure was applied, a phenomenon called piezoelectricity
 * 2) He took a post at the Paris Municipal School of Industrial Physics and Chemistry and did important work in magnetism, and discovered that there is a critical temperature at which the magnetic properties of a substance disappear (called the Curie point or Curie temperature)
 * 3) He discover polonium with his wife, Marie Currie.
 * 4) He discovered radium with Marie as well.
 * 5) Pierre and Marie shared a 1903 Nobel Prize in physics for their painstaking work with radioactive elements.

=3 Advantages of using the radioactive isotope/radiation/benefits of discovery=

1. Polonium has 34 isotopes, more than any other element. All of these isotopes are radioactive. The most stable, polonium-209, has a half-life of about 103 years.

2. Polonium has been studied for possible use in heating spacecrafts.

3. In the 1898 radium at first seemed to lead the way to a variety of novel medical treatments

=3 Disadvantages of using the radioactive isotope/radiation/discovery:= 1. Radiation can kill you. Being around so much of it actually killed Marie, his wife.

2. Polonium is an extremely toxic substance and must be handled with great care.

3. Polonium and Radium are very expensive to produce.

4. In the wrong hands, radium can be extremely dangerous and used for major destruction of human life. i.e. atom bombs that ended world war 2.

5. Polonium is very unstable and is very volatile.

=Is the radioactive isotope/radiation/discovery still used today? Explain=

There are certain illnesses for which radium is effective, it still plays an important role in the treatment for cancer. Polonium is used as a power source in space satellites. It's used to eliminate static charges and removes dust from photographic films.

=References=

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_polonium_and_radium_change_the_world http://itotd.com/articles/654/the-discovery-of-radium/ http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-155846169.html