Elements

Strontium

By 2010-11-01T00:00:00

Strontium making a characteristic red flame

Source: Thinkstock

Red alert

In 1787, an Edinburgh dealer in mineral specimens was offered a new specimen from a lead mine at Strontian, on the west coast of Scotland. He gave the mineral - which was observed to turn the flame of a candle bright red - to a local doctor, Adair Crawford, who concluded that it was a new 'earth' which he named strontia. The mineral was strontianite (SrCO3) and in 1799, another strontium mineral was discovered in Gloucestershire, where the locals were using pale blue celestite - strontium sulfate (SrSO4) - as gravel for ornamental garden paths. The metal itself was isolated in 1808 by Humphry Davy at the Royal Institution in London which he did by the electrolysis of a paste of strontium chloride and mercury oxide.

John E,sley explores the metal behind warning flares, fireworks, sugar and toothpaste.

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