Strontium
Most of the strontium produced today is used in the manufacture of color television picture tubes. It is also used to refine zinc and is combined with iron to make magnets.
Two strontium compounds, strontium carbonate (SrCO3) and strontium nitrate (Sr(NO3)2), burn with a bright, red flame and are used in fireworks and signal flares. Strontium carbonate is also used to make certain kinds of glass and is the base material for making most other strontium compounds.
Strontium-90, a radioactive isotope of strontium, is a common product of nuclear explosions. It has a half-life of about 28.8 years and decays into yttrium-90 through beta decay. Strontium-90 is especially deadly since it has a relatively long half-life, is strongly radioactive and is absorbed by the body, where it accumulates in the skeletal system. The radiation affects the production of new blood cells, which eventually leads to death.
Stable isotopic fractionation of strontium is small because the relative differences between the masses of strontium stable isotopes are small (mass numbers are 86, 87, and 88 for the most abundant stable isotopes). Also, strontium is not subject to reduction-oxidation reactions in normal terrestrial environments, which would cause isotopic fractionation to be more evident. Nevertheless, current studies are exploring potential applications of stable strontium isotopic fractionation; for example, it has been used as a proxy for temperature during coral growth and for insights into the diets of ancient populations [295], [296].
The relative abundance of natural radiogenic 87Sr in seawater is related to the relative rates of processes that add or remove strontium in the ocean (seafloor spreading, mid-ocean-ridge hydrothermal activity, and continental weathering). Over geologic time, these processes have fluctuated and the isotope-amount ratio n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) has changed systematically. By measuring the n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratio in marine fossils of known age, it is possible to identify when such environmental changes occurred. Conversely, it is possible to estimate the ages of marine deposits by comparing measured n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratios with the global time chart; this process is known as strontium isotope stratigraphy [297].
The isotope-amount ratio n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) is highly variable in rocks, minerals, soils, and waters, and it can be transmitted to plants (Fig. IUPAC.38.1), animals, and manufactured materials. Measurements of n(87Sr)/n(86Sr) ratios are used for forensic applications in food authentication (determining where food came from), archaeology, crime-scene investigation, and human migration [298], [299].
The 87Rb- 87Sr dating technique utilizes the fact that 87Sr is a product of radioactive 87Rb decay (half-life of 4.97×1010 years) and is a useful tool for determining ages of rocks and minerals spanning the age of the Earth (Fig. IUPAC.38.2) [301].
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