Silvery-white metal. Density:
11.72 g/cm3. The name comes from the Scandinavian god Thor. In the
early applications of X-rays, which were discovered in 1895, thorium oxide was
injected to improve the observation of blood flow in some organs
("Thorotrast" method). Subsequently, many patients became ill with
cancer. It was also used as additive in toothpaste. Only in 1898, seventy years
after the discovery of thorium by Jöns Berzelius in 1828, did Marie Curie and
Gerhard Carl Schmidt show that it is radioactive.
In the days of gas lighting, the
net bags surrounding the gas flames were impregnated with thorium nitrate.
These net bags absorb heat from the flame, attaining 1400 °C, and emit a
brilliant white light.
90 % of the heat in the
liquid inside the Earth is produced by the decay of the isotopes thorium-232
and uranium-235. The mechanical interaction of plates of the Earth’s crust,
floating on the matter below, causes earthquakes.
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