Editing Strontium (section)

==History==
[[Image:FlammenfärbungSr.png|thumb|left|upright=0.6|[[Flame test]] for strontium]]

Strontium is named after the Scottish village of [[Strontian]] ({{Langx|gd|Sròn an t-Sìthein}}), where it was discovered in the ores of the lead mines.<ref>{{cite book|author=Murray, W. H.|date=1977|title=The Companion Guide to the West Highlands of Scotland|location=London|publisher=Collins|isbn=978-0-00-211135-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/companionguideto00murr}}</ref>

In 1790, [[Adair Crawford]], a physician engaged in the preparation of barium, and his colleague [[William Cruickshank (chemist)|William Cruickshank]], recognised that the Strontian ores exhibited properties that differed from those in other "heavy spars" sources.<ref>{{cite journal | first = Adair | last = Crawford | date= 1790 | title = On the medicinal properties of the muriated barytes | journal = Medical Communications| volume = 2 | pages = 301–59 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bHI_AAAAcAAJ&pg=P301}}</ref> This allowed Crawford to conclude on page 355 "...&nbsp;it is probable indeed, that the scotch mineral is a new species of earth which has not hitherto been sufficiently examined." The physician and mineral collector [[Friedrich Gabriel Sulzer]] analysed together with [[Johann Friedrich Blumenbach]] the mineral from Strontian and named it strontianite. He also came to the conclusion that it was distinct from the [[witherite]] and contained a new earth (neue Grunderde).<ref>{{cite journal | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=gCY7AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA433 | journal =Bergmännisches Journal | title = Über den Strontianit, ein Schottisches Foßil, das ebenfalls eine neue Grunderde zu enthalten scheint| last1 =Sulzer| first1 =Friedrich Gabriel | first2 = Johann Friedrich | last2 = Blumenbach| date =1791 | pages = 433–36}}</ref> In 1793 [[Thomas Charles Hope]], a professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow studied the mineral<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chem.ed.ac.uk/about-us/history/professors/thomas-charles-hope|title=Thomas Charles Hope, MD, FRSE, FRS (1766-1844) - School of Chemistry|website=www.chem.ed.ac.uk|date=16 February 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.chem.ed.ac.uk/about/professors/hope.html| author = Doyle, W.P.| title = Thomas Charles Hope, MD, FRSE, FRS (1766–1844)| publisher = The University of Edinburgh| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130602122314/http://www.chem.ed.ac.uk/about/professors/hope.html| archive-date = 2 June 2013| df = dmy-all}}</ref> and proposed the name ''strontites''.<ref>Although Thomas C. Hope had investigated strontium ores since 1791, his research was published in: {{cite journal | first =Thomas Charles | last =Hope | date = 1798 | title = Account of a mineral from Strontian and of a particular species of earth which it contains | journal = Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh| volume = 4 | issue = 2 | pages =3–39| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5TEeAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA3 | doi =10.1017/S0080456800030726| s2cid =251579302 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Murray, T. |date=1993| title= Elementary Scots: The Discovery of Strontium |journal = Scottish Medical Journal| volume = 38 |pages = 188–89 |pmid=8146640 |issue=6 |doi=10.1177/003693309303800611|s2cid=20396691}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | first =Thomas Charles | last =Hope | date = 1794 | title = Account of a mineral from Strontian and of a particular species of earth which it contains | journal = Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh| volume = 3 | issue = 2 | pages =141–49| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=7StFAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA143 | doi =10.1017/S0080456800020275| s2cid =251579281 }}</ref><!--https://books.google.com/books?id=3GQ7AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA134--> He confirmed the earlier work of Crawford and recounted: "...&nbsp;Considering it a peculiar earth I thought it necessary to give it an name. I have called it Strontites, from the place it was found; a mode of derivation in my opinion, fully as proper as any quality it may possess, which is the present fashion." The element was eventually isolated by Sir [[Humphry Davy]] in 1808 by the [[electrolysis]] of a mixture containing [[strontium chloride]] and [[mercuric oxide]], and announced by him in a lecture to the Royal Society on 30 June 1808.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Davy | first1 = H. | date = 1808 | title = Electro-chemical researches on the decomposition of the earths; with observations on the metals obtained from the alkaline earths, and on the amalgam procured from ammonia | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gpwEAAAAYAAJ&pg=102 | journal = Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London | volume = 98 | pages = 333–70 | doi=10.1098/rstl.1808.0023| doi-access =  | bibcode = 1808RSPT...98..333D | s2cid = 96364168 }}</ref> In keeping with the naming of the other alkaline earths, he changed the name to ''strontium''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lochaber-news.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/2644/Strontian_gets_set_for_anniversary.html|author=Taylor, Stuart|title=Strontian gets set for anniversary|publisher=Lochaber News|date=19 June 2008|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113005443/http://www.lochaber-news.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/2644/Strontian_gets_set_for_anniversary.html|archive-date=13 January 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author = Weeks, Mary Elvira |author-link=Mary Elvira Weeks|title = The discovery of the elements: X. The alkaline earth metals and magnesium and cadmium |journal = Journal of Chemical Education |date = 1932 |volume = 9 |pages = 1046–57 |doi = 10.1021/ed009p1046 |issue = 6 |bibcode = 1932JChEd...9.1046W }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi = 10.1080/00033794200201411 |title = The early history of strontium |date = 1942 |last1 = Partington |first1 = J. R. |journal = Annals of Science |volume = 5 |page = 157 |issue = 2}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1080/00033795100202211 | title = The early history of strontium. Part II | date = 1951 | last1 = Partington | first1 = J. R. | journal = Annals of Science | volume = 7 | page = 95}}</ref><!-- The google book https://books.google.com/books?id=LagWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA139 could help with original literature--><ref>Many other early investigators examined strontium ore, among them: '''(1)''' Martin Heinrich Klaproth, "Chemische Versuche über die Strontianerde" (Chemical experiments on strontian ore), ''Crell's Annalen'' (September 1793) no. ii, pp. 189–202 ; and "Nachtrag zu den Versuchen über die Strontianerde" (Addition to the Experiments on Strontian Ore), ''Crell's Annalen'' (February 1794) no. i, p. 99 ; also '''(2)''' {{cite journal | last1 = Kirwan | first1 = Richard | date = 1794 | title = Experiments on a new earth found near Stronthian in Scotland | journal = The Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy | volume = 5 | pages = 243–56 }}</ref>

The first large-scale application of strontium was in the production of sugar from [[sugar beet]]. Although a crystallisation process using strontium hydroxide was patented by [[Augustin-Pierre Dubrunfaut]] in 1849<ref name="Metalle in der Elektrochemie">{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xDkoAQAAIAAJ&q=dubrunfaut+strontium| title =Metalle in der Elektrochemie | pages = 158–62 | author1 = Fachgruppe Geschichte Der Chemie, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker | date = 2005}}</ref> the large scale introduction came with the improvement of the process in the early 1870s. The German [[sugar industry]] used the process well into the 20th century. Before [[World War I]] the beet sugar industry used 100,000 to 150,000 tons of strontium hydroxide for this [[Strontian process|process]] per year.<ref name="books.google.de">{{cite book | chapter = strontium saccharate process | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-vd_cn4K8NUC&pg=PA341 | isbn = 978-1-4437-2504-0 | title = Manufacture of Sugar from the Cane and Beet | author1 = Heriot, T. H. P | date = 2008| publisher=Read Books }}</ref> The strontium hydroxide was recycled in the process, but the demand to substitute losses during production was high enough to create a significant demand initiating mining of strontianite in the [[Münsterland]]. The mining of strontianite in Germany ended when mining of the [[celestine (mineral)|celestine]] deposits in [[Gloucestershire]] started.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/Westfalen_Regional/Wirtschaft/Bergbau/Strontianitbergbau/ | title = Der Strontianitbergbau im Münsterland | first = Martin | last = Börnchen | access-date = 9 November 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141211085517/http://www.lwl.org/LWL/Kultur/Westfalen_Regional/Wirtschaft/Bergbau/Strontianitbergbau/ | archive-date = 11 December 2014 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> These mines supplied most of the world strontium supply from 1884 to 1941. Although the celestine deposits in the [[Granada basin]] were known for some time the large scale mining did not start before the 1950s.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0037-0738(84)90055-1 | title = Genesis and evolution of strontium deposits of the granada basin (Southeastern Spain): Evidence of diagenetic replacement of a stromatolite belt | date = 1984 | last1 = Martin | first1 = Josèm | last2 = Ortega-Huertas | first2 = Miguel | last3 = Torres-Ruiz | first3 = Jose | journal = Sedimentary Geology | volume = 39 | issue = 3–4 | page = 281|bibcode = 1984SedG...39..281M }}</ref>

During atmospheric [[nuclear weapons testing]], it was observed that strontium-90 is one of the [[nuclear fission product]]s with a relatively high yield. The similarity to calcium and the chance that the strontium-90 might become enriched in bones made research on the metabolism of strontium an important topic.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www-nds.iaea.org/sgnucdat/c1.htm | publisher = iaea.org| title = Chain Fission Yields }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | pmc = 1985251 | date = 1968 | last1 = Nordin | first1 = B. E. | title = Strontium Comes of Age | volume = 1 | issue = 5591 | page = 566 | journal = British Medical Journal | doi = 10.1136/bmj.1.5591.566}}</ref>