The discovery and isolation of radium in uranium ore (pitchblende) by Marie Curie sparked the development of uranium mining to extract the radium, which was used to make glow-in-the-dark paints for clock and aircraft dials. This left a prodigious quantity of uranium as a waste product, since it takes three tonnes of uranium to extract one gram of radium. This waste product was diverted to the glazing industry, making uranium glazes very inexpensive and abundant. Besides the pottery glazes, uranium tile glazes accounted for the bulk of the use, including common bathroom and kitchen tiles which can be produced in green, yellow, mauve, black, blue, red and other colors. COUNT 5
QSN1 What is another term for uranium ore? ANS1 pitchblende QSN2 Who isolated radium in uranium ore? ANS2 Marie Curie QSN3 In what types of paints was radium first used? ANS3 glow-in-the-dark QSN4 What devices were painted with radium paint? ANS4 clock and aircraft dials QSN5 Along with red, blue, black, yellow and green, what was a notable color of uranium tile glaze? ANS5 mauve