Strontium

What is Strontium?

CAS#: 007440-24-6

Strontium is a naturally occurring element found in rocks, soil, dust, coal, and oil. Naturally occurring strontium is not radioactive and is either referred to as stable strontium or strontium. Strontium in the environment exists in four stable isotopes, ⁸⁴Sr (read as strontium eighty-four), ⁸⁶Sr, ⁸⁷Sr, ⁸⁸Sr.

Strontium compounds are used in making ceramics and glass products, pyrotechnics, paint pigments, fluorescent lights, and medicines.

Strontium can also exist as several radioactive isotopes; the most common is ⁹⁰Sr.   ⁹⁰Sr is formed in nuclear reactors or during the explosion of nuclear weapons. Radioactive strontium generates beta particles as it decays. One of the radioactive properties of strontium is half-life, or the time it takes for half of the isotope to give off its radiation and change into another substance. The half-life of ⁹⁰Sr is 29 years.

Related Resources for Strontium

• CERCLA Priority List of Hazardous Substance
  Prioritization of substances based on a combination of their frequency, toxicity, and potential for human exposure at National Priorities List (NPL) sites.
  
• Interaction Profile
  Succintly characterizes the toxicologic and adverse health effects information for mixtures of hazardous substances.
• Cesium, Cobalt, Polychlorinated Biphenyls, Strontium, and Trichloroethylene
• Arsenic, Hydrazines, Jet Fuels, Strontium-90, and Trichloroethylene
• Minimal Risk Levels (MRL)
  The MRL is an estimate of the daily human exposure to a hazardous substance that is likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse, non-cancer health effects over a specified duration of exposure. The information in this MRL serves as a screening tool to help public health professionals decide where to look more closely to evaluate possible risk of adverse health effects from human exposure.
  
• Public Health Statement
  Summary about a hazardous substance taken from Chapter One of its respective ATSDR Toxicological Profile.
  
• ToxFAQ
  Fact sheet that answers the most frequently asked questions about a contaminant and its health effects.
  
• Toxicological Profile
  Succinctly characterizes the toxicologic and adverse health effects information for a hazardous substance.