How many evaporation's did the curies have to make before they finally isolated radium?
To find out how many evaporation steps the Curies had to perform before isolating radium, we can refer to historical records.
Marie and Pierre Curie conducted their research on radioactivity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They began by refining a mineral called pitchblende, which contains uranium. From pitchblende, they eventually isolated polonium and radium.
To isolate radium, the Curies had to perform numerous chemical separation techniques, including multiple evaporation steps. They would dissolve pitchblende in acid, then precipitate out undesired elements through various chemical reactions. After each precipitation step, the remaining solution would undergo evaporation to further concentrate the desired radium.
Unfortunately, there is no specific record of the exact number of evaporation steps they performed to isolate radium. The process was time-consuming and required multiple iterations of precipitation and evaporation. The Curies' work was groundbreaking but also challenging, as they had to develop their own methods and apparatus to carry out the experiment.
In summary, the Curies performed numerous evaporation steps, among other techniques, in their journey to isolate radium. However, the exact number of evaporation steps they underwent is not recorded.