Strontium has physical and chemical properties similar to those of its two vertical neighbors in the periodic table, calcium and barium.

Both strontium and strontianite are named after Strontian, a village in Scotland near which the mineral was discovered in 1790 by Adair Crawford and William Cruickshank; it was identified as a new element the next year from its crimson-red flame test color.

At the peak of production of television cathode-ray tubes, as much as 75% of strontium consumption in the United States was used for the faceplate glass.

Strontium is a divalent silvery metal with a pale yellow tint whose properties are mostly intermediate between and similar to those of its group neighbors calcium and barium.

[15] Due to the large size of the heavy s-block elements, including strontium, a vast range of coordination numbers is known, from 2, 3, or 4 all the way to 22 or 24 in SrCd11 and SrZn13.

[21] Because of its extreme reactivity with oxygen and water, strontium occurs naturally only in compounds with other elements, such as in the minerals strontianite and celestine.

Finely powdered strontium metal is pyrophoric, meaning that it will ignite spontaneously in air at room temperature.

The former has a half-life of 50.6 days and is used to treat bone cancer due to strontium's chemical similarity and hence ability to replace calcium.

[27] In 1790, Adair Crawford, a physician engaged in the preparation of barium, and his colleague William Cruickshank, recognised that the Strontian ores exhibited properties that differed from those in other "heavy spars" sources.

[28] This allowed Crawford to conclude on page 355 "... it is probable indeed, that the scotch mineral is a new species of earth which has not hitherto been sufficiently examined."

[29] In 1793 Thomas Charles Hope, a professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow studied the mineral[30][31] and proposed the name strontites.

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.

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.

Because strontium is used most often in the carbonate form, strontianite would be the more useful of the two common minerals, but few deposits have been discovered that are suitable for development.

At intermediate to acidic pH, dissolved strontium is bound to soil particles by cation exchange.

Therefore, the front panel is made from a different glass mixture with strontium and barium to absorb the X-rays.

[60][61] This approach helps to identify the ancient migration patterns and the origin of commingled human remains in battlefield burial sites.

[62] 87Sr/86Sr ratios are commonly used to determine the likely provenance areas of sediment in natural systems, especially in marine and fluvial environments.

[64] Due to the differing ages of the rocks that constitute the majority of the Blue and White Nile, catchment areas of the changing provenance of sediment reaching the River Nile Delta and East Mediterranean Sea can be discerned through strontium isotopic studies.

[64] More recently, 87Sr/86Sr ratios have also been used to determine the source of ancient archaeological materials such as timbers and corn in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

The strontium is processed like calcium by the body, preferentially incorporating it into bone at sites of increased osteogenesis.

The principal disadvantage of 90Sr is the high energy beta particles produce Bremsstrahlung as they encounter nuclei of other nearby heavy atoms such as adjacent strontium.

The Soviet Union deployed nearly 1000 of these RTGs on its northern coast as a power source for lighthouses and meteorology stations.

[78][79] Acantharea, a relatively large group of marine radiolarian protozoa, produce intricate mineral skeletons composed of strontium sulfate.

Because the elements are chemically very similar, stable strontium isotopes do not pose a significant health threat.

[92] The elimination rate of strontium is strongly affected by age and sex, due to differences in bone metabolism.

[94][95] However, strontium ranelate also increases the risk of venous thromboembolism, pulmonary embolism, and serious cardiovascular disorders, including myocardial infarction.

Exposure from contaminated water and food may increase the risk of leukemia, bone cancer[103] and primary hyperparathyroidism.

The study claims a highly selective biosorption capacity for strontium of S. spinosus, suggesting that it may be appropriate for use in treating nuclear wastewater.