Radium occurs only in uranium ores,typically with an observed Ra/U ratio of 1mg/3kg.Uranium ores normally contain only about 200 ppm of U.How many kilograms of uranium ore must be processed to obtain 1 mg of radium? A)1700 kg ore B)15,000 kg ore C)6.0 × 10⁸ kg ore D)None of these

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

If the observed Ra/U ratio is 1mg/3kg, and we want to obtain 1 mg of radium, we need to find out how much uranium we need to process.

We can set up a proportion:
1 mg Ra / 3 kg U = 1 mg Ra / x kg U ore

Cross-multiplying and solving for x, we get:
x = (3 kg U / 1 mg Ra) * (1 mg Ra / 200 ppm U) = 15,000 kg ore

Therefore, to obtain 1 mg of radium, we need to process 15,000 kg of uranium ore.

Radium Occurs Only in Uranium Ores,typically with an Observed Ra/U