Marie Curie Observation

Marie Curie was a Polish scientist that specialized in chemistry and physics. She wanted to understand how X-rays worked and noticed in her studies that the element, Uranium, gave off rays that could be measured but did not know what the rays were. She assumed that the rays came from the uranium itself instead of through different molecules interacting with each other.

To study the rays, she used an instrument, called an electrometer, that studied the electricity that the rays passed through the air. Through this she was able to discover that the more uranium atoms there were in a compound, the stronger the rays that came off of it. She used this discovery to test other minerals that emitted more rays than Uranium, and discovered the elements Thorium, Polonium and Radium. Through her discoveries of these elements, scientists were able to find the structure of the atom and even how the rays can be used to fight cancer. What was Marie Curie’s observation?