{"product_id":"thorium-dioxide","title":"Thorium Dioxide","description":"\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003eThorium Dioxide (or Thoria) is a substance that literally helped light up the world. While the great chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius named the element after Thor, the Norse god of thunder, in 1829, it took a few more decades for it to become a household staple. In 1885, Carl Auer von Welsbach patented the \"gas mantle,\" a silk mesh soaked in a mixture of 99% thorium dioxide and 1% cerium dioxide. When heated by a flame, the thoria would incandesce with a brilliant, steady white light that far outshone the flickering gas lamps of the era. It was a billion unit success that brought reliable light to the masses before the electric bulb took over.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\" data-rte-preserve-empty=\"true\"\u003eBut the story doesn't stop at lighting. Thoria is incredibly refractory, meaning it has one of the highest melting points of any oxide (\u003cspan\u003e3,300\u003c\/span\u003e degrees celcius!). This makes it indispensable for TIG welding electrodes and high-end camera lenses, where its high refractive index allows for thinner glass with less distortion. It even had a controversial stint as \"Thorotrast,\" a medical X-ray contrast agent, before doctors realized that internalizing alpha-emitters was a bad idea (yikes!). Today, it’s the \"holy grail\" for fans of the Thorium Fuel Cycle, representing a future of safer, greener nuclear power. Whether you’re a fan of Victorian-era tech or 21st-century energy, this \"history in a bottle\" is a must-have trophy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Luciteria","offers":[{"title":"1 gram in 15x48mm ampule","offer_id":47809816395941,"sku":"TD15x48mm_1g","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"10 grams a vial","offer_id":47809816428709,"sku":"TD10g","price":240.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0759\/8833\/6805\/files\/Thorium_dioxide_-_ThO2_47f107e0-843b-46b3-9450-43ba5c69cbcb.webp?v=1778165576","url":"https:\/\/luciteria.com\/products\/thorium-dioxide","provider":"Luciteria","version":"1.0","type":"link"}