Show polonium spark plugs polonium a rare element discovered in 1898 by the late mine curie which costs an ounce will be used in an alloy compounded for the electrodes of a new spark plug sufficient quantities of the metal are included in the alloy to nil fill the air immediately around it with enormously powerful alpha rays fays said to be the most potent ionizing rays known to science lon ion of the air is expected to cut a better path for the spark making it possible to start a motor more quickly accelerate it taster faster and make its performance more economical no mical polonium is said to emit times as many alpha rays as radium its use in spark plugs nas has been the subject of six years of research bearc h mme ame curie discovered the metal in pitchblende before she and her husband discovered radium the element is named for her native poland |