18 Facts About Polonium

Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84.

Polonium was discovered in July 1898 by Marie Sklodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie, when it was extracted from the uranium ore pitchblende and identified solely by its strong radioactivity: it was the first element to be so discovered.

Polonium has few applications, and those are related to its radioactivity: heaters in space probes, antistatic devices, sources of neutrons and alpha particles, and poison.

Polonium is a radioactive element that exists in two metallic allotropes.

Polonium solutions are first colored in pink by the Po ions, but then rapidly become yellow because alpha radiation from polonium ionizes the solvent and converts Po into Po.

Related searches

Polonium has no common compounds, and almost all of its compounds are synthetically created; more than 50 of those are known.

Polonium hydride is a volatile liquid at room temperature prone to dissociation; it is thermally unstable.

Polonium dihalides are formed by direct reaction of the elements or by reduction of PoCl4 with SO2 and with PoBr4 with H2S at room temperature.

Polonium has 42 known isotopes, all of which are radioactive.

Polonium is a very rare element in nature because of the short half-lives of all its isotopes.

Polonium has been found in tobacco smoke from tobacco leaves grown with phosphate fertilizers.

Polonium is usually obtained by irradiating bismuth with high-energy neutrons or protons.

Polonium-based sources of alpha particles were produced in the former Soviet Union.

Polonium was part of brushes or more complex tools that eliminate static charges in photographic plates, textile mills, paper rolls, sheet plastics, and on substrates prior to the application of coatings.

Polonium needs to be replaced in these devices nearly every year because of its short half-life; it is highly radioactive and therefore has been mostly replaced by less dangerous beta particle sources.

Polonium's was accidentally exposed in 1946 when a sealed capsule of the element exploded on her laboratory bench.

Polonium-210 is widespread in the biosphere, including in human tissues, because of its position in the uranium-238 decay chain.

Polonium is indeed an element naturally present in all humans, contributing appreciably to natural background dose, with wide geographical and cultural variations, and particularly high levels in arctic residents, for example.