 Discovery Information
|
| Who: Pierre and Marie Curie |
| When: 1898 |
| Where: France |
|
| Name Origin
|
| From Poland, country of Pierre and Marie Curie. |
|
| Sources
|
| Occurs in pitchblende from decay of radium.
|
|
| Uses
|
| Used for nuclear batteries, neutron source, antistatic agents, film cleaner.
|
|
| Notes
|
| Polonium has more isotopes than any other element, all of which are radioactive. Polonium dissolves readily in dilute acids, but is only slightly soluble in alkalis.
|
| Polonium is highly radioactive and extremely toxic. Even milligram or microgram amounts, handling polonium-210 is very dangerous
and requires special equipment used with strict procedures. Direct damage occurs from energy absorption into tissues from
alpha particles. Weight for weight it is about 2.5 x 1011 times as toxic as hydrocyanic acid (HCN). A milligram of polonium-210 emits as many alpha particles (helium nuclei) as 5 grams of radium. Polonium has been found in tobacco as a contaminant and in uranium ores.
|
