 Discovery Information
|
| Who: Pierre and Marie Curie |
| When: 1898 |
| Where: France |
|
| Name Origin
|
| From Poland, country of Pierre and Marie Curie. |
| "Polonium" in different languages. |
|
| Sources
|
| Occurs in pitchblende from decay of radium. Annual world wide production is less than 100 grammes.
|
|
| Abundance
|
| Earth's Crust: ppm |
| Seawater: 2 x 10-8 ppm
|
|
| Uses
|
| Used for nuclear batteries, neutron source, antistatic agents, film cleaner.
|
|
| History
|
| Also called tentatively "Radium F", polonium was discovered by Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her husband Pierre Curie in 1898 and was later named after Marie Curie's native land of Poland (Latin: Polonia). Poland at the time was under Russian, Prussian, and Austrian partition, and did not exist as an independent
country. It was Curie's hope that naming the element after her native land would publicize its lack of independence. Polonium
may be the first element named to highlight a political controversy. Poland became an independent country again in 1918, following
World War I.
|
| This element was the first one discovered by the Curies while they were investigating the cause of pitchblende radioactivity.
The pitchblende, after removal of the radioactive elements uranium and thorium, was more radioactive than both the uranium and thorium put together. This spurred the Curies on to find additional radioactive elements. The Curies first separated out polonium
from the pitchblende, and then within a few years, also isolated radium.
|
|
| 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.
|
| On the first of November 2007, Alexander Litvinenko, a former member of the Russian FSB, suddenly fell ill, he died three
weeks later. His poisoning has been attributed to polonium-210 as significant amounts of the substance was found in his body.
For more information see here.
|
|
| Hazards
|
| 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.
|
