 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 toxic. 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 nuclie) as 5 grams of radium. Polonium has been found in tobacco as a contaminant and in uranium ores. |
