Astatine: A Rare Radioactive Chemical Element

On the brink of discovery there is a thrilling glow of hope and promise. The hope of a betterment of life as it is and the promise of something new and exciting. The turn of the twentieth century was this threshold of opportunity and anticipation, and a booming era for scientists and inventors alike. Between 1900 and 1920 a plethora of modern day conveniences and concepts were brought to life. Without this unique period in time civilization might have had to do without escalators, Gillette’s double edged safety razor, modern vacuum cleaners, air conditioning, the Teddy Bear, crayons, airplanes, E=mc2, automobiles, Life Savers candy, and the bra, just to name a few.1 Along with the glitter of innovation can come an unintentional (and sometimes

Thorium is naturally a radioactive chemical element, which was discovered in 1828 from the Norwegian mineralogist Morten Thrane Esmark, and named Thor from Jons Jakob Bezelius, which means the “Norse God of Thunder.” Thorium is the most abundant metal found in earth crust and had been scattered million years ago in the galaxy, with the explosion of meteors known as supernova. Thorium generates radioactive gas products, as radon-20 decay. Other decay by-products of thorium are radium and actinium. But, thorium is found in nature as thorium-232, which has a half-life and endures under alpha decay. Thorium decay produces a significant amount of internal heat energy. Thorium is found in the same amount as lead, and four

chemical element here on our own planet Earth. Though it is a rare, unreactive noble gas,

Strontium is a chemical element with symbol Sr and atomic number (protons in nucleus) 38 and atomic weight 88.1 It is a soft, silver-gray metal, and has physical and chemical properties like to Calcium and Barium. It is available as four stable isotopes ubiquitously (Isotopes are differ in forms of an by number of protons in nucleus but possess a variable number of neutrons.) Strontium-88 is the most dominant among other forms, comprising 83% of natural strontium, where in additional three stable isotopes and their relative abundance are strontium-84 (0.6%), strontium-86 (9.9%), and strontium-87 (7.0%). Strontium is available ubiquitous vitally as as celestite (SrSO4) and strontianite (SrCO3), and it comprises about 0.025% of the earth’s crust. There are 16 major radioactive isotopes of strontium, but only strontium-90 has a half-life sufficiently long (29 years). In comparison with half-lives of remaining strontium radionuclides are fewer than 65 days. Strontium-90 decays to yttrium-90 by decaying a beta particle, and yttrium-90 decays by decaying a energetic beta particle with a half-life of 64 hours to zirconium-90. The key health concerns for strontium-90 are associated to the energetic beta particle from yttrium-90.2

There are two other isotopes of technetium. One being technetium 98 and the other 99. Both of these have dramatically longer half-lives than there partner technetium 99m.

After World War II the United States began mass-producing radioactive isotopes. These were shipped for the use of physicians and scientists. It provided physicians with new tools for the diagnoses and therapy of disease, specifically cancer. The radioactive isotopes were also used by scientists. It enabled molecular transformations to be traced by biologists. Radioactive isotopes were however undercut in the 1950s as the dangers of low-level radiation was

Arsenic has an atomic number of 33 and a relative atomic mass of 74.922amu. Arsenic is an odd element, as it acts like metal even though it is a natural element. Arsenic is found in natural environments, and in limited quantities found in rocks, soil, water and more. Arsenic was very known to the ancient Egyptians and the Chinese, they used Arsenic as a way of gilding metals. The orpiment(As2S3) and the realgar (As4S4) : are the two Arsenic sulphide minerals that Greek Philosopher, Theophrastus. As2O3 is the trioxide, is one of the end products of copper refining. This is a form of arsenic that has also been known for awhile now, and it is called white arsenic. The official discovery of arsenic is to Alberts Magnus in around the 1200s. As to the physical property, it is radiant, has a silver colour and fragile, as it is a semi-metal. When in exposed to air, it is rapidly damaged, because of the usual elements in air, such as nitrogen and more. Arsenic is not particularly used in any technology, but recently we use Arsenic in semiconductor gallium arsenide, it can convert electric currents to laser lights. Usually it is not used

Demarcay observed in the spectrum of radioactive barium chloride several lines that could not be assigned to any known element and whose intensity increased with the radioactivity.

Those different forms of the element are called isotopes. Each isotope has a half-life, for example if I bought 10 grams of an isotope whose half-life is 437 years. After the 437 years I would only have half the amount of what I bought. Americium has 12 isotopes which known are known to not be natural and are known to have a mass number between 232 and 247. The longest-lived isotopes of Americium are Americium 243 at a half-life of 7370 years, Americium 241 at a half-life of 432.2 years, and Americium 242 at a half-life 141 years. Even though Americium 243 and 241 are the most abundant of Americium’s isotopes, Americium 241 is the most

The Astraea or otherwise known as Montastraea cavernosa is a colonial stony coral. It sometimes forms into plates and rounded domes in deep water. It forms into big boulders in shallow water. The star coral is usually green, brown, yellow, or gray. This coral has phycoerythrin which makes it fluorescent orange or red in the daytime. The great star coral is in the Anthozoa class and the Montastraeidae family.

Iodine-131 is radioactive iodine with an eight day half-life, resulting in a large amount of absorption in the thyroid gland (Alcalay, 2011). Cesium-137 is similar to potassium with a 30 year half-life which concentrates in muscle, and is found in contaminated soil and food grown in these areas (Alcalay, 2011). Strontium-90 is similar to calcium, with a 28 year half-life which concentrates in bone, soil and ground water (Alcalay, 2011). Plutonium-239 is deemed as one of the greatest toxins found on earth with a half-life of 24,000 years (Alcalay, 2011). If strontium-90 is absorbed it is known to cause cancer and now it is, unfortunately, in the soil and ground water of the Marshall Islands (Alcalay,

Arsenic (As) is a metalloid in group 15, period 4 of the periodic table. It is associated with the atomic number 33 and maintains an atomic weight of 74.92 (Gagnon). As a solid at room temperature, it is most likely to be found as a shiny grey element; however, it may also appear as yellow or black. It is also known to be quite brittle in its solid state (PubChem). There are three different categories that arsenic compounds may be identified as: Inorganic Arsenic compounds (i.e., arsenic trioxide (As2O3), and lead arsenate (PbHAsO4) are some of the more common ones), Organic Arsenic compounds (i.e., Arsanilic Acid (C6H8AsNO3), and Methylarsonic Acid (CH5AsO3) are the more common ones), and Arsine gas (AsH3) (NCBI). All of the aforementioned states, categories, and compounds have various toxicities- the most toxic and severe symptoms tend to result for the entrance of inorganic arsenic and arsine gas into the body.

The radioisotope Fluorine-18 is a radioactive isotope of fluorine. Fluorine has nine protons and ten neutrons, fluorine-18 has only nine neutrons which is less than normal. F-18 produces gamma radiation in the body, gamma rays are electromagnetic waves with an extremely high frequency, unlike alpha and beta radiation, gamma has no mass, and travel at a speed of light with the ability to penetrate human skin, only stop by lead. F-18 is used as a tracer in nuclear medicine imaging, specifically positron emission tomography (PET) scans. PET scans are used to provide precise and sophisticated three dimensional images for diagnosis of diseases within the body such as cancer. During its creation in the cyclotron particle accelerator, F-18 is combined

Part (1)The embryonic period is considered the critical period where teratogens are more likely to have a lasting effect among developing creatures (Arnett, 2015). Arnett (2015) stated that Teratogens are triggered by environmental factors, bad decisions done by the mother, or being unhealthy. During the embryonic period, important organs are developing rapidly; therefore, teratogens can harm the development because the embryo and fetus are susceptible to them. Those organs include the brain, limbs, and heart. Additionally, the main teratogens are due to diseases, drug usage, and lack of proper nutrition. Some of the health consequences that can arise are heart abnormalities and mental retardation (Arnett, 2015). Part (2) The advice that I

Arsenic with the symbol As is a metalloid that means it has properties from both metals and nonmetals. It is a natural component of the earth’s crust and you can find it in its gray, yellow and black form. In the environment it forms organic and inorganic chemical compounds as a result of natural and anthropogenic activities.