The trouble is that Iodine 131 like many other therapeutic radioisotopes emit beta particles, fast moving electrons which can penetrate through a few millimetres of tissue. This concentrates the dose of radiation and it reduces the exposure of healthy tissue. Radioactive Iodine 131 is already used to treat Thyroid cancers for example, because it preferentially accumulates in that organ. It was from the Greek word meaning unstable. And it was only once the Second World War was over that the trio proposed the name Astatine for their elemental discovery. Segre went on to become a group leader for the Manhattan project which built the first atomic weapon. They bombarded a sheet of bismuth metal, that's two doors down from astatine in the periodic table, with alpha particle to produce astatine-211, which has a half life of about 71/2 hours and it neatly filled the gap in the periodic table just beneath iodine. But miles away from Italy Mussolini's government passed anti Semitic laws which barred Jewish people like Segre from holding University positions so he stayed where he was, taking up a job at Berkeley and in 1940 he helped to discover astatine along with Dale Corson, he was then a post doc and later went on to become President of Cornell University and grant student Kenneth MacKenzie. The element had actually been created in a cyclotron particle accelerator at the University of California in Berkeley where Segre spent the following summer continuing his research. Political stability of top reserve holderĪ percentile rank for the political stability of the country with the largest reserves, derived from World Bank governance indicators.Īstatine was the second synthetic element to be conclusively identified just three years after technetium, was isolated by Carlo Perrier and Emilio Segre of the University of Palermo. The higher the value, the larger risk there is to supply.Ī percentile rank for the political stability of the top producing country, derived from World Bank governance indicators. The percentage of the world reserves located in the country with the largest reserves. The higher the value, the larger risk there is to supply. The percentage of an element produced in the top producing country. Low = substitution is possible with little or no economic and/or performance impact Medium = substitution is possible but there may be an economic and/or performance impact High = substitution not possible or very difficult.

The availability of suitable substitutes for a given commodity. A higher recycling rate may reduce risk to supply. The percentage of a commodity which is recycled. The number of atoms of the element per 1 million atoms of the Earth’s crust. This is calculated by combining the scores for crustal abundance, reserve distribution, production concentration, substitutability, recycling rate and political stability scores. The Chemical Abstracts Service registry number is a unique identifier of a particular chemical, designed to prevent confusion arising from different languages and naming systems.ĭata for this section been provided by the British Geological Survey.Īn integrated supply risk index from 1 (very low risk) to 10 (very high risk). Where more than one isotope exists, the value given is the abundance weighted average.Ītoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons. This is approximately the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus. The mass of an atom relative to that of carbon-12. The transition of a substance directly from the solid to the gas phase without passing through a liquid phase.ĭensity is the mass of a substance that would fill 1 cm 3 at room temperature. The temperature at which the liquid–gas phase change occurs. The temperature at which the solid–liquid phase change occurs. The arrangements of electrons above the last (closed shell) noble gas. These blocks are named for the characteristic spectra they produce: sharp (s), principal (p), diffuse (d), and fundamental (f). The atomic number of each element increases by one, reading from left to right.Įlements are organised into blocks by the orbital type in which the outer electrons are found.

Members of a group typically have similar properties and electron configurations in their outer shell.Ī horizontal row in the periodic table.

Least reactive group on periodic table