Re: Polonium-210 question

ha ha ha,

there was very little lead there, just alpha and X-ray radioactivity
(mainly alpha) killed him.
I am not sure what are chemical properties of polonium, but plutonium
is considered very toxic chemically. All heavy elements are toxic, lead
of course also, but we usually have chances to have lead poisoning much
easier than.... polonium poisoning.

Jaga




Davie wrote:
"tadchem" <tadchem@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1164505855.083482.266080@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

jaga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hello All,

Polonium-210 was found in the body of the ex-Soviet spy. It was
difficult to detect because it produces just alphas and characteristic
X-rays.

It is a very powerful source since alpha energy is very high and it has
a short lifetime ~ 140 days.

I have a question. I looked at the site:
http://isotopes.lbl.gov/toi.html
Table of isotopes

The page you gave us is just a list of links. Which page did you
*really* use?

to find the properties of polonium and....

I found them here:
http://ie.lbl.gov/toi/nuclide.asp?iZA=840210

why they write that the X-ray characteristic linesL
are from lead, Pb-210

The X-rays are from Pb-206. There should be no Pb-210 present in a
Po-210 sample.

I understand that Po-210 decays to a stable Pb-210 but....

...but you *misunderstand.* Polonium-210 decays by alpha emission to
Lead-206:

210 - 4 = 206

Conservation of mass and all that...

the alphas can also excite polonium atoms not only daughers Pb?

The unstable polonium atoms are the sources of the alpha particles.
The alpha particles will interact with the electrons of whichever atoms
they encounter (Polonium or Lead) to produce excited electronic states.


Once the alpha particles grab up a couple nearby electrons they combine
with them to make a helium atom, which is neutral and incapable of
exciting electronic states (although it may still carry a lot of
thermal energy.).

Tom Davidson
Richmond, VA


So did he die of Helium poisoning, or Lead poisoning?

.

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