Polonium

[Racoon]

Well, the high profile poisoning case of the ex-KGB spy got the mouse in the wheel moving again about chemistry...

 

I can only imagine the sinister applications of Polonium, and what a crappy way it is to die from it. :)

 

Russian secret services allegedly use polonium for smudging currency bills so that they can trace them.

 

Wiki reference has been updated --->> Polonium

 

Polonium is a highly-radioactive and chemically-toxic element and it is very difficult to handle safely. Even in microgram amounts, handling 210Po is extremely dangerous, requiring specialized equipment and strict handling procedures. Alpha particles emitted by polonium will damage organic tissue easily if polonium is ingested, inhaled, or absorbed (though they do not penetrate the epidermis and hence are not hazardous if the polonium is outside the body).

 

 

Polonium dissolves readily in dilute acids, but is only slightly soluble in alkalis. It is closely related chemically to bismuth and tellurium. 210Po (in common with 238Pu) has the ability to become airborne with ease: if a sample is heated in air to 328 K (55°C, 131°F), 50% of it is vaporized in 45 hours, even though the melting point of polonium is 527 K (254°C, 489°F) and its boiling point is 1235 K (962°C, 1763°F).[

[Mercedes Benzene]

United Nuclear sells a Polonium-210 source. Here's the message that they posted on their website regarding the recent poisoning.

 

A SPECIAL NOTICE ABOUT POLONIUM-210

 

With the recent news of Polonium-210 being used as a poison, a good deal of

incorrect information has been passed around (primarily by the media) concerning the Polonium isotope and radioactive materials in general. It's important to get the facts correct. The general public is quite ignorant when it comes to knowledge about radioactive materials and radiation in general.

 

The amount of Plonium-210, as well as any of the isotopes we sell is an 'exempt quantity' amount. These quantities of radioactive material are not hazardous - this is why they are permitted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to be sold to the general public without any sort of license.

Although we do sell these isotopes, distributors such as United Nuclear Scientific Supplies (and just about any isotope distributor) do not actually stock them.

All isotopes are made to order at an NRC licensed reactor in Oak Ridge Tennessee. When the isotope is made, it is shipped directly to the customer from the reactor to insure the longest possible half-life.

 

The exempt quantity amount of Polonium-210, or any of the radioactive isotopes sold is so small that they are essentially invisible to the human eye.

In the case of needle sources, the radioactive material is electroplated on the inside of the eye of a needle.

 

You would need about 15,000 of our Polonium-210 needle sources

at a total cost of about $1 million - to have a toxic amount.

 

In comparison, Amercium-241 is a similar toxic Alpha radiation emitter.

Instead of a half life of 138 days like Polonium-210 has, it has a half life of over 450 years. It is far more toxic - and there is 10 times more than the 'exempt quantity' amount in every smoke detector in your home.

 

If you really wanted to poison someone, you would of course have to come up with a way to remove the invisible amount of material from the exempt sources - which is just about physically impossible and combine them together. Of course you would also need that 15,000 exempt sources.

 

In addition, there are dozens of other far more toxic materials, such as Ricin and Abrin, both of which can easily be made, and are also undetectable as a poison and untraceable.

 

Although it obviously works, Polonium-210 is a poor choice for a poison.

 

Another point to keep in mind is that an order for 15,000 sources would look a tad

suspicious, considering we sell about 1 or 2 sources every 3 months.

 

Make sure you are truly knowledgeable about a subject before you start

repeating and spreading potentially incorrect information related to it.

 

[skuzie]

From Wiki:

"It was Marie'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." .. go Poland! :D

[Racoon]

From Wiki:

"It was Marie'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." .. go Poland! :circle:

 

 

Well its a political controversy now :confused:

 

Very interesting info also Mercedes B.

[Mercedes Benzene]

I was actually going to purchase a polonium-210 source a couple months ago to perform a neutron capture experiment, but decided against it until I can build my own shielding setup.

After this whole poisoning controversy arose, I thought that it may be best to wait a while longer for things to die down a little.

 

It's a shame that all of this had to happen, since Polonium-210 is the only alpha radiation emmiter available to the public without an NRC lisence. :confused:

[gribbon]

I can only imagine the sinister applications of Polonium, and what a crappy way it is to die from it. [

 

Well....there's nothing really special about it, other than the fact it can be used for nuclear batteries and as Mercedes Benzene said, it's a good Alpha emitter...it's just because it happened to be chosen for this particular incident that it has become a fascination...they could have used

 

Protactinium

Americium

Curium

Strontium-90

Radon-222 (but then. that's a gas)

Radium-226

Cobalt-60

Iodine-131

Carbon-14

 

C&EN: IT'S ELEMENTAL: THE PERIODIC TABLE - INTRODUCTION

Einsteinium

Fermium (I'm not sure if there is an isotope with a half life long enough for these two, though.)

 

(not all of them are Alpha emitters, but they're plenty toxic enough)

 

I would love to look into this topic further, but I fear that this would be a subject to raise alarm bells amongst the service providers.