Astatine radioactivity

The "time of flight" mass spectrometer has been used to confirm that this highly radioactive halogen behaves chemically very much like other halogens, particularly iodine. Astatine is said to be more metallic than iodine, and, like iodine, it probably accumulates in the thyroid gland. Workers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory have recently used reactive scattering in crossed molecular beams to identify and measure elementary reactions involving astatine. 

The fugitive radioactive element astatine can hardly be said to exist in nature though the punctillious would rightly point to its temporary participation in the natural radioactive series. Thus At (t i 54 s) occurs as a... 

All isotopes of element 85, astatine, are intensely radioactive with very short half-lives (p. 795). As a consequence weighable amounts of the element or its compounds cannot be prepared and no bulk properties are known. The chemistry of the element must, of necessity, be studied by tracer techniques on extremely dilute solutions, and this introduces the risk of experimental errors and the consequent possibility of erroneous... 

Astatine is a radioactive element that occurs in nature in uranium and thorium ores, but only to a minute extent. Samples are made by bombarding bismuth with a particles in a cyclotron, which accelerates the particles to a very high speed. Astatine isotopes do not exist long enough for its properties to be studied, but it is thought from spectroscopic measurements to have properties similar to those of iodine. 

C09-0133. Among the halogens, only one known molecule has the formula X 7. It has pentagonal bipyramidal geometry, with five Y atoms in a pentagon around the central atom X. The other two Y atoms are in axial positions. Draw a ball-and-stick model of this compound. Based on electron-electron repulsion and atomic size, determine the identities of atoms X and Y. Explain your reasoning. (Astatine is not involved. This element is radioactive and highly unstable.)... 

A stage org chem) An early stage in a thermosetting resin reaction characterized by linear structure, solubility, and fusibility of the material. a, staj astatine chem A radioactive chemical element, symbol At, atomic number 85, the heaviest of the halogen elements. as-t3,ten asterism (spect) A star-shaped pattern sometimes seen in x-ray spectrophotographs. as-t3,riz-om ... 

When the halogens are in a gaseous state, they occur as diatomic molecules (e.g., Cl ). However, only two of the halogens are gases at room temperature fluorine (F ) and chlorine (Cy. Bromine is a liquid and iodine is a solid at room temperatures. Astatine is the only halogen that is radioactive and is not very important as a representative of the halogens. 

ISOTOPES All 41 isotopes of astatine are radioactive, with half-lives ranging from 125 nanoseconds to 8.1 hours. The isotope As-210, the most stable isotope with an 8.1-hour half-life, is used to determine the atomic weight of astatine. As-210 decays by alpha decay into bismuth-206 or by electron capture into polonium-210. 

Chemists of the early twentieth century tried to find the existence of element 85, which was given the name eka-iodine by Mendeleev in order to fill the space for the missing element in the periodic table. Astatine is the rarest of all elements on Earth and is found in only trace amounts. Less than one ounce of natural astatine exists on the Earth at any one time. There would be no astatine on Earth if it were not for the small amounts that are replenished by the radioactive decay process of uranium ore. Astatine produced by this uranium radioactive decay process soon decays, so there is no long-term build up of astatine on Earth. The isotopes of astatine have very short half-lives, and less than a gram has ever been produced for laboratory study. 

Astatine does not have stable or useful compounds. Like a halogen, it will form halogen salts with a few other elements. No significant astatine commercial compounds have been produced with the exception of astatine-211, which has a half-life of just over seven hours and is used as a radioactive tracer for thyroid diseases. 

The major hazard is from the radiation of astatine s isotopes. However, given that these isotopes have very short half-lives, they do not pose a great long-term danger. Even so, astatine is considered a dangerous element that is a radioactive poison and carcinogen. It has been demonstrated that astatine causes cancer in laboratory animals. 

Astatine is highly radioactive and only produced and isolated in very small quantities isotope with the longest half-life (8.3 h) considered. 

Astatine (from the Greek astatos unstable) is highly unstable and radioactive. It was synthesized in 1940 by D. R. Corson, K. R. MacKenzie, and E. Segre at the University of California by bombarding bismuth with a-particles. The resulting 209-2iiy isotopes are relatively long-lived... 

Like iodine, astatine tends to accumulate in the thyroid gland of the living animal (31). The radioactivity of the element thus concentrated seems to cause severe damage to thyroid tissue without affecting the adjacent parathyroid glands. It may therefore be useful in cases of hyperthyroidism (32). Therefore it is important to determine the amount... 

The halogens will be restricted to chlorine, bromine and iodine since fluorine, as the most electronegative element, does not function as the central atom in a complex and astatine has only short-lived, radioactive isotopes, so that very little of its coordination chemistry has been investigated.2 ... 

Astatine Astatine, like francium in group 1 A, is a radioactive element that occurs only in minute amounts in nature. No more than about 5 X 10-8 g has ever been prepared at one time, and little is known about its chemistry. 

Radon, the heaviest of the noble gases, has been much publicized in recent years because of a fear that low-level exposures increase the risk of cancer. Like astatine and francium, its neighbors in the periodic table, radon is a radioactive element with only a minute natural abundance. It is produced by radioactive decay of the radium present in small amounts in many granitic rocks, and it can slowly seep into basements, where it remains unless vented. If breathed into the lungs, it can cause radiation damage. 

Group VII consists of the four elements fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine, and the radioactive element astatine. Of these five elements, chlorine, bromine and iodine are generally available for use in school. 

This group contains the elements fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I) and astatine (At). These elements occur naturally in a diatomic structure (F2, Cl2, Br2, I2, At2). Fluorine and chlorine are gases, bromine is a liquid and iodine is a solid. Astatine is a radioactive and solid element. 

Iodine is the heaviest of the halogen family of elements, excluding the radioactive element astatine. It was discovered in 1811 by French chemist Bernard Courtois, who isolated the element from seaweed. The element is named for its color in the gas phase (the Greek word iodes means violet ). 

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