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One gram of 210 Po could thus in theory poison 20 million people, of whom 10 million would die. The actual toxicity of 210 Po is lower than these estimates because radiation exposure that is spread out over several weeks (the biological half-life of polonium in humans is 30 to 50 days [88]) is
Polonium-210 (210 Po, Po-210, historically radium F) is an isotope of polonium. It undergoes alpha decay to stable 206 Pb with a half-life of 138.376 days (about 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 months), the longest half-life of all naturally occurring polonium isotopes ( 210–218 Po). [ 1 ]
Polonium-210 has a half-life of 138 days and decays to the stable daughter isotope of lead, 206 Pb. Therefore, the source is reduced to about one sixteenth of its original radioactivity about 18 months after production. By measuring the proportion of polonium and lead in a sample, one can establish the production date of polonium.
Polonium poisoning can cause nausea, vomiting, anorexia, and lymphopenia. It can also damage hair follicles and white blood cells. [2] [74] Polonium-210 is only dangerous if ingested or inhaled because its alpha particle emissions cannot penetrate human skin. [65] Polonium-209 is also toxic, and can cause leukemia. [75]
One of the advantages of this method is that any sample provides two clocks, one based on uranium-235's decay to lead-207 with a half-life of about 703 million years, and one based on uranium-238's decay to lead-206 with a half-life of about 4.5 billion years, providing a built-in crosscheck that allows accurate determination of the age of the ...
These are lists of poisonings, deliberate and accidental, in chronological order by the date of death of the victim(s).They include mass poisonings, confirmed attempted poisonings, suicides, fictional poisonings and people who are known or suspected to have killed multiple people.
People are ingesting borax. Also known by its chemical name sodium borate decahydrate, borax is a salt typically used to kill ants and boost laundry detergent, among other household cleaning needs ...
Tetraethyl lead is one of the most significant heavy metal contaminants in recent use. [15] Toxic metals are found naturally in the earth, and become concentrated as a result of human activities, or, in some cases geochemical processes, such as accumulation in peat soils that are then released when drained for agriculture. [16]