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Tantalum is a chemical element; it has symbol Ta and atomic number 73. Previously known as tantalium, [citation needed] it is named after Tantalus, a figure in Greek mythology. [11] Tantalum is a very hard, ductile, lustrous, blue-gray transition metal that is highly corrosion-resistant.
Natural tantalum (73 Ta) consists of two stable isotopes: 181 Ta (99.988%) and 180m Ta (0.012%). There are also 35 known artificial radioisotopes, the longest-lived of which are 179 Ta with a half-life of 1.82 years, 182 Ta with a half-life of 114.43 days, 183 Ta with a half-life of 5.1 days, and 177 Ta with a half-life of 56.56 hours.
These toxic elements are found naturally in the earth. They become concentrated as a result of human caused activities and can enter plant and animal (including human) tissues via inhalation, diet, and manual handling. Then, they can bind to and interfere with the functioning of vital cellular components.
Soil contains on average 1 to 2 parts per billion of tantalum, and seawater contains 2 parts per trillion of tantalum. A typical human contains 2.9 parts per billion of tantalum. Tantalum is found in the minerals tantalite and pyrochlore. [19] Dubnium does not occur naturally in the Earth's crust, as it has no stable isotopes. [78]
^ Tantalum-180m is a "metastable isotope", meaning it is an excited nuclear isomer of tantalum-180. See isotopes of tantalum. However, the half-life of this nuclear isomer is so long that it has never been observed to decay, and it thus is an "observationally stable" primordial nuclide, a rare isotope of tantalum. This is the only nuclear ...
The synthetic chemicals are especially harmful because they’re nearly indestructible and can build up in various environments, including the human body. ... chemicals from our natural resources ...
The nuclides found naturally comprise not only the 286 primordials, but also include about 52 more short-lived isotopes (defined by a half-life less than 100 million years, too short to have survived from the formation of the Earth) that are daughters of primordial isotopes (such as radium from uranium); or else are made by energetic natural ...
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 ...