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Polonium may be the first element named to highlight a political controversy. [40] This element was the first one discovered by the Curies while they were investigating the cause of pitchblende radioactivity. Pitchblende, after removal of the radioactive elements uranium and thorium, was more radioactive than the uranium and thorium combined ...
Radioactive isotope table "lists ALL radioactive nuclei with a half-life greater than 1000 years", incorporated in the list above. The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear physics properties F.G. Kondev et al. 2021 Chinese Phys. C 45 030001. The PDF of this article lists the half-lives of all known radioactives nuclides.
Because of its relative longevity, 226 Ra is the most common isotope of the element, making up about one part per trillion of the Earth's crust; essentially all natural radium is 226 Ra. [29] Thus, radium is found in tiny quantities in the uranium ore uraninite and various other uranium minerals, and in even tinier quantities in thorium minerals.
These 35 radioactive naturally occurring nuclides comprise the radioactive primordial nuclides. The total number of primordial nuclides is then 251 (the stable nuclides) plus the 35 radioactive primordial nuclides, for a total of 286 primordial nuclides. This number is subject to change if new shorter-lived primordials are identified on Earth.
Uranium is a naturally occurring element found in low levels in all rock, soil, and water. It is the highest-numbered element found naturally in significant quantities on Earth and is almost always found combined with other elements. [12] Uranium is the 48th most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. [60]
[89] [90] In fact, it is the 37th most abundant element in the Earth's crust with an abundance of 12 parts per million. [91] In nature, thorium occurs in the +4 oxidation state, together with uranium(IV), zirconium(IV), hafnium(IV), and cerium(IV), and also with scandium, yttrium, and the trivalent lanthanides which have similar ionic radii. [89]
It is the rarest naturally occurring element in the Earth's crust, occurring only as the decay product of various heavier elements. All of astatine's isotopes are short-lived; the most stable is astatine-210, with a half-life of 8.1 hours.
Radioactive nonprimordial, but naturally occurring on Earth. 61 347 Carbon-14 (and other isotopes generated by cosmic rays) and daughters of radioactive primordial elements, such as radium, polonium, etc. 41 of these have a half life of greater than one hour. Radioactive synthetic half-life ≥ 1.0 hour). Includes most useful radiotracers. 662 989