Crossword clues for polonium
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Polonium \Po*lo"ni*um\ (p[-o]*l[=o]"n[i^]*[u^]m), n. [NL. So
named after Poland, in L. form Polonia, one of the
discoverers being a Pole.] (Chem.)
A radioactive chemical element, discovered by M. and MMe.
Curie in pitchblende, and originally called radium F. It
has atomic number 84 and an atomic weight of 210. It is a
very rare natural element, having an abundance in uranium
ores only 0.2% that of radium. It is closely related
chemically to bismuth. It emits only alpha rays, and has a
half-life of 138 days. It is thus more unstable than radium,
and a milligram of polonium emits as many alpha particles as
5 grams of radium. Twenty-seven isotopes are known, with
atomic masses from 192 to 218. At present a more practical
method of preparation than isolation from ores is the
preparation by neutron bombardment of bismuth in a nuclear
reactor, and it may be obtained commercially by users having
an appropriate permit.
--[HBCF61]
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
radioactive element, 1898, discovered by Marie Curie (nee Skłodowska), 1867-1934, and her husband, and named for her native country, Poland (Modern Latin Polonia). With element-name ending -ium.
Wiktionary
n. A chemical element (''symbol'' Po) with atomic number 84.
WordNet
n. a radioactive metallic element that is similar to tellurium and bismuth; occurs in uranium ores but can be produced by bombarding bismuth with neutrons in a nuclear reactor [syn: Po, atomic number 84]
Wikipedia
Polonium is a chemical element with symbol Po and atomic number 84. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though it also shows resemblances to its horizontal neighbors thallium, lead, and bismuth due to its metallic character. Due to the short half-life of all its isotopes, its natural occurrence is limited to tiny traces of the fleeting polonium-210 in uranium ores, as it is the penultimate daughter of natural uranium-238: it has a half-life of 138 days. Though slightly longer-lived isotopes exist, they are much more difficult to produce. Today, polonium is more often produced in milligram quantities by the neutron irradiation of bismuth. Due to its intense radioactivity, that results in radiolysis of chemical bonds and immense radioactive self-heating, its chemistry has mostly been investigated on the trace scale only.
Polonium was discovered in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie, when it was chemically separated out of uranium ore and identified solely by its strong radioactivity: it was the first element to be so discovered. It was named after Marie Curie's homeland of Poland. Applications of polonium are sparse and dependent on its radioactivity: they include heaters in space probes, antistatic devices, and sources of neutrons and alpha particles. Its intense radioactivity makes it dangerously toxic to life.
Usage examples of "polonium".
After that it becomes astatine for three ten-thousandths of a second, and bismuth for an hour, and polonium 212 for three ten-millionths of a second.
By 1898, the year that the Curies discovered radium and polonium, I was an accomplished painter and my canvases were now the rage of Paris.
Its outer rind was a thick tissue of megaflop impolex that had been microwired to act as a computer and as a magnetic field drive, feeding off the energy of the radioactive polonium core.
They were returning to mine a small deposit of polonium reported by the original drone survey of the system as existing on a continent of the ninth planet.
Professor Pierre Curie, who with his wife, Marie, had discovered the elements polonium and radium the year before.
Linder develops electric current directly from the atomic rays by placing collector electrodes in an evacuated chamber containing the polonium or radioactive phosphorus, etc.
Electricity produced by radioactive isotopes, strontium go, polonium zro, by thermoelectric energy conversion.
Otherwise people might have heard Charlie grinding his teeth, but several obviously did hear the unseemly snort from Darcy Dwyer, in his choir stall, when he heard me defined as a Chevalier of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Lorde God 1583, the laste daye of Aprill, the Duke or Prince of Vascos in Polonia, came to London and was lodged at Winchester Howse.
The locust trees are in full bloom, and the polonia, the only tree left of all that were planted by poor Charlotte and myself.
Alessandro Polonia, sold wash-balls, essences, tobacco, and pocket-handkerchiefs, ran errands for gentlemen, and lent money in a small way.
And since there was no use leaving stones unturned, I added to these accreditations "Chevalier of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Generally speaking, once you get past polonium at atomic number 84 everything is radioactive, it spits out particles of its own accord and 'decays' into something else, and the greater an element's atomic number, the more rapidly it decays.
The intermediate elements referred to in this radioactive decay chain are lead (symbol Pb, element 82), polonium (Po, element 84), astatine (At, element 85), francium (Fr, element 87), radium (Ra, element 88), actinium (Ac, element 89), thorium (Th, element 90), protoactinium (Pa, element 91), uranium (U, element 92), neptunium (Np, element 93), and americium (Am, element 95).
The complementary disk of polonium came from the electric shaver that had so worried Karel Wosniak, and replaced the one lost in Glasgow.