↑ ← 85 → ↓

85 At Astatine

Halogen, mass: 210 u, no stable isotopes, abundance rank (earth/space): 94/?Click image to magnify. This is only an illustration, not astatine itself. Crystals similar to iodine , but darker in color than these, which due to the extreme radioactivity glow blue and evaporate to dark purple gas. This sight would only last for a fraction of a second. Such an amount of astatine would produce so much heat, it would evaporate almost immediately.


Astatine, with an estimated total mass of 25 grams on Earth, is the rarest natural element here. It is produced in some decay chains, its most stable isotope has a half-life of only a little above eight hours. Chemically, astatine is similar to iodine, but more metallic and inert than this. Despite its rarity and short life, it has an application. Nuclear medicine has preparations with tiny amounts of artificial astatine, made from bismuth , for inner irradiation. Astatine decays to polonium or to bismuth.



The images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, unless otherwise noted. Attribution by linking (outside of the internet credit with url) to the according element page.