Polonium

General properties
Name, symbol, number	polonium, Po, 84
Element category	post-transition metal
Group, period, block	16, 6, p
Standard atomic weight	(209)
Electron configuration	[Xe] 6s2 4f14 5d10 6p4 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 6
History
Discovery	Pierre Curie and Marie Curie (1898)
First isolation	Willy Marckwald (1902)

Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84, discovered in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie. A rare and highly radioactive element with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to bismuth and tellurium, and it occurs in uranium ores. Applications of polonium are few, and include heaters in space probes, antistatic devices, and sources of neutrons and alpha particles. Because of its position in the periodic table, polonium is sometimes referred to as a metalloid, however others note that on the basis of its properties and behavior it is "unambiguously a metal".

Return to Periodic Table