Astatine Element Cube

Astatine Element CubeAstatine's atomic number is 85 and its symbol is At. It is the rarest naturally occurring element in the Earth's crust, occurring only as the decay product of various heavier elements. All of the astatine's isotopes are short lived; the most stable is astatine 210, with a half life of 8. 1 hours. A sample of the pure element has never been assembled, because any macroscopic specimen would be immediately vaporized by the heat of its own radioactivity.

Astatine's atomic number is 85 and its symbol is At. It is the rarest naturally occurring element in the Earth's crust, occurring only as the decay product of various heavier elements. All of the astatine's isotopes are short-lived; the most stable is astatine-210, with a half-life of 8.1 hours. A sample of the pure element has never been assembled, because any macroscopic specimen would be immediately vaporized by the heat of its own radioactivity. The bulk properties of astatine are not known with certainty, but many of them have been estimated based on the element's position on the periodic table. Astatine is likely to have a dark or lustrous appearance and could be a semiconductor or possibly a metal. Named after the Greek word astériktos, meaning "unstable". Much less than one gram is present at any given time in the Earth's crust. Neither the most stable isotope astatine-210, nor the medically useful astatine-211, occur naturally; they can only be produced synthetically. This display is contained within crystal clear Lucite acrylic.

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