Timeline for Why is polonium so unstable compared to bismuth?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 9 at 10:15 | comment | added | Jianing Song | As we move from $^{209}\rm{Bi}$ to $^{210}\rm{Po}$ the alpha decay half-life shrinks by $20$ orders of magnitude, but a thing you've probably missed is that according to $1908.11458$, the alpha decay half-life of $^{208}\rm{Pb}$ would be at the order of $10^{130}$ years, so it shrinks by $111$ orders of magnitude when we move to $^{209}\rm{Bi}$. Yes you were right, $Z=83$ is not so special; the reason that $^{209}\rm{Bi}$ is so weakly radiocative is just that $^{208}\rm{Pb}$ is far too stable; from $^{210}\rm{Pb}$ to $^{211}\rm{Bi}$ would be another thing. | |
| Nov 22, 2023 at 16:05 | history | edited | Mauricio | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 8 characters in body; edited title
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| Nov 22, 2023 at 15:54 | answer | added | user385170 | timeline score: 1 | |
| Feb 7, 2023 at 17:44 | history | edited | Qmechanic♦ |
edited tags
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| Feb 7, 2023 at 17:43 | answer | added | Toan Phuc | timeline score: 4 | |
| Dec 15, 2022 at 9:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackPhysics/status/1603313946940870659 | ||
| Dec 14, 2022 at 21:12 | comment | added | g s | Polonium 210 to Lead 206 by alpha has almost twice the decay energy of Bismuth 209 to Thallium 205 by alpha. That probably has something to do with it. | |
| Dec 14, 2022 at 21:00 | comment | added | Agnius Vasiliauskas | I'm not sure for the real answer, but Polonium-210 has spontaneous fission coefficient $Z^2/A \approx 33.6$, while for Bismuth-209 it's about $32.9$. It's not a huge difference, but probability for Spontaneous fission is greater for Polonium-210. But maybe there are additional factors. | |
| Dec 14, 2022 at 20:30 | history | edited | David Bailey | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Changed "quintillion" which is traditionally defined differently in British and American, so scientific notation.
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| S Dec 14, 2022 at 19:44 | review | First questions | |||
| Dec 14, 2022 at 20:30 | |||||
| S Dec 14, 2022 at 19:44 | history | asked | electricpants | CC BY-SA 4.0 |