Polonium is radioactive and has no assigned standard atomic weight. Its alpha radiation has been used in specialized sources, while production can begin by irradiating bismuth. Polonium also occurs in uranium ores, linking natural radioactive materials with transformations that change one element into another.
FROM ELEMENT TO APPLICATION
AN ELEMENT IN CONTEXT
How did polonium sources help dissipate static charge?
Polonium-containing ionizing sources, a specialized historical use
FOLLOW THIS RELATIONSHIP
Locate the energy source
In the historical antistatic application, radioactive polonium supplied ionizing radiation. The surrounding air, rather than a wire made of polonium, was central to the mechanism.
Explore the model (optional)
PoFORM → INTERACTION → CONSEQUENCE
Follow the explanation in either direction. These are authored steps, not a physical clock.
Optional: check your understanding
USE THE EXPLANATION
What provides the path for charge dissipation in this account?
Atomic identity, reference properties and structure models
INTERACTIVE 3D84 visible sites
An electron censusDrag to rotate · scroll or pinch to zoom
[Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p4. Grouping electrons by principal shell connects the neutral-atom configuration to periodic-table patterns.
What this representation means
A three-dimensional counting diagram. Dots are count markers, not measured electron positions; spherical placement and spacing are arbitrary. There are no electron trajectories here. Orbitals describe quantum states.
Marie and Pierre Curie found that pitchblende was more radioactive than its uranium content could explain. Following that excess activity through chemical separations led them to announce polonium in 1898. The name honored Marie Curie’s homeland, Poland. Polonium helped establish an unfamiliar way to discover elements: evidence could begin with radiation from an extremely small component, long before a visible sample was available.
1898
Discovery announced
The Curies report polonium after tracing activity in pitchblende.
1911
Chemistry recognized
Marie Curie receives the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work including polonium and radium.
Polonium occurs naturally in tiny quantities within radioactive series, including the uranium series. These atoms are continually produced and lost, rather than forming a lasting, resource. Material used in research or specialized sources is manufactured; its origin and must be specified when describing a particular sample.
Polonium occupies group 16 below tellurium, but is metallic rather than oxygen-like in appearance. Its chemical identity concerns and bonding, while its intense comes from unstable . Keeping those two kinds of behavior separate explains why a chemical compound still carries the nuclear properties of its polonium isotope.
Each section links its supporting references. Descriptions and diagrams were authored for this atlas. Source checks completed. Source checks dated 2026-09-06.
CITE THIS PAGE
Family labels and the group-3 layout are teaching conventions. A table position does not establish an unknown bulk property. Electronic configurations refer to neutral atoms; ions and material environments require their own account.
Read each reference property together with its units, conditions and the reference information below.
Not yet recorded: electron affinity, second ionization energy, ground-state term symbol, van der waals radius, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, electrical resistivity, crystal structure, lattice parameter a, space group, abundance in seawater, abundance in the universe, annual production, supply-risk listing, hazard classification, biological role, cas registry number, pubchem cid, wikidata item. These families are declared and awaiting an ingestion run against the source each names; they are listed here rather than shown as empty rows.
Physical
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Phase at 20 °C
solid
293.15 K, 101.325 kPa
Melting point in K
527 K
at standard pressure unless noted
Boiling point in K
1235 K
101.325 kPa
Density in g/cm³
9.2 g/cm³
solids and liquids at 293 K; gases at 273 K and 101.325 kPa
Atomic and electronic
Intended reference: Pauling electronegativity scale · Widely tabulated; original in The Nature of the Chemical Bond
Electronegativity in Pauling
2 Pauling
Pauling scale
First ionization energy in kJ/mol
812.1 kJ/mol
gas-phase neutral atom, ground state
Covalent radius in pm
140 pm
single-bond covalent radius
Common oxidation states
+2, +4
states met in ordinary compounds; not exhaustive
Occurrence and identity
Intended reference: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics · CRC Press
Abundance in the crust
Not recorded
upper continental crust, mass fraction
Has stable isotopes
Noderived
Discovery year in CE
1898 CEderived
WHERE IT SITS AMONG ITS NEIGHBORS
Electronegativity across period 6
Po 2 Pauling · Polonium
Electronegativity across period 6. Exact values.
Cs
0.79
Ba
0.89
La
1.1
Ce
1.12
Pr
1.13
Nd
1.14
Sm
1.17
Eu
1.2
Gd
1.2
Tb
1.1
Dy
1.22
Ho
1.23
Er
1.24
Tm
1.25
Yb
1.1
Lu
1.27
Hf
1.3
Ta
1.5
W
2.36
Re
1.9
Os
2.2
Ir
2.2
Pt
2.28
Au
2.54
Hg
2
Tl
1.62
Pb
2.33
Bi
2.02
Po
2
At
2.2
Electronegativity down group 16
Po 2 Pauling · Polonium
Electronegativity down group 16. Exact values.
O
3.44
S
2.58
Se
2.55
Te
2.1
Po
2
The trend uses the same reference-property values as the periodic table. Elements with no recorded value are left out of the line rather than drawn at zero.
