Question: what is the most radioactive element on the periodic table

Chloe Huseyin answered on 11 Nov 2015:

The idea of which is the most radioactive element is quite difficult because we have to ask what we really mean by most radioactive and also we don’t know if we have discovered/invented all of the elements yet.

You could have an element that emits a lot of radiation whose radiation doesn’t penetrate very much or one that emits small about of radiation that can penetrate through a lot of things. To try and explain: There are three main types of ionizing radiation: alpha, beta, and gamma. These are named for the various particles that a radioactive substance may emit. The dangers of these forms of radiation, which we use to try and explain which element is the most radioactive is influenced by how easy they are to shield (stop). Alpha particles will bounce off of virtually anything, even a thin sheet of paper, or skin. Beta rays will penetrate the most basic shields, but can be stopped by something like aluminum. Gamma rays, on the other hand, will penetrate almost anything, which is why heavy lead shields are often used in situations where gamma rays may be released.

Another way to assess what is the most radioactive element is to look at something called it’s half-life. The half-life is the amount of time it takes for the element to decay by half of the starting amount. If you look at the bottom of the periodic table to all the elements that have only been seen after being created by humans. Elements such as unbibium at the end of the table, or ununpentium, are among the most radioactive known to man but they can have very short half-lives (Ununpentium-287, for example, has a half life of only 32ms) compared to elements such as plutonium-239, which has a half-life of more than 200 years!