the.com/francium
the most reactive metal nobody has ever seen, gone before the photo finishes.
means Francium is an intensely radioactive alkali metal, element 87, that decays so fast only tiny amounts ever exist at once.
from Named for France by Marguerite Perey, who discovered it in 1939 at the Curie Institute in Paris — the last element first found in nature rather than made in a lab. The patriotic naming follows a long tradition, much like gallium for France's old Roman name, Gaul.
- vanishing act
- Only ounce-fractions exist on Earth at any moment
- half-life
- Most stable isotope lasts just 22 minutes
- discovery
- Last element found in nature, 1939, by Marguerite Perey
- too hot
- Decays so fast it would boil itself instantly
- named for
- Honors France, Perey's home country
for instance
francium-223 — most stable isotope with half-life of 22 minutes, discovered in 1939 by marguerite perey
francium in uranium ore — naturally occurring in trace amounts in pitchblende deposits, estimated at ~25 grams in earth's crust at any time