Radioactive element or isotope?

Question

I heard that a British spy was recently exposed (purposely) to the radioactive Polonium 210. I know that this is radioactive and it causes
cancer, along with other physical problems. Is Polonium 210 a radioactive element or isotope?

Answer 1

Polonium 210 is a radioactive metalloid isotope. The atomic mass of Polonium is 209, so Po 210 would be an isotope of the "standard" elemental polonium. The answer to your question would be it is an element, but it is an isotope of that element. All an isotope means is that it is the same element as before, just with a few more or less neutrons that the atomic number of that atom. This does not make it a different element, just a different isotype of it. For example, Hydrogen has isotopes with no neutrons, 1 neutron, and 2 neutrons. One of these isotopes of Hydrogen is radioactive. It is still the element of Hydrogen, because only the number of protons determine which element it is.

Answer 2

I think your big problem is that you don't fully understand the meaning of the word isotope. Let's say that an atom of element had 50 protons and 65 neutrons and was not radioactive. Another atom of the same element had 60 protons and 69 neutrons and was radioactive. Which one was the isotope? If you said the second, you do not understand isotopes. Both are. Isotopes are simply different forms of the same element. Let's say John was Joe's brother. It follows that Joe must also be John's brother. Same with isotopes. Polonium 209 and Polonium 210 are isotopes of each other. The word "isotope" does not mean radioactive nor is there the implication that the non-radioactive form is not an isotope.

Answer 3

An element contains many different isotopes of the same atoms. Think of this like a litter of puppies. They are all puppies, but some are black, some brown, some with spots, etc. The isotopes simply have a different number of neutrons in the nucleus which gives them a different mass. They are still atoms of Polonium.

Answer 4

Isotope. A radioactive element is just that - an element in its most common form. An isotope is usually more radioactive than the original element.

Answer 5

Isotopes are any of the several different forms of an element each having different atomic mass. Isotopes of an element have nuclei with the same number of protons (the same atomic number) but different numbers of neutrons. Therefore, isotopes have different mass numbers, which give the total number of nucleons—the number of protons plus neutrons.

Answer 6

it is an isotope