Francium Facts: Curious Details On Radioactive Elements For Kids

As of 2012, we haven't produced, or found, enough francium elements to weigh them.

Francium can be cooled, trapped, and synthesized. It also has a simple atomic structure.

Francium (symbol - Fr) is a chemical element with atomic number 87. Francium 223 is the most stable isotope of francium, and its half-life is 22 minutes.

It is the second-most element in the electropositivity and naturally occurring rating after cesium, and astatine, respectively. The isotopes of francium decay to become radon, radium, and astatine.

Francium atom has [Rn]7s1 as its electronic configuration, due to which it is classified as an alkali metal. No one has ever observed bulk Francium.

However, due to the common appearance of other elements in the same column as Francium, it is accepted that this element would be a highly reactive metal. Obtaining a bulk francium sample is highly implausible because of the high amount of heat of decay due to its short half-life that would instantly vaporize any visible element quantity.

Francium Classification In Periodic Table

Francium has the atomic number 87 and is classified at period seven and group one. It is the heaviest among the elements of group one and second in electropositivity.

Francium is considered the second-rarest natural element after astatine in our earth's crust and is a radioactive element. As this natural element is highly unstable and rare, it has no use. However, it has been used for research purposes in chemistry.

• One of the francium facts is that there are currently known 33 isotopes of francium.
• Francium has no practical application in any industry or commerce.
• Fr-223 the stable isotope of francium also has the l0ngest half-life measuring around 21.8 minutes.
• Only two highly unstable isotopes of francium are found in nature.
• Francium-215 is the ground state isotope that is least stable and has a half-life of 0.12 microseconds.
• With a half-life of around 4.8 minutes, Francium-221 undergoes alpha decay turning into astatine-217.

Discovery Of Francium

Marguerite Perey discovered Francium by alpha decay of actinium, in France and is also named for the same reason in 1939. Before the discovery of this element, it was named ekacaesium or Eka-caesium due to its accepted existence under the cesium element in the periodic table.

Francium ( atomic number 87) was the last element to be first discovered in nature, then by the process of synthesis.

Francium element is rare outside the laboratory and occurs naturally in trace amounts in thorium and uranium minerals. Around 1 oz (20-30 g) of francium is found in the Earth's crust at any given time.

• The largest amount of Francium produced was a cluster of over 300,000 Francium atoms in a laboratory.
• Marguerite Perey was curious about a discovery made by American scientists of beta particles emitted by actinium radioactive decay that had higher energy than usual.
• Perey was then able to discover that actinium-227 decayed after emitting helium nucleus or alpha particle from its nucleus.
• The actinium was free of all the known radioactive impurities, however, one element was still present as per the radioactivity, and she was able to identify that as francium-87.
• Francium was discovered in Paris' Curie institute. Unlike other researchers of francium in the Curie institute, Marguerite Perey found that actinium-227 was the main source of francium.

Francium Properties

The physical properties of francium are that at standard temperature and pressure francium has a solid-state. The boiling point of francium is 1251 F (677 C) and the melting point is 81 F (27 C).

The color of francium is silver-gray, however, this is unconfirmed. It is one of the alkali metals and is a heavy element that has a single valence electron with the highest equivalent weight among all the other elements. Due to the radioactivity and rarity of Francium, the melting point is uncertain.

• A most recent study on francium was done in New York's Stony Brook University. Scientists were able to trap around 10,000 francium atoms with laser beams within a magnetic field to assess their properties.
• The boiling point and melting point can not be calculated due to francium is susceptible to decay and rarity.
• Francium was used to study coupling constants between energy levels and subatomic particles within spectroscopy experiments.
• This element may be used in diagnostic tests for cancer in the future.
• Francium is a liquid in a warm room if there were enough of them.

Chemical Characteristics Of Francium

The chemical properties of francium are similar to that of cesium. The electron affinity and ionization energy are slightly higher than cesium. Francium is a chemically reactive alkali metal as it is the least electronegative material. Like other alkali metals, Francium reacts vigorously with water and easily oxidizes in air. Most francium salts are soluble in water.

• Radiochemical techniques are the method used to study the chemical properties of francium due to its instability.
• All elements discovered after Francium were discovered in laboratories.
• There was no need to study the impacts of Francium on the environment and human health because any amount of Francium fund would quickly decay turning into other elements.
• Studies that were done on laser-trapped Francium-210 ions' ability to emit light provided precise data on the atomic energy-level transition that was quite identical to quantum theory results of the same experiment.
• The radioactivity of Francium could be a threat to nuclear materials and human cells.