The amount of francium present in the Earth’s crust is less than 28 grams at any given time, and no one has ever been able to obtain a measurable quantity, according to IFL Science.
Located at the end of the periodic table and the element with the highest radioactivity in the periodic table, francium is extremely toxic to anyone who approaches it. Its radioactivity reaches up to 45,000 curies/mg.
Francium has the atomic number 87 on the periodic table. (Photo: Intothelight Photography).
In fact, the scientific community has never been able to observe francium. There are no known applications, and it appears to perform no biological functions. It is so rare and fleeting that scientists wishing to study the element must create francium themselves by allowing neutrons to collide with radium or protons to collide with thorium.
For many years, the existence of francium was only theoretical. Dmitri Mendeleev, the father of the periodic table, was the first to hypothesize that there was an undiscovered alkali metal hidden in the universe with the atomic number 87. This sparked a race to discover the mysterious element. Many distinguished scientists claimed to have found it, but their results were later dismissed.
The only isotope of francium that occurs naturally is francium-223, which forms during the radioactive decay of actinium. In 1939, it was first discovered by French physicist Marguerite Perey, who was working with actinium at the Radium Institute in Paris and had previously been a personal assistant to Marie Curie. The element 87 was then named “francium” after Perey’s homeland.
Subsequent observations after its discovery revealed that francium-223 has a half-life of only 22 minutes. In contrast, uranium-235, a radioactive isotope used as fuel for nuclear power plants, has a half-life of about 700 million years.
