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11-year-old reader Henry has a passion for science
© Naomi Cearns
Rarest element
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Dear HIW,
My son Henry (11) loves science and is just learning about the periodic table. He’d like to know all about the rarest element – what is it, what does it do and where can it be found?
Naomi and Henry Cearns
Thanks for your question and for sending in these great photographs. The elements on the periodic table make up everything that surrounds us, and as you’ve mentioned, some in higher volumes than others. On Earth the rarest of these elements to occur in nature is astatine. It’s found in the planet’s crust and is highly radioactive, with a half-life of just over 8.1 hours. At any one time, there is believed to be only one gram of this element in the Earth’s crust. Scientists have also made synthetic elements in the laboratory that are even rarer and more unstable, including oganesson. Only five atoms of this element have ever been made, with a half-life of a fraction of a second.