Polonium subjects were chosen because experimenters wanted persons who had not been exposed to polonium either through work or accident. All subjects had incurable diseases. Excretion of polonium was followed, and an autopsy was conducted at that time on the deceased patient to determine which organs absorbed the polonium. Patients' ages ranged from 'early thirties' to 'early forties'. The experiments were described in Chapter 3 of Biological Studies with Polonium, Radium, and Plutonium, National Nuclear Energy Series, Volume VI-3, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1950. Not specified is the isotope under study, but at the time polonium-210 was the most readily available polonium
Polonium dichloride Polonium dichloride Polonium dichloride is a chemical compound of the radioactive metalloid polonium and chlorine. Its chemical formula is PoCl. Polonium dichloride appears to crystallise with an orthorhombic unit cell in either the "P"222, "P"mm2 or "Pmmm" space group, although this is likely a pseudo-cell. Alternatively, the true space group may be monoclinic or triclinic, with one or more cell angles close to 90°. Assuming the space group is "P"222, the structure exhibits distorted cubic coordination of Po as {PoCl} and distorted square planar coordination of Cl as {ClPo}. PoCl can be obtained either by halogenation of polonium metal or