Polonium initiator was classified until the 1960s. The Atomic Energy Commission and the Manhattan Project funded human experiments using polonium on five people at the University of Rochester between 1943 and 1947. The people were administered between of polonium to study its excretion. Polonium is a very rare element in nature because of the short half-life of all its isotopes. Po, Po, and Po appear in the decay chain of U; thus polonium can be found in uranium ores at about 0.1 mg per metric ton (1 part in 10), which is approximately 0.2% of the abundance of radium. The amounts
Polonium dioxide out. Gloves made of natural rubber do not provide sufficient protection against the radiation from polonium; surgical gloves are necessary. Neoprene gloves shield radiation from polonium better than natural rubber. Polonium dioxide Polonium dioxide (also known as polonium(IV) oxide) is a chemical compound with the formula PoO. It is one of three oxides of polonium, the other two being polonium monoxide (PoO) and polonium trioxide (PoO). It is a pale yellow crystalline solid at room temperature. Under lowered pressure (such as a vacuum), it decomposes into elemental polonium and oxygen at 500 °C. It is the most stable oxide of