Protactinium is both toxic and highly radioactive and thus all manipulations with it are performed in a sealed glove box. Its major isotope 231Pa has a specific activity of per gram and primarily emits alpha-particles with an energy of 5 MeV, which can be stopped by a thin layer of any material. However, it slowly decays, with a half-life of 32,760 years, into 227Ac, which has a specific activity of per gram, emits both alpha and beta radiation, and has a much shorter half-life of 22 years. 227Ac, in turn, decays into lighter isotopes with even shorter half-lives and much greater specific activities (SA), as summarized in the table below showing the decay chain of protactinium-231.