week six

halogen of the week: 

astatine.

astatine is the rarest naturally occurring element on earth. it's estimated that there are between 25 and 28 grams of the stuff in the earth's crust at any given time. so i've got more grams of the earth's crust stuck to the bottom of my hiking boots than the earth has natural astatine, period. that's not much. what there is, is produced by the decay of uranium and thorium.

astatine is in the halogen family, and they are quite dysfunctional. or at least extremely reactive. in fact, they are the most reactive elements yet discovered. and even though astatine is the least reactive of the bunch, it's still named for the greek "astatos" meaning 'unstable'. (maybe the halogens could get some counseling from neon and company next door.) 

it's the darkest halogen, assumed to be nearly black in solid form, giving a "dark purplish vapor" when heated. could be fun to have around on halloween - if there were more than 28 natural grams of it!

astatine's extremely short half-life of up to eight hours or so make it challenging to work with. and though it can be carcinogenic, it's being tested on mice for use in radiation therapy. it's isotope At211 has a half-life of 7.2 hours and emits alpha particles which can reduce ascites without being overly toxic to healthy tissues. and if you're wondering how the heck they get those 28 grams out of the earth and use them to torture mice, they don't. i mean, yes, they do torture mice, unfortunately. thank you mice, we love you. but no, they don't use the tiny amount in the earth's crust - how would they find it? and what would they collect it with? instead they make isotopes of astatine by "bombarding bismuth with alpha particles". that part sounds kind of fun, but only 0.00000005 grams of astatine have been produced in this way up to now.

At's atomic number is 85, with an atomic mass of 210.

alchemy?: 

alchemy seems to be practical meditation. the union of body and spirit. the taiji taken apart and put back together again. the quest for ultimate oneness with the divine. this might be a purely internal exercise.  or, as everything is a holistic representation of all that is, playing consciously and with very clear intention with elements on the physical level would have to affect all other levels of the being. holding sacred the intention to transform the physical, that transformation would necessarily be reflected in spirit. and i do wonder about the modern chemical world and the consciousness with which so many transmutations are performed. the intention, presence, and deep purpose - or lack thereof. how does this recklessness reverberate through our reality as we make use of the products of these (al)chemical reactions?