About this episode
In this episode we dive into francium—one of the rarest, most radioactive elements on Earth. We'll trace its prediction by Mendeleev, its discovery by Marguerite Perret in 1939, and how scientists study it in tiny, fleeting bursts. Learn why francium, tucked under cesium in the periodic table, is predicted to be incredibly reactive, how it's artificially created for study, and what its short 22-minute half-life reveals about the mysteries at the edge of the periodic table.
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