At first, it seemed like the poisoned Russian agent might have ingested thallium in the form of thallium(I) sulfate, a rodenticide (rat poison), not allowed in the US and Western countries but still used in other countries. Thallium leads to hair loss. It also replaces potassium in important enzymes in the brain, muscles and skin. It takes 8.0 x 102 mg of thallium ion to kill an average adult. It took a bit of investigating to figure out that the agent was actually poisoned by polonium
States of Matter
The substance that constitutes everything in the universe is known as matter. Matter comprises atoms which in turn are composed of electrons, protons, and neutrons. Different atoms combine together to give rise to molecules that act as a foundation for all kinds of substances. There are five states of matter based on their energies of attraction, namely solid, liquid, gases, plasma, and BEC (Bose-Einstein condensates).
Chemical Reactions and Equations
When a chemical species is transformed into another chemical species it is said to have undergone a chemical reaction. It consists of breaking existing bonds and forming new bonds by changing the position of electrons. These reactions are best explained using a chemical equation.
At first, it seemed like the poisoned Russian agent might have ingested thallium in the form of thallium(I) sulfate, a rodenticide (rat poison), not allowed in the US and Western countries but still used in other countries. Thallium leads to hair loss. It also replaces potassium in important enzymes in the brain, muscles and skin. It takes 8.0 x 102 mg of thallium ion to kill an average adult. It took a bit of investigating to figure out that the agent was actually poisoned by polonium, a radioactive element, harmful only if it goes into the body. The radioactivity emitted by polonium, alpha particles, can be stopped by skin; but, if ingested, it gets into the blood stream, travels to organs and does lots of damage. The maximum safe body amount of polonium is 7 pg (picograms!) The agent was apparently poisoned with about 10 micrograms. To provide the minimum amount of thallium to kill the average adult, how many mL of 0.45 M solution of thallium(I) sulfate needs to be ingested?
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