Science Visualized Chemistry

Here’s how long the periodic table’s unstable elements last

Some of these isotopes have half-lives of seconds or less, while others last and last

uranium on the periodic table

HALF-LIFE COUNTDOWN  Generally, for elements after uranium on the periodic table, the further along elements are — the higher their atomic number — the less time they endure.

KamilSD/Alamy Stock Photo

By Carmen Drahl

On the periodic table, most elements have at least one stable form. But others have only unstable forms, all of which decay by emitting radiation and transforming into different elements until becoming one that’s stable.