In 1953, Hyde and Ghiorso were able to find 219At with large amounts of 227Ac produced in a nuclear reactor. In order to isolate a naturally occurring version of astatine, the product was evaporated on Pt filament. It was then heated to a temperature high enough to volatilize the astatine, but not the other impurities. After 15 seconds of this process, volatilized astatine was collected. (Berei 1985) Unfortunately, the product only had a half-life of .9 minutes. Additional experimentation increased the half-life to 4-6 minutes. Other ways of finding naturally occurring astatine were found, including an experiment with Peppard and colleagues using 225Ac to create 217At. After this, astatine could be considered as “naturally
In 1953, Hyde and Ghiorso were able to find 219At with large amounts of 227Ac produced in a nuclear reactor. In order to isolate a naturally occurring version of astatine, the product was evaporated on Pt filament. It was then heated to a temperature high enough to volatilize the astatine, but not the other impurities. After 15 seconds of this process, volatilized astatine was collected. (Berei 1985) Unfortunately, the product only had a half-life of .9 minutes. Additional experimentation increased the half-life to 4-6 minutes. Other ways of finding naturally occurring astatine were found, including an experiment with Peppard and colleagues using 225Ac to create 217At. After this, astatine could be considered as “naturally