4 ms·
> Rhenium is one of the most radioactive of them, but it is several orders of magnitude less radioactive than thorium and uranium. Rhenium does have one stable
by Gare 3y ago
> Rhenium is one of the most radioactive of them, but it is several orders of magnitude less radioactive than thorium and uranium.
Rhenium does have one stable isotope, which comprises 37,4% of naturally ocurring Rhenium. 62,6% is radioactive Rh-187 with a half-life of 10^10 years. That's a bit longer than U-235 or U-238.
But unlike uranium, Rh-187 decays into stable osmium.
- onetimeuse92304 3y agoYeah, rhenium radioactivity is pretty much irrelevant for health. I would worry more about radioactivity as a failure mode for these transistors. Given how fast these are and how few atoms are supposed to be there, the question is if a single atom in the lattice undergoing fission can a) blow up the lattice enough to disrupt it b) make it no longer perform the function because the atom that is there has different chemical properties