| Símbolo | Po |
| Número atómico | 84 |
| Grupo | 16 (Familia del oxígeno) |
| Período | 6 |
| Bloque | p |
| Clasificación | Metal del bloque p |
| Apariencia | Silvery |
| Color | Plata |
| Número de protones | 84 p+ |
| Número de neutrones | 125 n0 |
| Número de electrones | 84 e- |
| Fase en STP | Sólido |
| Densidad | 9.196 g/cm3 |
| Peso atómico | 209 u |
| Punto de fusión | 527 K 253.85 °C 488.93 °F |
| Punto de ebullición | 1235 K 961.85 °C 1763.33 °F |
| Entalpía de vaporización | 120 kJ/mol |
| Electronegatividad (Escala de Pauling) | 2 |
| Afinidad electrónica | 136 kJ/mol |
| Estado de oxidación | −2, +2, +4, +5, +6 (an amphoteric oxide) |
| Energía de ionización |
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| Descubrimiento | Pierre Curie, Marie Curie (1898) |
| Primer aislamiento | Willy Marckwald (1902) |
| Nombrado por | Pierre Curie, Marie Curie |
Descubrimiento de polonio Tentatively called "radium F", polonium was discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie in July 1898, when it was extracted from the uranium ore pitchblende and identified solely by its strong radioactivity: it was the first element to be so discovered. It was named after Marie Curie's native land of Poland (Latin: Polonia). Poland at the time was under Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian partition, and did not exist as an independent country. It was Curie's hope that naming the element after her native land would publicize its lack of independence. Polonium may be the first element named to highlight a political controversy. German scientist Willy Marckwald successfully isolated 3 milligrams of polonium in 1902, though at the time he believed it was a new element, which he dubbed "radio-tellurium", and it was not until 1905 that it was demonstrated to be the same as polonium. | |