Protactinium (Pa) Fun Facts
"The Parent, a rare and expensive hero whose destiny is to decay into Actinium."
The true essence of Protactinium (Pa) on the molecular frontier.
Protactinium is a dense, silvery-gray, highly radioactive metal.
Protactinium has no everyday connection, used only in research.
Protactinium is one of the rarest and most expensive naturally occurring elements.
Revision Hub
Master the elements with smart drills and quick revision sheets.
Did You Know?
Its name means "parent of actinium" because it radioactively decays into actinium.
It is one of the rarest and most expensive naturally occurring elements. The UK Atomic Energy Authority once extracted 125 grams of it from 60 tons of nuclear waste at a cost of $500,000.
For a long time after its discovery, it was one of the most difficult elements to study due to its scarcity, high radioactivity, and toxicity.
It is a superconductor at temperatures below 1.4 K.
There are no commercial uses for protactinium outside of basic scientific research.