What a great can of worms we've got on our hands. An ex-KGB man dies in London, the Russian government is implicated and it seems the Italian PM was investigated for links with Soviet Intelligence by an associate of the dead man. And all around this, polonium 210, an obscure yet dangerous isotope of an element discovered by the Curies.The stuff emits alpha radiation (i.e. a helium-4 nucleus) - not too dangerous outside the body, as it has only a range of a few cm and is almost completely blocked by a sheet of paper. If it's taken in though, it's a different matter: alpha radiation, with a charge of +2, ionises (removes electrons from atoms) strongly, altering body chemistry. According to that bastion of knowledge, Wikipedia, half a gram of polonium -210 can release enough energy in its decay to raise its temperature over 750 K ( subtract 273 for T in degrees C). 1g of it can produce 140W of power.
Even better - well, not if its inside you - Po-210 has a half-life of around 138 days. I guess that means that if you inhale 2g of it, you'll end up with 1g of it still in you after more than 3 months. And half a gram, you'll remember, is pretty powerful.
In any case, despite being a truly horrific case of brutality and inhumanity, it seems to be a classic thriller played out in real life; science and politics mixed up in just the right amounts. I guess we're gripped by it for the same reason that we watch CSI.
