• Question: What is the most dangerous element in the periodic table? If, you know could humans learn to control it and use it in the future?

    Asked by anon-314215 to Luke, Jamie, Alex H, DrAlexB, Alex on 1 Apr 2022.
    • Photo: Jamie Smith

      Jamie Smith answered on 14 Mar 2022:

      Hi, thanks for your question!

      This is a hard one to answer, elements make up everything – so you could blame any element for being dangerous in the right circumstances.

      Hydrogen is explosive, Arsenic is poisonous, Uranium is radioactive, Francium reacts very easily. Even typical metals like Iron can be dangerous if sharpened.

      Humans already do control and use a lot of these – part of Science and Engineering is learning to manage risks and reducing the amount of danger present when handling or using any substance or equipment.

    • Photo: Luke Humphrey

      Luke Humphrey answered on 14 Mar 2022: last edited 14 Mar 2022 10:59 am

      Nothing more dangerous than humans, so I’d have to say Oxygen, Carbon, and Hydrogen are the big three. 😅

      Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_of_the_human_body

    • Photo: Alex Headspith

      Alex Headspith answered on 14 Mar 2022:

      Ah – The element of surprise?

      I can’t add anymore to Jamie or Luke’s comments- anything is dangerous if used for the wrong purpose.

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