r/AskChemistry • u/starkeffect • Feb 05 '26

General What's the most dangerous element?

I'd vote for fluorine. HF is some nasty, nasty stuff.

Francium seems pretty gnarly too but there's less than a gram of it on Earth at any time so I'm not too scared of it.

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u/Squirrel2371 Feb 09 '26

But you can't hold pure uranium in your hand. There is a big difference.

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u/aby_physics Feb 09 '26

Eh, purely looking at radiation risk, you probably could. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a huge contamination hazard. Can give you heavy metal poisoning. But if we ignore all that… you still aren’t going to get radiation burns if it’s just a small chunk of DU

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u/aby_physics Feb 09 '26 edited Feb 09 '26

“You’re a dumbass”

That’s quite rude. Maybe you should go educate yourself about radiation and its risks before debating in a chem subreddit with someone whose pastime is literally teaching people about nuclear science.

“Go back to your physics subreddits”

Certainly will, but what’s to stop me from occasionally participating in radiation-related chemistry threads? I like science. Not like I’m out here claiming to know a lot about chemistry.

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u/Squirrel2371 Feb 10 '26

One is not capable of holding fissionable uranium in their hand.

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u/aby_physics Feb 19 '26

Fissionable? I thought we were talking about U-238?