The key difference between asbestos and radon is that asbestos is a silicate mineral used in manufacturing processes, whereas radon is a radioactive chemical element that cannot be used in manufacturing processes.
Asbestos and radon are important chemical substances. Asbestos is a naturally occurring silicate mineral. Radon, on the other hand, is a noble gas having the chemical symbol Rn and atomic number 86. Both these are considered carcinogens that can cause cancer through heavy, repeated exposure.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Asbestos
3. What is Radon
4. Asbestos vs Radon in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Asbestos vs Radon
What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a naturally occurring silicate mineral. There are six forms of this mineral, and we collectively use the name asbestos. This material occurs as long, thin fibrous crystals. Each of these fibers contains fibrils. These fibrils are on the microscopic scale. Moreover, these fibrils easily move to the atmosphere via abrasion or other processes. The crystal system of this mineral can be described as either orthorhombic or monoclinic because both these structures can be seen. This mineral has a white-grey appearance. The crystal habit is amorphous, and cleavage is prismatic. The fracture of asbestos is fibrous. It has a silky luster, and the mineral streak is white.
Figure 01: Asbestos
Asbestos is widely used as a building material, mainly in roofing. However, it is well known for its health hazards. Therefore, in many countries, this material is banned and not allowed to be used as a building material. This is mainly because the inhalation of fibrils of asbestos can cause carcinogenic conditions such as asbestosis and lung cancer. Therefore, many materials came into use as substitutes for asbestos.
The chemical formula of asbestos can be given as Mg3Si2O5(OH)4. Its molar mass is 277.11 g/mol. It appears in green, red, yellow, white, gray, or blue colors. It has a crystal habit of an amorphous, granular, massive structure. The cleavage can be described as prismatic, and the fracture is fibrous. The Mohs scale can range from 2.5 to 6.0. It has a silky luster, and the specific gravity ranges from 2.4 to 3.3.
What is Radon?
Radon is a noble gas having the chemical symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive element due to its large atomic number, which also makes it unstable. It is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless noble gas. Naturally, this element occurs in the intermediate steps of the radioactive decay of thorium and uranium. Radon is the intermediate decay product of radium. The atomic mass of the most common and stable isotope of radon is 222. However, the half-life of this stable isotope is about 3.8 days. Since its decay occurs quickly, radon is among the rarest chemical elements on Earth.
Figure 02: Radium Series
Radon is a p-block element in group 18 and period 6. It has a complete electronic structure according to the octet rule. It has minus values for melting point and boiling point, which makes it an essential gas at room temperature and pressure conditions. In addition, it has a face-centered cubic crystal structure. When considering its magnetic properties, it is non-magnetic because radon atoms have no unpaired electrons. Moreover, it is the densest noble gas, and it is an inert gas.
What is the Difference Between Asbestos and Radon?
The key difference between asbestos and radon is that asbestos is a silicate mineral used in manufacturing processes, whereas radon is a radioactive chemical element that cannot be used in manufacturing processes.
The below infographic presents the differences between asbestos and radon in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Asbestos vs Radon
Asbestos is a naturally occurring silicate mineral, while radon is a noble gas having the chemical symbol Rn and atomic number 86. Therefore, the key difference between asbestos and radon is that asbestos is a silicate mineral used in manufacturing processes, whereas radon is a radioactive chemical element that cannot be used in manufacturing processes.
Reference:
1. “Asbestos.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Asbestos with muscovite” By Aram Dulyan (User:Aramgutang) – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Decay chain(4n+2, Uranium series)” By User:Tosaka – File:Decay chain(4n+2, Uranium series).PNG (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia