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The first alphabetical element in the periodic table is actinium. It is a heavy radioactive element, as we discover in episode 1 of Elemental, with Professor Allan Blackman from AUT.
CORRECTION:
In the audio we mistakenly said that Cherenkov radiation happens when particles travel faster than the speed of light. Listener Jennifer Narang wrote in with this helpful and correct explanation:
"Cherenkov radiation is not the result of a particle traveling faster than the speed of light (which is physically impossible). It's due to a particle traveling faster than the PHASE SPEED, which is a totally different animal.
Imagine I were singing scales, going up and down and up and down with my voice. How fast I ran through the notes and returned to my original note, that would be my phase speed. That's completely unrelated to how fast those sound waves - whatever their frequency - are traveling from my mouth to your ears.
Hope this explanation helps shed light on Cherenkov radiation!"
It certainly does help - many thanks.