It is often the single largest contributor to an individual's background radiation dose, but due to local differences in geology, the level of exposure to radon gas differs from place to place. Unlike all other intermediate elements in the aforementioned decay chains, radon is, under standard conditions, gaseous and easily inhaled, and therefore a health hazard. The decay of radon produces many other short-lived nuclides, known as "radon daughters", ending at stable isotopes of lead. Since thorium and uranium are two of the most common radioactive elements on Earth, while also having three isotopes with half-lives on the order of several billion years, radon will be present on Earth long into the future despite its short half-life. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of only 3.8 days, making it one of the rarest elements. Radon itself is the immediate decay product of radium. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through which thorium and uranium slowly decay into various short-lived radioactive elements and eventually into stable lead. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86.
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