If radioactive elements decay over time, and after turning into other radioactive elements one day turn into a stable element (e.g. Uranium -> Radium -> Radon -> Polonium -> Lead): Does this mean one day there will be no radioactive elements left on earth?
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The simplest way of putting it is yes, all Isotopes will eventually decay. However the Earth will cease to exist *long* before that happens.
Uranium-238 for example has a half life of 4.5 Billion years (the age of the earth today), which means that long after the Earth has been swallowed up by our nearest and dearest Star there will still be roughly half the Uranium-238 there is today.
But that’s not even scratching the surface. Some isotopes, such as Xenon-124 will far outlast even the age of the entire universe as we know it, and will certainly be one of the last remaining known Isotopes to decay with a half life of 1.8×10^22 (~18 Sextillion) years, or roughly 1 Trillion times the age of the universe.
Xe-124 will likely outlast the longest lived celestial bodies like Red Dwarf Stars, and maybe even the evaporation of some black holes.
So we *will* run out eventually, but not for a long while…
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