What are some fun facts about cesium?
What are some fun facts about cesium?
Cesium is incredibly accurate at timekeeping and is used in atomic clocks. The official definition of a second is the time it takes for the cesium atom to vibrate 9,192,631,770 times between energy levels. Cesium-based atomic clocks lose one second per 100 million years.
What are 5 common uses of cesium?
Caesium: uses
- used as a catalyst in the hydrogenation of a few organic compounds.
- the metal can be used in ion propulsion systems.
- used in atomic clocks.
- because of its high oxygen affinity, the metal is used as a “getter” in electron tubes.
- used in photoelectric cells and vacuum tubes.
- IR lamps.
Who was caesium discovered by?
Robert Bunsen
Gustav Kirchhoff
Caesium/Discoverers
How many shells does caesium have?
Data Zone
| Classification: | Cesium is an alkali metal |
|---|---|
| Protons: | 55 |
| Neutrons in most abundant isotope: | 78 |
| Electron shells: | 2,8,18,18,8,1 |
| Electron configuration: | [Xe] 6s1 |
Is cesium toxic?
Nonradioactive caesium compounds are only mildly toxic, but the pure metal’s tendency to react explosively with water means that caesium is considered a hazardous material, and the radioisotopes present a significant health and ecological hazard in the environment.
Why is cesium useful?
The most common use for caesium compounds is as a drilling fluid. They are also used to make special optical glass, as a catalyst promoter, in vacuum tubes and in radiation monitoring equipment. One of its most important uses is in the ‘caesium clock’ (atomic clock).
How did caesium get its name?
Caesium gets its name from the Greek for heavenly blue. Not for its eyes (it’s only an element!) but less romantically for the appearance of its emission spectrum in the spectroscope. Caesium was discovered in 1860 by Robert Bunsen (he of the burner fame) and physicist Gustav Kirchhoff.
Who named iron?
The word iron is from an Anglo-Saxon word, iren. The word iron is possibly derived from earlier words meaning “holy metal” because it was used to make the swords used in the Crusades, according to WebElements.
Who discovered iron 59?
He followed Frederick Soddy’s work investigating isotopes and contributed to the discovery of more than 100 isotopes of elements. Using one of Lawrence’s advanced cyclotrons, John Livingood, Fred Fairbrother, and Seaborg created a new isotope of iron, iron-59 in 1937.