Rubidium

ETYM New Lat., from Latin rubidus red, from rubere to be red. So called from two dark red spectroscopic lines by means of which it was discovered in the lepidolite from Rozena, Moravia. Related to Rubicund.
Soft, silver-white, metallic element, symbol Rb, atomic number 37, atomic weight 85.47. It is one of the alkali metals, ignites spontaneously in air, and reacts violently with water. It is used in photocells and vacuum-tube filaments.
Rubidium was discovered spectroscopically by German physicists Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff in 1861, and named for the red lines in its spectrum.
A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali metal group; burns in air and reacts violently in water; occurs in carnallite and lepidolite and pollucite; SYN. Rb, atomic number 37. + prikaži više