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History,
and Where It's Found Today
Cesium was
discovered spectroscopically
by
Bunsen (who the Bunsen Burner is named after) and Kirchoff
in 1860. They found it in mineral water. Today, the richest
source of Cesium is Bernic Lake, Manitoba. It is still must
be isolated by elecytrolsis
though.
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Basic
Information
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Atomic
#
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55
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Atomic
Symbol
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Cs
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Protons
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55
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Electrons
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55
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Neutrons
|
78
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Atomic
Weight
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133
AMU
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State
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Solid
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Melting
Point
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28.5º
C
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Boiling
Point
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678.4º
C
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What
Are "Alkali" Metals?
"Alkali"
Metals are the first family on the periodic table. The thing
that they have in common is all Alkali Metals have one
valence
electron.
Because it is very easy for one electron to be given up,
Alkali Metals react with many other elements. They are one
of the most reactive families.
Other
Alkali Metals:
Lithium,
Sodium,
Potassium,
Rubidium,
Francium
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Uses
For Cesium
Cesium
likes to react with Oxygen very much. That's why
Cesium's primary use is in vacuum
chambers. It takes all the oxygen out of the
chamber by combining with it. The new substance
isn't oxygen, which is the goal of the vacuum tube.
The only other thing it is used in is Atomic
clocks. Cesium doesn't have many other uses because
it is so soft and it has a low melting
point.
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Above: A Vacuum Chamber
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Glossary
- Spectroscope-
"An
instrument for observing atomic and subatomic
particles in a system."
- Electrolysis-
"Chemical change, especially decomposition,
produced in an electrolyte by an electric
current."
- Valence
Electron- "An electron in an outer shell of
an atom that can participate in forming chemical
bonds with other atoms."
- Vacuum-
"A space with an absence of
matter"
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Bibliography
- Physical
Science, Edited By Robert W. Todd, Copyright
2001, Austin Texas, Published By Holt, Rinehart
and Winston.
- Bentor,
Yinon. Chemical
Element.com-Cesium.
Visited Mar. 18, 2002.
- Periodic
Table-
Cesium. Visited Mar. 19, 2002
- Animation
found: AnimaionLibrary.com. Visited Mar.
21, 2002
- Image
found: FlamingText.com. Visited Mar. 21,
2002
- Image
found: home.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/
fdphys/exp/equip.html
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