Rubidium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pronunciation | /ruːˈbɪdiəm/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Appearance | grey white | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Standard atomic weight Ar°(Rb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rubidium in the periodic table | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Atomic number (Z) | 37 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Group | group 1: hydrogen and alkali metals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Period | period 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Block | s-block | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electron configuration | [ Kr ] 5s1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrons per shell | 2, 8, 18, 8, 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Physical properties | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phase at STP | solid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Melting point | 312.45 K (39.30 °C,102.74 °F) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Boiling point | 961 K(688 °C,1270 °F) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Density (at 20° C) | 1.534 g/cm3 [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
when liquid (at m.p.) | 1.46 g/cm3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Triple point | 312.41 K,? kPa [4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Critical point | 2093 K, 16 MPa(extrapolated) [4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Heat of fusion | 2.19 kJ/mol | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Heat of vaporization | 69 kJ/mol | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Molar heat capacity | 31.060 J/(mol·K) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vapor pressure
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Atomic properties | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Oxidation states | common: +1 −1 ? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electronegativity | Pauling scale: 0.82 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ionization energies |
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Atomic radius | empirical:248 pm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Covalent radius | 220±9 pm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Van der Waals radius | 303 pm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spectral lines of rubidium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other properties | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Natural occurrence | primordial | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Crystal structure | body-centered cubic (bcc)(cI2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lattice constant | a = 569.9 pm (at 20 °C) [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thermal expansion | 85.6×10−6/K (at 20 °C) [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thermal conductivity | 58.2 W/(m⋅K) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Electrical resistivity | 128 nΩ⋅m(at 20 °C) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Magnetic ordering | paramagnetic [5] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Molar magnetic susceptibility | +17.0×10−6 cm3/mol(303 K) [6] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Young's modulus | 2.4 GPa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulk modulus | 2.5 GPa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Speed of sound thin rod | 1300 m/s(at 20 °C) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mohs hardness | 0.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brinell hardness | 0.216 MPa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CAS Number | 7440-17-7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discovery | Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff (1861) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
First isolation | George de Hevesy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Isotopes of rubidium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rubidium is a chemical element; it has symbol Rb and atomic number 37. It is a very soft, whitish-grey solid in the alkali metal group, similar to potassium and caesium. [8] Rubidium is the first alkali metal in the group to have a density higher than water. On Earth, natural rubidium comprises two isotopes: 72% is a stable isotope 85Rb, and 28% is slightly radioactive 87Rb, with a half-life of 48.8 billion years – more than three times as long as the estimated age of the universe.
German chemists Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff discovered rubidium in 1861 by the newly developed technique, flame spectroscopy. The name comes from the Latin word rubidus, meaning deep red, the color of its emission spectrum. Rubidium's compounds have various chemical and electronic applications. Rubidium metal is easily vaporized and has a convenient spectral absorption range, making it a frequent target for laser manipulation of atoms. [9] Rubidium is not a known nutrient for any living organisms. However, rubidium ions have similar properties and the same charge as potassium ions, and are actively taken up and treated by animal cells in similar ways.
Rubidium is a very soft, ductile, silvery-white metal. [10] It has a melting point of 39.3 °C (102.7 °F) and a boiling point of 688 °C (1,270 °F). [11] It forms amalgams with mercury and alloys with gold, iron, caesium, sodium, and potassium, but not lithium (despite rubidium and lithium being in the same periodic group). [12] Rubidium and potassium show a very similar purple color in the flame test, and distinguishing the two elements requires more sophisticated analysis, such as spectroscopy. [13]
Rubidium is the second most electropositive of the stable alkali metals and has a very low first ionization energy of only 403 kJ/mol. [11] It has an electron configuration of [Kr]5s1 and is photosensitive. [14] : 382 Due to its strong electropositive nature, rubidium reacts explosively with water [15] to produce rubidium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. [14] : 383 As with all the alkali metals, the reaction is usually vigorous enough to ignite metal or the hydrogen gas produced by the reaction, potentially causing an explosion. [16] Rubidium, being denser than potassium, sinks in water, reacting violently; caesium explodes on contact with water. [17] However, the reaction rates of all alkali metals depend upon surface area of metal in contact with water, with small metal droplets giving explosive rates. [18] Rubidium has also been reported to ignite spontaneously in air. [10]
Rubidium chloride (RbCl) is probably the most used rubidium compound: among several other chlorides, it is used to induce living cells to take up DNA; it is also used as a biomarker, because in nature, it is found only in small quantities in living organisms and when present, replaces potassium. Other common rubidium compounds are the corrosive rubidium hydroxide (RbOH), the starting material for most rubidium-based chemical processes; rubidium carbonate (Rb2CO3), used in some optical glasses, and rubidium copper sulfate, Rb2SO4·CuSO4·6H2O. Rubidium silver iodide (RbAg4I5) has the highest room temperature conductivity of any known ionic crystal, a property exploited in thin film batteries and other applications. [19] [20]
Rubidium forms a number of oxides when exposed to air, including rubidium monoxide (Rb2O), Rb6O, and Rb9O2; rubidium in excess oxygen gives the superoxide RbO2. Rubidium forms salts with halogens, producing rubidium fluoride, rubidium chloride, rubidium bromide, and rubidium iodide. [21]
Although rubidium is monoisotopic, rubidium in the Earth's crust is composed of two isotopes: the stable 85Rb (72.2%) and the radioactive 87Rb (27.8%). [22] Natural rubidium is radioactive, with specific activity of about 670 Bq/g, enough to significantly expose a photographic film in 110 days. [23] [24] Thirty additional rubidium isotopes have been synthesized with half-lives of less than 3 months; most are highly radioactive and have few uses. [25]
Rubidium-87 has a half-life of 48.8×109 years, which is more than three times the age of the universe of (13.799±0.021)×109 years, [26] making it a primordial nuclide. It readily substitutes for potassium in minerals, and is therefore fairly widespread. Rb has been used extensively in dating rocks; 87Rb beta decays to stable 87Sr. During fractional crystallization, Sr tends to concentrate in plagioclase, leaving Rb in the liquid phase. Hence, the Rb/Sr ratio in residual magma may increase over time, and the progressing differentiation results in rocks with elevated Rb/Sr ratios. The highest ratios (10 or more) occur in pegmatites. If the initial amount of Sr is known or can be extrapolated, then the age can be determined by measurement of the Rb and Sr concentrations and of the 87Sr/86Sr ratio. The dates indicate the true age of the minerals only if the rocks have not been subsequently altered (see rubidium–strontium dating). [27] [28]
Rubidium-82, one of the element's non-natural isotopes, is produced by electron-capture decay of strontium-82 with a half-life of 25.36 days. With a half-life of 76 seconds, rubidium-82 decays by positron emission to stable krypton-82. [22]
Rubidium is not abundant, being one of 56 elements that combined make up 0.05% of the Earth's crust; at roughly the 23rd most abundant element in the Earth's crust it is more abundant than zinc or copper. [29] : 4 It occurs naturally in the minerals leucite, pollucite, carnallite, and zinnwaldite, which contain as much as 1% rubidium oxide. Lepidolite contains between 0.3% and 3.5% rubidium, and is the commercial source of the element. [30] Some potassium minerals and potassium chlorides also contain the element in commercially significant quantities. [31]
Seawater contains an average of 125 μg/L of rubidium compared to the much higher value for potassium of 408 mg/L and the much lower value of 0.3 μg/L for caesium. [32] Rubidium is the 18th most abundant element in seawater. [14] : 371
Because of its large ionic radius, rubidium is one of the "incompatible elements". [33] During magma crystallization, rubidium is concentrated together with its heavier analogue caesium in the liquid phase and crystallizes last. Therefore, the largest deposits of rubidium and caesium are zone pegmatite ore bodies formed by this enrichment process. Because rubidium substitutes for potassium in the crystallization of magma, the enrichment is far less effective than that of caesium. Zone pegmatite ore bodies containing mineable quantities of caesium as pollucite or the lithium minerals lepidolite are also a source for rubidium as a by-product. [29]
Two notable sources of rubidium are the rich deposits of pollucite at Bernic Lake, Manitoba, Canada, and the rubicline ((Rb,K)AlSi3O8) found as impurities in pollucite on the Italian island of Elba, with a rubidium content of 17.5%. [34] Both of those deposits are also sources of caesium. [35]
Although rubidium is more abundant in Earth's crust than caesium, the limited applications and the lack of a mineral rich in rubidium limits the production of rubidium compounds to 2 to 4 tonnes per year. [29] Several methods are available for separating potassium, rubidium, and caesium. The fractional crystallization of a rubidium and caesium alum (Cs,Rb)Al(SO4)2·12H2O yields after 30 subsequent steps pure rubidium alum. Two other methods are reported, the chlorostannate process and the ferrocyanide process. [29] [36]
For several years in the 1950s and 1960s, a by-product of potassium production called Alkarb was a main source for rubidium. Alkarb contained 21% rubidium, with the rest being potassium and a small amount of caesium. [37] Today the largest producers of caesium produce rubidium as a by-product from pollucite. [29]
Rubidium was discovered in 1861 by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff, in Heidelberg, Germany, in the mineral lepidolite through flame spectroscopy. Because of the bright red lines in its emission spectrum, they chose a name derived from the Latin word rubidus, meaning "deep red". [38] [39]
Rubidium is a minor component in lepidolite. Kirchhoff and Bunsen processed 150 kg of a lepidolite containing only 0.24% rubidium monoxide (Rb2O). Both potassium and rubidium form insoluble salts with chloroplatinic acid, but those salts show a slight difference in solubility in hot water. Therefore, the less soluble rubidium hexachloroplatinate (Rb2PtCl6) could be obtained by fractional crystallization. After reduction of the hexachloroplatinate with hydrogen, the process yielded 0.51 grams of rubidium chloride (RbCl) for further studies. Bunsen and Kirchhoff began their first large-scale isolation of caesium and rubidium compounds with 44,000 litres (12,000 US gal) of mineral water, which yielded 7.3 grams of caesium chloride and 9.2 grams of rubidium chloride. [38] [39] Rubidium was the second element, shortly after caesium, to be discovered by spectroscopy, just one year after the invention of the spectroscope by Bunsen and Kirchhoff. [40]
The two scientists used the rubidium chloride to estimate that the atomic weight of the new element was 85.36 (the currently accepted value is 85.47). [38] They tried to generate elemental rubidium by electrolysis of molten rubidium chloride, but instead of a metal, they obtained a blue homogeneous substance, which "neither under the naked eye nor under the microscope showed the slightest trace of metallic substance". They presumed that it was a subchloride (Rb
2Cl); however, the product was probably a colloidal mixture of the metal and rubidium chloride. [41] In a second attempt to produce metallic rubidium, Bunsen was able to reduce rubidium by heating charred rubidium tartrate. Although the distilled rubidium was pyrophoric, they were able to determine the density and the melting point. The quality of this research in the 1860s can be appraised by the fact that their determined density differs by less than 0.1 g/cm3 and the melting point by less than 1 °C from the presently accepted values. [42]
The slight radioactivity of rubidium was discovered in 1908, but that was before the theory of isotopes was established in 1910, and the low level of activity (half-life greater than 1010 years) made interpretation complicated. The now proven decay of 87Rb to stable 87Sr through beta decay was still under discussion in the late 1940s. [43] [44]
Rubidium had minimal industrial value before the 1920s. [29] Since then, the most important use of rubidium is research and development, primarily in chemical and electronic applications. In 1995, rubidium-87 was used to produce a Bose–Einstein condensate, [45] for which the discoverers, Eric Allin Cornell, Carl Edwin Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle, won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics. [46]
Rubidium compounds are sometimes used in fireworks to give them a purple color. [47] Rubidium has also been considered for use in a thermoelectric generator using the magnetohydrodynamic principle, whereby hot rubidium ions are passed through a magnetic field. [48] These conduct electricity and act like an armature of a generator, thereby generating an electric current. Rubidium, particularly vaporized 87Rb, is one of the most commonly used atomic species employed for laser cooling and Bose–Einstein condensation. Its desirable features for this application include the ready availability of inexpensive diode laser light at the relevant wavelength and the moderate temperatures required to obtain substantial vapor pressures. [49] [50] For cold-atom applications requiring tunable interactions, 85Rb is preferred for its rich Feshbach spectrum. [51]
Rubidium has been used for polarizing 3He, producing volumes of magnetized 3He gas, with the nuclear spins aligned rather than random. Rubidium vapor is optically pumped by a laser, and the polarized Rb polarizes 3He through the hyperfine interaction. [52] Such spin-polarized 3He cells are useful for neutron polarization measurements and for producing polarized neutron beams for other purposes. [53]
The resonant element in atomic clocks utilizes the hyperfine structure of rubidium's energy levels, and rubidium is useful for high-precision timing. It is used as the main component of secondary frequency references (rubidium oscillators) in cell site transmitters and other electronic transmitting, networking, and test equipment. These rubidium standards are often used with GNSS to produce a "primary frequency standard" that has greater accuracy and is less expensive than caesium standards. [54] [55] Such rubidium standards are often mass-produced for the telecommunications industry. [56]
Other potential or current uses of rubidium include a working fluid in vapor turbines, as a getter in vacuum tubes, and as a photocell component. [57] Rubidium is also used as an ingredient in special types of glass, in the production of superoxide by burning in oxygen, in the study of potassium ion channels in biology, and as the vapor in atomic magnetometers. [58] In particular, 87Rb is used with other alkali metals in the development of spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) magnetometers. [58]
Rubidium-82 is used for positron emission tomography. Rubidium is very similar to potassium, and tissue with high potassium content will also accumulate the radioactive rubidium. One of the main uses is myocardial perfusion imaging. As a result of changes in the blood–brain barrier in brain tumors, rubidium collects more in brain tumors than normal brain tissue, allowing the use of radioisotope rubidium-82 in nuclear medicine to locate and image brain tumors. [59] Rubidium-82 has a very short half-life of 76 seconds, and the production from decay of strontium-82 must be done close to the patient. [60]
Rubidium was tested for the influence on manic depression and depression. [61] [62] Dialysis patients suffering from depression show a depletion in rubidium, and therefore a supplementation may help during depression. [63] In some tests the rubidium was administered as rubidium chloride with up to 720 mg per day for 60 days. [64] [65]
Hazards | |
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GHS labelling: | |
Danger | |
H260, H314 | |
P223, P231+P232, P280, P305+P351+P338, P370+P378, P422 [66] | |
NFPA 704 (fire diamond) |
Rubidium reacts violently with water and can cause fires. To ensure safety and purity, this metal is usually kept under dry mineral oil or sealed in glass ampoules in an inert atmosphere. Rubidium forms peroxides on exposure even to a small amount of air diffused into the oil, and storage is subject to similar precautions as the storage of metallic potassium. [67]
Rubidium, like sodium and potassium, almost always has +1 oxidation state when dissolved in water, even in biological contexts. The human body tends to treat Rb+ ions as if they were potassium ions, and therefore concentrates rubidium in the body's intracellular fluid (i.e., inside cells). [68] The ions are not particularly toxic; a 70 kg person contains on average 0.36 g of rubidium, and an increase in this value by 50 to 100 times did not show negative effects in test persons. [69] The biological half-life of rubidium in humans measures 31–46 days. [61] Although a partial substitution of potassium by rubidium is possible, when more than 50% of the potassium in the muscle tissue of rats was replaced with rubidium, the rats died. [70] [71]
The alkali metals consist of the chemical elements lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K), rubidium (Rb), caesium (Cs), and francium (Fr). Together with hydrogen they constitute group 1, which lies in the s-block of the periodic table. All alkali metals have their outermost electron in an s-orbital: this shared electron configuration results in their having very similar characteristic properties. Indeed, the alkali metals provide the best example of group trends in properties in the periodic table, with elements exhibiting well-characterised homologous behaviour. This family of elements is also known as the lithium family after its leading element.
Caesium is a chemical element; it has symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-golden alkali metal with a melting point of 28.5 °C, which makes it one of only five elemental metals that are liquid at or near room temperature. Caesium has physical and chemical properties similar to those of rubidium and potassium. It is pyrophoric and reacts with water even at −116 °C (−177 °F). It is the least electronegative stable element, with a value of 0.79 on the Pauling scale. It has only one stable isotope, caesium-133. Caesium is mined mostly from pollucite. Caesium-137, a fission product, is extracted from waste produced by nuclear reactors. It has the largest atomic radius of all elements whose radii have been measured or calculated, at about 260 picometres.
Francium is a chemical element; it has symbol Fr and atomic number 87. It is extremely radioactive; its most stable isotope, francium-223, has a half-life of only 22 minutes. It is the second-most electropositive element, behind only caesium, and is the second rarest naturally occurring element. Francium's isotopes decay quickly into astatine, radium, and radon. The electronic structure of a francium atom is [Rn] 7s1; thus, the element is classed as an alkali metal.
Sodium is a chemical element; it has symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable isotope is 23Na. The free metal does not occur in nature and must be prepared from compounds. Sodium is the sixth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and exists in numerous minerals such as feldspars, sodalite, and halite (NaCl). Many salts of sodium are highly water-soluble: sodium ions have been leached by the action of water from the Earth's minerals over eons, and thus sodium and chlorine are the most common dissolved elements by weight in the oceans.
Ununennium, also known as eka-francium or element 119, is a hypothetical chemical element; it has symbol Uue and atomic number 119. Ununennium and Uue are the temporary systematic IUPAC name and symbol respectively, which are used until the element has been discovered, confirmed, and a permanent name is decided upon. In the periodic table of the elements, it is expected to be an s-block element, an alkali metal, and the first element in the eighth period. It is the lightest element that has not yet been synthesized.
Lepidolite is a lilac-gray or rose-colored member of the mica group of minerals with chemical formula K(Li,Al)3(Al,Si,Rb)4O10(F,OH)2. It is the most abundant lithium-bearing mineral and is a secondary source of this metal. It is the major source of the alkali metal rubidium.
Caesium fluoride is an inorganic compound with the formula CsF. A hygroscopic white salt, caesium fluoride is used in the synthesis of organic compounds as a source of the fluoride anion. The compound is noteworthy from the pedagogical perspective as caesium also has the highest electropositivity of all commonly available elements and fluorine has the highest electronegativity.
A flame test is relatively quick test for the presence of some elements in a sample. The technique is archaic and of questionable reliability, but once was a component of qualitative inorganic analysis. The phenomenon is related to pyrotechnics and atomic emission spectroscopy. The color of the flames is understood through the principles of atomic electron transition and photoemission, where varying elements require distinct energy levels (photons) for electron transitions.
Caesium hydroxide is a strong base containing the highly reactive alkali metal caesium, much like the other alkali metal hydroxides such as sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide. It is the strongest of the five alkali metal hydroxides. Fused Caesium hydroxide dissolves glass by attacking silica framework and it has applications in bringing glass samples into a solution for analytical purposes in commercial glass industry and defense waste processing facility. The melting process is carried out in a nickel or zirconium crucible. Caesium hydroxide fusion at 750°C produces complete dissolution of glass pellets.
Caesium chloride or cesium chloride is the inorganic compound with the formula CsCl. This colorless salt is an important source of caesium ions in a variety of niche applications. Its crystal structure forms a major structural type where each caesium ion is coordinated by 8 chloride ions. Caesium chloride dissolves in water. CsCl changes to NaCl structure on heating. Caesium chloride occurs naturally as impurities in carnallite, sylvite and kainite. Less than 20 tonnes of CsCl is produced annually worldwide, mostly from a caesium-bearing mineral pollucite.
Rubidium oxide is the chemical compound with the formula Rb2O. Rubidium oxide is highly reactive towards water, and therefore it would not be expected to occur naturally. The rubidium content in minerals is often calculated and quoted in terms of Rb2O. In reality, the rubidium is typically present as a component of (actually, an impurity in) silicate or aluminosilicate. A major source of rubidium is lepidolite, KLi2Al(Al,Si)3O10(F,OH)2, wherein Rb sometimes replaces K.
Caesium perchlorate or cesium perchlorate (CsClO4), is a perchlorate of caesium. It forms white crystals, which are sparingly soluble in cold water and ethanol. It dissolves more easily in hot water.
Germane is the chemical compound with the formula GeH4, and the germanium analogue of methane. It is the simplest germanium hydride and one of the most useful compounds of germanium. Like the related compounds silane and methane, germane is tetrahedral. It burns in air to produce GeO2 and water. Germane is a group 14 hydride.
Pollucite is a zeolite mineral with the formula (Cs,Na)2Al2Si4O12·2H2O with iron, calcium, rubidium and potassium as common substituting elements. It is important as a significant ore of caesium and sometimes rubidium. It forms a solid solution series with analcime. It crystallizes in the isometric-hexoctahedral crystal system as colorless, white, gray, or rarely pink and blue masses. Well-formed crystals are rare. It has a Mohs hardness of 6.5 and a specific gravity of 2.9, with a brittle fracture and no cleavage.
Rubidium chloride is the chemical compound with the formula RbCl. This alkali metal halide salt is composed of rubidium and chlorine, and finds diverse uses ranging from electrochemistry to molecular biology.
Caesium chromate or cesium chromate is an inorganic compound with the formula Cs2CrO4. It is a yellow crystalline solid that is the caesium salt of chromic acid, and it crystallises in the orthorhombic system.
Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium and rubidium with the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. The Bunsen–Kirchhoff Award for spectroscopy is named after Bunsen and Kirchhoff.
Perchloratoborate is an anion of the form [B(ClO4)4]−. It can form partly stable solid salts with heavy alkali metals. They are more stable than nitratoborate salts. K[B(ClO4)4] decomposes at 35 °C, Rb[B(ClO4)4] is stable to 50 °C, and Cs[B(ClO4)4] can exist up to 80 °C.
Alkali metal nitrates are chemical compounds consisting of an alkali metal and the nitrate ion. Only two are of major commercial value, the sodium and potassium salts. They are white, water-soluble salts with melting points ranging from 255 °C to 414 °C on a relatively narrow span of 159 °C
Rubidium azide is an inorganic compound with the formula RbN3. It is the rubidium salt of the hydrazoic acid HN3. Like most azides, it is explosive.
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