![]() Cesium chloride (CsCl) and cesium nitrate (CsNO 3) are cesium's most common compounds and are primarily used in the production of other chemicals. ![]() Cesium hydroxide is the strongest base known and will attack glass. Since it is easily ionized and has a high mass, cesium ions may one day be used as a propellant in ion engines on spacecraft.Ĭesium reacts violently with water and ice, forming cesium hydroxide (CsOH). Cesium is also used in atomic clocks, in photoelectric cells and as a catalyst in the hydrogenation of certain organic compounds. Cesium readily combines with oxygen and is used as a getter, a material that combines with and removes trace gases from vacuum tubes. Cesium is recovered from cesium azide by heating it.Ĭesium has the second lowest melting point of all metallic elements, which limits its uses. ![]() Metallic cesium is too reactive to easily handle and is usually sold in the form of cesium azide (CsN 3). To obtain pure cesium, cesium and rubidium ores are crushed and heated with sodium metal to 650☌, forming an alloy that can then be separated with a process known as fractional distillation. Obtaining pure cesium is difficult since cesium ores are frequently contaminated with rubidium, an element that is chemically similar to cesium. Today, cesium is primarily obtained from the mineral pollucite (CsAlSi 2O 6). Cesiums Place in the Periodic Table Atomic number: 55 Atomic Radius: 244 picometers Atomic mass: 132.91 Symbol: Cs Group: 1 Period: 6 Number of Protons. They named cesium after the blue lines they observed in its spectrum. Cesium was discovered by Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, German chemists, in 1860 through the spectroscopic analysis of Durkheim mineral water.
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