Rb
INTRODUCTION
Rubidium is a soft very reactive element that tarnishes immediately upon exposure to air and ignites spontaneously to form rubidium oxide, and reacts violently with water.
In its chemical behavior, rubidium resembles sodium and potassium, and is a widely distributed element, ranking about 16th in order of abundance of the elements in Earth’s crust.
BASIC INFORMATIONS
- Atomic Number
- 37
- Atomic Mass
- 85.4678
- Atomic radius
- 0.216
- Ionization energy
- 403
- Electronic config
- 2,8,18,8,1
- Principal Valency
- +1
- Density g/cm³
- 1.53
- Melting point °C
- 39.31
- Boiling point °C
- 688
- Type of Element
- Metal
- Electronegativity
- 0.8
- Element Category
- Alkaline Metal
- Appearance
- Silvery white solid
- Block
- s-block
- Period
- 5
- Group
- 1
- No of Isotopes
- 32
- Occurrence
- Combine
- Abundance in ppm
- 78
- Year of Discovery
- 1861
EXTRACTION
It is extracted by the electrolysis of it's fused salt (often Halides)
OXIDATION STATES
1 (Strongly basic)
MAJOR SOURCE
Lepidolite
EXAMPLES OF COMPOUND PRESENT
Rubidium oxide
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE
* Rubidium is used in making some forms of catalysts and in photoelectric cells.
* The rate of radioactive decay of the isotope rubidium-87 can be used in geologic age determination.
