It is the more electropositive than any other element. It is one of the few elements that is liquid at room temperature, and in its solid form, cesium is the softest of all metals. It explosively reacts with water and absorbs oxygen willingly.
In 1859, Robert Wilhem Bunsen, and his coworker, Gustav Robert Kirchhoff were interested in the new technology of spectroscopic chemical analysis. During their studies, Bunsen and Kirchhoff came up with the idea of using the spectroscope to look at the lines showing the principal elements in mineral water. They found spectral lines for sodium, potassium, lithium, calcium, and strontium. Next, they took away the metals and started observing the absence of their lines from the spectrum. As the lines were removed, two bright blue lines unexpectedly appeared. Bunsen named the new element cesium, meaning sky blue.
Cesium is used for a variety of things. It's main use is to remove traces of oxygen in vacuum tubes, since it likes to absorb. Cesium is also used in photoelectric cells, and as a catalyst in hydrogenation of certain organic compounds. Cesium is also used in video cameras, and in atomic clocks, since it puts out a natural frequency. .
Cesium is in group IA or the alkali metal family with Rubidium .
above it and Francium below it. Barium, in the family Alkaline-earth metals .
is right beside it. Cesium is in period 6 on the periodic table.
Cesium is produced through a mineral called, pollucite, but usually .
the carbonates are mixed with the potassium ore, lepidolite. A problem with .
refining cesium is that rubidium is always mixed with the ores, and this .
element has many properties similar to cesium. Because they are so close .
together, Cesium and rubidium are difficult to separate from one another. A .
rubidium and cesium mixture is obtained from one of the ores. This mixture .
used to be created by lengthy and time consuming crystallization processes.
