37. Rubidium - Elementymology & Elements Multidict

Elementymology & Elements Multidict

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37
Rubidium
Rubidium – Rubidium – Rubidium – Rubídio – ルビジウム – Рубидий – 銣
Rb
Multilingual dictionary

Indo-European
Rubidium Latin

— Germanic
Rubidium Afrikaans
Rubidium Danish
Rubidium German
Rubidium English
Rubidium Faroese
Rubidium Frisian (West)
Rúbidín Icelandic
Rubidium Luxembourgish
Rubidium Dutch
Rubidium Norwegian
Rubidium Swedish

— Italic
Rubidio Aragonese
Rubidiumu Aromanian
Rubidiu Asturian
Rubidi Catalan
Rubídio Spanish
Rubidium French
Rubidi Friulian
Rubidio Galician
Rubidio Italian
Rübídi Lombard
Rubidi Occitan
Rubídio Portuguese
Rubidiu Romanian - Moldovan

— Slavic
Рубидий [Rubidij] Bulgarian
Rubidij[um] Bosnian
Рубідый [rubidyj] Belarusian
Rubidium Czech
Rubidij Croatian
Rubid Kashubian
Рубидиум [Rubidium] Macedonian
Rubid Polish
Рубидий [Rubidij] Russian
Rubidium Slovak
Rubidij Slovenian
Рубидијум [Rubidijum] Serbian
Рубідій [rubidij] Ukrainian

— Baltic
Rubidis Lithuanian
Rubīdijs Latvian
Robėdis Samogitian

— Celtic
Rubidiom Breton
Rwbidiwm Welsh
Rúbaidiam Gaelic (Irish)
Rubaidiam Gaelic (Scottish)
Rubiddjum Gaelic (Manx)
Rubydyum Cornish

— Other Indo-European
Ρουβιdιο [rouvidio] Greek
Ռուբիդիում [ŗubidium] Armenian
Rubid, ²Rubidium Albanian

— Indo-Iranian/Iranian
Rûbîdyûm Kurdish
Рубидий [rubidij] Ossetian
Рубидий [Rubidi'] Tajik

— Indo-Iranian/Indo-Aryan
রুবিডিয়াম [rubiḍiẏāma] Bengali
روبیدیم [rwbydym] Persian
રૂબિડિયમનો [rūbiḍiyamano] Gujarati
रुबिडियम [rubiḍiyama] Hindi

Finno-Ugric
Rubiidium Estonian
Rubidium Finnish
Rubídium Hungarian
Рубидий [Rubidij] Komi
Рубидий [Rubidij] Mari
Рубиди [rubidi] Moksha
Rubiidium Võro

Altaic
Rubidium Azerbaijani
Рубиди [Rubidi] Chuvash
Рубидий [rûbidij] Kazakh
Рубидий [Rubidij] Kyrgyz
Рубиди [rubidi] Mongolian
Rubidyum Turkish
رۇبىدىي [rubidiy] Uyghur
Rubidiy Uzbek

Other (Europe)
Rubidioa Basque
რუბიდიუმი [rubidiumi] Georgian

Afro-Asiatic
روبيديوم [rūbīdiyūm] Arabic
רובידיום [rubidium] Hebrew
Rubidju[m] Maltese

Sino-Tibetan
Lù (銣) Hakka
ルビジウム [rubijiumu] Japanese
루비듐 [rubidyum] Korean
รูบิเดียม [rūbidiam] Thai
Rubiđi Vietnamese
[ru2 / yue6] Chinese

Malayo-Polynesian
Rubidyo Cebuano
Rubidium Indonesian
Rubidium Māori
Rubidium Malay

Other Asiatic
റൂബിഡിയം [ṟūbiḍiyam] Malayalam
ருபிடியம் [rupiţiyam] Tamil

Africa
Libidu Lingala
Rubidiamo Sesotho
Rubidi Swahili

North-America
Rubidio Nahuatl

South-America
Rubidyu Quechua

Creole
Rubidimi Sranan Tongo

Artificial
Rubidio Esperanto

New names
Rubidion Atomic Elements
AntiH20delitho Dorseyville
memory peg

Very reflective white metal. Will spontaneous combust upon exposure to the atmosphere
melting point 39 °C; 102 °F
boiling point 688 °C; 1270 °F
density 1.53 g/cc; 95.64 pounds/cubic foot
1861 Robert Wilhelm Bunsen & Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, Germany
rubidus = deep red (Latin)

History & Etymology

Rubidium was discovered by Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824-1887) and Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811-1899) at the University of Heidelberg, in 1861, when they noticed the existence of new spectral lines in the mineral lepidolite from Saxony (note).

"Therefore we propose for this alkali metal, in respect to those two remarkable dark red lines, the name Rubidium with the symbol Rb from Rubidus which was used by the ancients to designate the deepest red."

Interesting is the note to Aulus Gellicus, a rather obscure Roman writer from the middle of the second century AD. Only one, incomplete book is left, the Noctes Atticae (Attic Nights). This work takes its name from having been begun during the long nights of a winter which he spent in Attica. In this work he had jotted down everything of unusual interest that he heard in conversation or read in books. Chapter 26 of the second book is about the words for the different colors in Latin and Greek,

"Sermones M. Frontonis et Favorini philosophi de generibus colorum vocabulisque eorum Graecis et Latinis; atque inibi color «spadix» cuiusmodi sit"
[= Philosophers Sermones M. Frontonis and Favorini on the origin of colors and their words in Greek and Latin, and how the color «spadix« [=brown] ranks among them],
verse 8 is
"Non enim haec sunt sola vocabula rufum colorem demonstrantia, quae tu modo dixisti, «russus» et «ruber», sed alia quoque habemus plura, quam quae dicta abs te Graeca sunt: «fulvus» enim et «flavus» et «rubidus» et «poeniceus» et «rutilus» et «luteus» et «spadix» appellationes sunt rufi coloris aut acuentes eum quasi incendentes aut cum colore viridi miscentes aut nigro infuscantes aut virenti sensim albo illuminantes."
(«Russus» and «ruber» are not the only words that denominate the color red, as you've said recently; however, we have many others, which you said were Greek: «fulvus» [=gold yellow] and «flavus» [=blond or blushing red] and «rubidus» [=dark red] and «poenicus» [=purple] and «rutilus» [=yellowish red, maybe orange] and «luteus» [=gold yellow or pink] and «spadix» [=brown] are all names for the color red, either sharpening or lightening it, or mixing it with the color green, or darkening it, or gradually turning it fresh and white),
and 24:
"«Rubidus» autem est rufus atrior et nigrore multo inustus, «luteus» contra rufus color est dilutior"
(However, «rubidus» is a darker and much more blackish red; «luteus» on the other hand is a lighter form of the color red).
(Thanks Dennis for the translations)

The preparation of the metal was tried by Bunsen, but he never got samples with more than 18% of Rubidium. The separation of the metal was only accomplished by Hevesy, through the hydrolysis of melted Rubidium hydroxide. Later, Hevesy also obtained Rubidium through the reduction of that hydroxide Sodium, Potassium or hot Aluminum.

Chemistianity 1873
JAYAN
RUBIDIUM, an alkali metal,
Is of white colour and quickly oxides;
'Tis a proved close ally to Potassium,
and Cæsium, in Chemical action.
J. Carrington Sellars, Chemistianity, 1873, p. 117-118


Further reading
  • Gmelins Handbuch der anorganische Chemie, 8. Aufl.; System-Nummer 24 (1937).
  • Mary Elvira Weeks, Discovery of the Elements, comp. rev. by Henry M. Leicester (Easton, Pa.: Journal of Chemical Education, 1968), pp. 603-606.

Sources Index of Persons Index of Alleged Elements