The rapid production of hydrogen produces a bubble of gas around the caesium which stops the caesium from reacting with the water. Cesium chloride (CsCl) and cesium nitrate (CsNO 3) are cesium's most common compounds and are primarily used in the production of other chemicals. ago When the caesium enters the water it reacts quickly to produce caesium hydroxide (CsOH) and hydrogen (H2). 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). Radioactive decay is a way of decreasing the amount of 134 Cs and 137 Cs in the environment. Cesium binds strongly to moist soils and does not travel far below the surface of the soil. They named cesium after the blue lines they observed in its spectrum. In moist soils, most cesium compounds are very soluble. 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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