rubidium Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a soft silvery metallic element of the alkali metal group; burns in air and reacts violently in water; occurs in carnallite and lepidolite and pollucite
    atomic number 37; Rb.

WordNet

Ru*bid"i*um noun
Etymology
NL., fr. L. rubidus red, fr. rubere to be red. So called from two dark red spectroscopic lines by means of which it was discovered in the lepidolite from Rozena, Moravia. See Rubicund.
Definitions
  1. (Chem.) A rare metallic element. It occurs quite widely, but in small quantities, and always combined. It is isolated as a soft yellowish white metal, analogous to potassium in most of its properties. Symbol Rb. Atomic weight, 85.2.

Webster 1913