Elements / 37
37Rb85.468
Rubidium
Alkali metal · s-block · ring O · spoke 1
Rubidium is element 37, an alkali metal. It sits on ring O (period 5) on spoke 1, the alkali metals. Follow that spoke toward the center and out again to find its chemical relatives.
Properties
| Density | 1.53 g/cm³ | Terrain → |
|---|---|---|
| Melting point | 312 K · 39 °C | Terrain → |
| Boiling point | 961 K · 688 °C | Terrain → |
| Electronegativity | 0.82 | Terrain → |
| First ionization energy | 403 kJ/mol | Terrain → |
| Atomic weight | 85.4678 u | Terrain → |
| Crustal abundance | 90 ppm | Terrain → |
| Discovered | 1861 | Terrain → |
Values from open reference data; see sources. "Terrain" opens that property as a 3D landscape across the whole spiral.
Two things you might not know
- The first Bose-Einstein condensate, made at JILA on June 5, 1995, was about 2,000 atoms of this metal.
- Bunsen and Kirchhoff found it in lepidolite in 1861 by flame spectroscopy. Its name is Latin for deep red.
Checked against aps.org, en.wikipedia.org.
Spoke 1: Alkali metals
Ring O (period 5)
Play with Rubidium
Watch it fly into its seat, or raise the whole spiral into a landscape and see where it peaks.