cerium

American  

[seer-ee-uhm] / ˈsɪər i əm /

noun

1. a steel-gray, ductile metallic element of the rare-earth group found only in combination. Ce; 140.12; 58.

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cerium British  

/ ˈsɪərɪəm /

noun

1. a malleable ductile steel-grey element of the lanthanide series of metals, used in lighter flints and as a reducing agent in metallurgy. Symbol: Ce; atomic no: 58; atomic wt: 140.115; valency: 3 or 4; relative density: 6.770; melting pt: 798°C; boiling pt: 3443°C

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cerium Scientific  

/ sîr′ē-əm /

1. A shiny, gray metallic element of the lanthanide series. It is ductile and malleable and is used in electronic components, alloys, and lighter flints. It is also used in glass polishing, as a catalyst in self-cleaning ovens, and in various nuclear applications. Atomic number 58; atomic weight 140.12; melting point 795°C; boiling point 3,468°C; specific gravity 6.67 to 8.23; valence 3, 4.

2. See Periodic Table

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Etymology

Origin of cerium

First recorded in 1795–1805; Cer(es) + -ium

Example Sentences

The ore from MP’s External link Mountain Pass mine contains a lot of cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, praseodymium, and samarium.

From Barron's

Europium is crucial for television screens, cerium is used for polishing glass and refining oil, lanthanum makes a car's catalytic converters operate -- the list of uses in today's economy is virtually endless.

From Barron's

"The objective of the liquid separation unit will be to purify cerium on one side, lanthanum on the other side," explains production manager Florian Gouneau as we walk up a flight of metal stairs.

From BBC

With its middle sheet of silicon sandwiched between magnetic cerium atoms, Posey and her colleagues suspected that CeSiI, first described in a paper in 1998, might have some interesting electronic properties.

From Science Daily

This alignment would otherwise require a powerful magnetic field to activate, since cerium fluoride is naturally paramagnetic with randomly oriented spins even at zero temperature.

From Science Daily