cerium
a steel-gray, ductile metallic element of the rare-earth group found only in combination. Symbol: Ce; atomic weight: 140.12; atomic number: 58.
Origin of cerium
1Words Nearby cerium
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use cerium in a sentence
Water and CO2 are pumped into the solar reactor, which contains a porous structure made of ceria, an oxide of the rare-earth metal cerium.
This ‘Solar Tower’ System Produces Jet Fuel From CO2, Water, and Sunlight | Edd Gent | July 25, 2022 | Singularity HubThese included uranium, scandium, ytterbium, niobium and cerium.
Tiny gemstones show when Earth’s crust first started moving | Nikk Ogasa | June 13, 2022 | Science News For StudentsA detector located in the water about 5 meters underneath the sub’s reactor could measure neutrinos produced in decays of certain cerium and ruthenium isotopes.
How neutrinos could ensure a submarine’s nuclear fuel isn’t weaponized | Emily Conover | June 2, 2022 | Science NewsFor the new study, the researchers peered through that window by checking the zircons for trace elements—uranium, scandium, ytterbium, niobium and cerium—and also for different forms of oxygen and hafnium.
Most rare earth mining homes in on lanthanum and cerium, but heavier metals like neodymium and dysprosium are especially desirable for the magnets used in clean energy tech.
Inside the high-powered process that could recycle rare earth metals | Rahul Rao | February 11, 2022 | Popular-Science
Not to mention rare elements such as lanthanum, cerium, and neodymium, essential to modern technology and commanding high prices.
Afghanistan’s Mineral Wealth Could Be a Bonanza—or Lead to Disaster | Dr. Cheryl Benard | July 4, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTIn the ordinary course cerium is thrown down along with alumina and the other earths by ammonia.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. | Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringercerium is detected by giving with borax a bead which is yellow in the oxidising, and colourless in the reducing flame.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. | Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob BeringerTraces of cerium compounds boiled with dioxide of lead and nitric acid will give a yellow solution.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. | Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob BeringerCerous sulphide, Ce2S3, results on heating cerium with sulphur or cerium oxide in carbon bisulphide vapour.
These mantles contain the oxides of cerium and thorium in the ratio of about 1% of the former to 99% of the latter.
An Elementary Study of Chemistry | William McPherson
British Dictionary definitions for cerium
/ (ˈsɪərɪəm) /
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
Origin of cerium
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for cerium
[ sîr′ē-əm ]
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. See Periodic Table.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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