cerium

[seer-ee-uhm]

noun

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

cerium

/ 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

cerium

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of cerium¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of cerium¹

C19: New Latin, from _Ceres (the asteroid) + _-ium

Example Sentences

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

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With names like dysprosium, neodymium and cerium, rare earths are a group of 17 heavy metals that are abundant throughout the Earth's crust.

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"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.

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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.

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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.

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