curium

American  

[kyoor-ee-uhm] / ˈkyʊər i əm /

noun

1. a radioactive element not found in nature but discovered in 1944 among the products of plutonium after bombardment by high-energy helium ions. Cm; 96.

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curium British  

/ ˈkjʊərɪəm /

noun

1. a silvery-white metallic transuranic element artificially produced from plutonium. Symbol: Cm; atomic no: 96; half-life of most stable isotope, ²⁴⁷ Cm: 1.6 x 10 ⁷ years; valency: 3 and 4; relative density: 13.51 (calculated); melting pt: 1345±400°C

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curium Scientific  

/ kyr′ē-əm /

1. A synthetic, silvery-white, radioactive metallic element of the actinide series that is produced artificially from plutonium or americium. Curium isotopes are used to provide electricity for satellites and space probes. Its most stable isotope has a half-life of 16.4 million years. Atomic number 96; melting point (estimated) 1,350°C; valence 3.

2. See Periodic Table

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Etymology

Origin of curium

1946; < New Latin; named after M. and P. Curie; see -ium

Example Sentences

Curium, employed in Mars rovers, yields a tinkertoy explorer.

From Washington Post • Oct. 17, 2019

Curium can be made by bombarding plutonium with alpha particles, or americium with neutrons.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here were Citium, Amathus, Curium, and Paphus, the Pal�-paphus of the geographers, which have all yielded abundant traces of a Phoenician occupation at a very distant period.

From History of Phoenicia by Rawlinson, George

C. Hunc et incomptis Curium capillis Utilem bello tulit et Camillum Saeva paupertas et avitus apto 44 Cum lare fundus.

From Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Luce, Edmund

The complete bronze figure found near Curium, which is supposed to represent Apollo and is figured by Di Cesnola,767 is probably not the production of a Phoenician artists, but a sculpture imported from Greece.

From History of Phoenicia by Rawlinson, George