Cesium

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Will Moynihan and Kevin Stewart

**Introduction to Cesium﻿**

The element Cesium (Cs) is a metal with the atomic number 55 and is located in the farthest left group, the alkali metals. These metals are all very reactive, and increase in reactivity going down the periods in the periodic table. Cesium is the most reactive naturally occuring element in this group, only only less reactive than Francium, who's most stable isotope only lasts a few minutes. The Atomic mass of Cesium is 132.9054519 and it's density is 1.93 grams per cubic centimeter. The melting point of Cesium is 301.59 K (28.44°C or 83.19°F) and the boiling point is 944 K (671°C or 1240°F). At room temperature (73°F), pure Cesium is a soft solid, but under just warmer conditions it melts to a metallic liquid. In it's pure state, Cesium appears a silvery-white color, but if exposed to even trace amounts of oxygen, it turns to a silvery gold color. The Name For Cesium comes from the latin word caesius which means sky blue.





History
Cesium was discovered in 1860 by two german chemists, Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff. These two discovered the element by chance when they were doing spectroscopic analysis of Durkheim mineral water. Bunsen was able to extract cesium from the mineral water by concentrating the cesium and evaporating large amounts of minearal water. Bunsen also made chlorides, carbonates and other salts from cesium, but was unsuccessful at preparing cesium metal from the little amounts that he could obtain from evaporating mineral water. The first cesium metal was obtained in 1882 by Setterburg who used the process of electrolysis of cesium cynide and barium cynide melt. Cesium was not used industrially until 1926, when it began to be used as a getter to remove trace gasses from vacuum chambers. The name Cesium was assigned from the latin word caesius because of the bold blue lines that the discoverers saw in it's light spectrum. ([|Brief History])

Economics
Cesium has many uses and applications in the modern world such as being used as a getter to remove gasses from vacuums. Cesium vibration is also used as the basic unit that is measured by atomic clocks. Transitions in Cesium-133 are used to difine an exact second, in fact one second is equ﻿al to exactly 9,192,631,770 cycles of the a cesium-133 transition. Before the 1967 standard for a second, the second was defined as a fractoin of the earth's orbit, whichis much less reliable than a cesium atom cycle. ([|Atomic Clocks]) These atomic clocks are extremely accurate and are the foundation of every timing divice we use. Cesium is also used in [|photoelectric cells] that generate energy from light. These are very useful for measuring the intensity of light, and although cesium is not the largest componenet of photoelectric cells, they are a key ingredient.

According to a [|United States Geological Survey], the price of one gram of 99.8% pure cesium is $50.70, and one gram of 99.98% pure cesium is $62.80. On the same survey, 100 grams of near pure cesium was priced at over $1,700. While pure cesium is hard to come by and expensive, you can purchase cesium compounds such as Cesium Fluoride or Cesium Chloride salts less expensively.



Environment
Cesium can be found in nature and is formed from the erosion of rocks and minerals. Cesium can also be released into the air water and ground by mining and milling ores. Radioactive Isotopes of Cesium can also occasionally be formed by nuclear power plants and nuclear explosions/ accidents. Cesium is not something found very often in nature, and it does not benefit nature. Cesium is known for causing increased or decreased behavior activity to animals exposed to high doses. Stable cesium (aka non radioactive cesium, cesium-133) cannot be created or destroyed easily, but can react with other compounds to form cesium compounds. Both stable and radioactive cesium have a similar effects on the body and in chemical reactions. And cesium is able to travel very long distances, since it can be picked up and carried in the air until it settles once again (usually from rainfall). Cesium is very soluble in wet environments, and binds strongly to moist soils. As a result cesium does not travel very far below the soil’s surface.



Health
Stable cesium can be consumed by breathing, eating and drinking, but the amount that is consumed is such a small amount that it usually will not affect a person’s health. But when it comes to radioactive cesium, if exposed to it (which is very unlikely), a person could experience cell damage which could lead to nausea, vomiting and bleeding. But when exposed to radioactive cesium for a long period of time a person could go into a coma or even die. Any time you eat or drink something with cesium compounds that are soluble in water, it will enter your blood stream and be carried all throughout your body. When cesium is in your cells it helps to maintain a balance of electrical charges between the inside and outside of the cells. This is a problem when it enters muscle and nerve cells, which need to have their electrical charges changing for them to function properly. When cesium is inside you it will be removed from your blood by your kidneys and eliminated by being released through your urine. Some cesium will stay in your body for up to one month. If exposed to large amounts of cesium, a reaction would occur between the water in the human body and the cesium. This can result in severe burns, which makes cesium not beneficial at all for water-based sunjacts such as plants or animals.

Click [|HERE]for more information about the effects of cesium on the environment and human health.

Chemistry/Physics of Cesium
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Cesium has in it's nucleus 55 protons and 78 neutrons (most common and stable isotope), and orbiting outside of the nucleus are 55 electrons when the atom maintains a neutral charge. The electron configuration for a cesium atom is [Xe] 6s1. The noble gas Xenon has a full 5P energy level which all fo the noble gasses have in common. The one extra electron in the 6S orbital of cesium is what makes the element so reactive much unlike a noble gas. This one electron in an outer S orbital is what makes all of the noble gasses so reactive. The 6S electron, in cesium's case is so far from the nucleus that the force binding it to the atom is not as strong as an element like hydrogen would be, so any oppertunity that that electron gets to bind, it will take.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Four common compounds that cesium can be found in are Cesium Carbonate (Cs2CO3), cesium Chloride (CsCl), Cesium Hydroxide (CsOH), and Cesium Oxide (Cs2O). Cesium Hydroxide is an etremely powerful basic solution that is the product of the explosive reaction between cesium and water, and can quickly corrode through glass.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">There are a number of isotopes of cesium all but one of which are radioactive. The list of these isotopes and the length of thier different half-lives is in the table below. Cesium reacts violently with water, producing hydrogen gas which quickly combusts. The picture below to the right is a demonstration of a cesium reaction with water. For even more fun, check out the video clip at the bottom of the page to see a much larger cesium reaction and other alkali metals reacting with H2O.



=__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A Quick Look __= <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">**Symbol:** Cs <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">**Atomic Number:** 55 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">**Atomic Mass:** 132.90546 amu
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Name: **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> Cesium

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">**Melting Point:** 28.5 °C (301.65 K, 83.3 °F) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">**Boiling Point**: 678.4 °C (951.55005 K, 1253.12 °F) <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">**Number of Protons/Electrons:** 55 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">**Number of Neutrons:** 78 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">**Density @ 293 K:** 1.873 g/cm3 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">Abbreviated: [Xe] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">6s <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">1 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">Unabbreviated: 1s <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">2 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> 2s <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">2 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">p <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">6 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> 3s <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">2 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">p <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">6 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">d <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">10 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> 4s <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">2 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">p <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">6 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">d <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">10 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> 5s <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">2 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">p <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">6 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"> 6s <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: normal; vertical-align: super;">1
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: medium; line-height: 19px;">Electrom Configuration: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">The table below shows <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">all twelve known isotopes <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">of Cesium and howlong <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">each isotope lasts. Cs-133 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">is the most comon isotope <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">because it is the only <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">stable isotope.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Isotope || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Half Life ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-126 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">1.6 minutes ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-129 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">1.3 days ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-131 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">9.7 days ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-132 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">6.4 days ||
 * <span style="color: #b62525; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-133 || <span style="color: #b62525; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Stable ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-134 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">2.1 years ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-134 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">2.9 hours ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-135 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">2300000.0 years ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-136 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">13.2 days ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-137 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">30.2 years ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-138 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">32.2 minutes ||
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Cs-139 || <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">9.3 minutes ||

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">An Interesting Fact About Cesium
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">The most common use of cesium today is in drilling fluids, which resuce friction on drills. Suspended in drilling fluid is Cesium formate, a very dense and unreactive substance.

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= <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 22px; line-height: 32px;">Cool Cesium Reaction With Water = media type="custom" key="7968942" align="left" width="100" height="100"

Works Cited <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;">"Atomic Clocks." // Test Page for Apache Installation //. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/acloc.html>. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;">"ATSDR - Public Health Statement: Cesium." // ATSDR Home //. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=575&tid=107>. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;">"Cesium (Cs) - Chemical Properties, Health and Environmental Effects." // Water Treatment and Purification - Lenntech //. Lenntech. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/cs.htm>. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;">"Cesium: History." // Nautilus Home Page //. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://nautilus.fis.uc.pt/st2.5/scenes-e/elem/e05510.html>. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;">"It's Elemental - The Element Cesium." // Science Education at Jefferson Lab //. Jefferson Lab. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/ele055.html>. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;">Nelson, Randal C. "Cesium Faq." // University of Rochester Computer Science //. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://www.cs.rochester.edu/~nelson/cesium/cesium_faq.html>. <span style="display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 3em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px; text-indent: -3em;">"Pictures, Stories, and Facts about the Element Cesium in the Periodic Table." // The Photographic Periodic Table of the Elements //. Web. 06 Jan. 2011. <http://www.periodictable.com/Elements/055/index.html>