SINCE 1828
rubidium
noun
ru·bid·i·um
| \ rü-ˈbi-dē-əm
\
\
Definition of rubidium
: a soft silvery metallic element of the alkali metal group that reacts violently with water and bursts into flame spontaneously in air — see Chemical Elements Table
Examples of rubidium in a Sentence
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The question is how to interpret the bizarre analogy between a fluid of rubidium atoms in a lab in Israel and the mysterious astrophysical abysses most often created when huge stars exhaust their fuel and collapse inward. — Quanta Magazine, "Philosophers Debate New ‘Sonic Black Hole’ Discovery," 27 Aug. 2019 The question is how to interpret the bizarre analogy between a fluid of rubidium atoms in a lab in Israel and the mysterious astrophysical abysses most often created when huge stars exhaust their fuel and collapse inward. — Quanta Magazine, "Philosophers Debate New ‘Sonic Black Hole’ Discovery," 27 Aug. 2019 The question is how to interpret the bizarre analogy between a fluid of rubidium atoms in a lab in Israel and the mysterious astrophysical abysses most often created when huge stars exhaust their fuel and collapse inward. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, "A ‘Sonic Black Hole' Could Help Solve a Cosmic Paradox," 30 June 2019 The Harvard initiative, led by Mikhail Lukin, uses rubidium atoms. — Quanta Magazine, "Quantum Supremacy Is Coming: Here’s What You Should Know," 18 July 2019 To do this, Stenhauer shot a laser composed of rubidium atoms through an environment cooled to almost absolute zero. — Sophie Weiner, Popular Mechanics, "Physicist Creates Lab-Sized "Black Hole"," 26 Aug. 2016 The equipment will cool rubidium and potassium atoms by scattering laser light off the particles in all directions to slow them to almost a standstill. — Elizabeth Gibney, Scientific American, "Universe’s Coolest Lab Set to Open Quantum World," 9 May 2018 This keeps the rubidium atoms diffuse, slow moving and in a highly excited state. — Marissa Fessenden, Smithsonian, "Scientists Create a New Form of Light by Linking Photons," 16 Feb. 2018 But vaporizing rubidium with a laser and keeping it ultracold creates a cloud the researchers contain in a small tube and magnetize. — Marissa Fessenden, Smithsonian, "Scientists Create a New Form of Light by Linking Photons," 16 Feb. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rubidium.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for rubidium
rubidium
noun
ru·bid·i·um
| \ rü-ˈbid-ē-əm
\
\
Medical Definition of rubidium
: a soft silvery metallic element that decomposes water with violence and bursts into flame spontaneously in air
—symbol Rb
— see Chemical Elements Table
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