Facts about Rubidium

Rubidium vapor is optically pumped by a laser and the polarized Rb polarizes 3He by the hyperfine interaction.

When metallic rubidium reacts with oxygen, as in the tarnishing process, it produces the bronze-colored Rb6O and copper-colored Rb9O2.

Rubidium has also been considered for use in a thermoelectric generator using the magnetohydrodynamic principle, where rubidium ions are formed by heat at high temperature and passed through a magnetic field.

Rubidium compounds are sometimes used in fireworks to give them a purple color.

Rubidium has also been reported to ignite spontaneously in air.

Rubidium is the second most electropositive of the stable alkaline elements and liquefies at high ambient temperature (102.7 F = 39.3 C).

The final product is principally the superoxide, RbO2, which can then be reduced to Rb2O using excess rubidium metal.

Lepidolite contains 1.5 percent rubidium and this is the commercial source of the element.

Normally up to 90 percent of the hair follicles are in anagen phase while, 10–14 percent are in telogen, and 1–2 percent in catagen.

Rubidium reacts violently with water and can cause fires.

Rubidium (L rubidus, deepest red) was discovered in 1861 by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff in the mineral lepidolite through the use of a spectroscope.

The human body tends to treat Rb+ ions as if they were potassium ions, and therefore concentrates rubidium in the body's electrolytic fluid.

Historically, the most important use for rubidium has been in research and development, primarily in chemical and electronic applications.

Rubidium metal can be produced by reducing rubidium chloride with calcium, among other methods.

Rubidium, like sodium and potassium, is almost always in its +1 oxidation state.

Rubidium (chemical symbol Rb, atomic number 37) is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali metal group.

Rubidium has been used for polarizing 3He (that is, producing volumes of magnetized 3He gas, with the nuclear spins aligned toward a particular direction in space, rather than randomly).

Rubidium is easily ionized, so it has been considered for use in ion engines for space vehicles (but caesium and xenon are more efficient for this purpose).

Rubidium is very soft and highly reactive, with properties similar to other elements in group one, like rapid oxidation in air.

See Rubidium-Strontium dating for a more detailed discussion.

Rubidium forms at least four oxides: Rb2O, Rb2O2, Rb2O3, RbO2.