Periodic Table of Elements

02/05/09

Rb

Rubidium

Atomic Number

37

Atomic Symbol

Rb

	Name	Rubidium
	Meaning	Named for the Latin word 'rubidus' meaning 'deep red' due to red spectral lines

Group

Alkali earth

Atomic Weight

85.4678

Density, g/cubic cm at STP

1.532

Melting Point, °C

39.64

Boiling Point, °C, 1 atm

688

Naturally Occurring Isotopes

Rb-85, Rb-87

Discoverer

Bunsen and Kirchoff

Year

1861

Ionization Energy, eV

4.1771

Configuration

[Kr] 5s

Description

Bright silver, melting point near room temperature

References: Holden, Norman E. (March 30, 2004). "History of the origin of the chemical elements and their discoverers." National Nuclear Data Center. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/content/elements.html "List of elements by boiling point." (September 22, 2005). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_by_boiling_point "List of elements by density." (September 22, 2005). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_by_density "List of elements by melting point." (September 22, 2005). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_by_melting_point "NIST chemistry webBook." (2005). National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved October 6, 2005 from http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/ Zucker, M.A.; Kishore, A. R.; Sukumar, R.; and Dragoset, R. A. (July 2005). "Elemental data index."  National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/Elements/cover.html