Rubidium
Rubidio (Rb, Z=37)
- Date
- 1861 · confidence high
- Place
- Heidelberg, Germany
- Credited to
- Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff
- People
- 👤 Gustav Kirchhoff1824–1887👤 Robert Bunsen1811–1899
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Bunsen and Kirchhoff detected it in lepidolite by two dark red lines in the spectroscope, months after caesium.
The name comes from the Latin 'rubidus', deep red.
What it led to
- Rubidium atomic clocks
- The Bose-Einstein condensate (1995) with Rb-87
- Rubidium-strontium dating
Built on
- Spectral analysis (Bunsen-Kirchhoff)1859-1860
- Bunsen-Kirchhoff spectroscope
- Discovery of caesium
Made possible
- Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases1995
- Rubidium atomic clock