Strontium (Noun)
Meaning
A soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element of the alkali metal group; turns yellow in air; occurs in celestite and strontianite.
Classification
Nouns denoting substances.
Examples
- Strontium is primarily obtained as a byproduct of the large-scale processing of celestite ore through flotation techniques.
- When strontium is first cut, it has a silvery appearance, but when exposed to air, it rapidly oxidizes and becomes yellowish.
- Strontium's natural compounds have been used for centuries, even if the element itself wasn't isolated and studied until later.
- One significant economic source of strontium worldwide is the mineral celestite, a strontium sulfate mineral, SR20.
- In terms of its chemical reactivity, strontium's most often compared element is calcium, since both elements have similar chemical properties.