Rubidium-87 is a radioactive isotope is used to determine the age of old rocks. It has a half-life of 49 billion years. It is also used as a frequency standard in high-accuracy timing equipment such as GPS receivers. It is also used to produce Bose-Einstein condensates and in laser cooling.

How is rubidium useful?

Rubidium is used in vacuum tubes as a getter, a material that combines with and removes trace gases from vacuum tubes. It is also used in the manufacture of photocells and in special glasses. Rubidium is used as a getter in vacuum tubes and as a photocell component. It has been used in making special glasses.

What is Rubidium-87 used to date?

rubidium-strontium dating method The rubidium-strontium dating method is a radiometric dating technique used by scientists to determine the age of rocks and minerals from the quantities they contain of specific isotopes of rubidium (87Rb) and strontium (87Sr, 86Sr).

What type of materials found on earth would rubidium-87 be used?

Rubidium and strontium are used to radioactively date rocks, minerals, and meteorites according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Rubidium-87 is an unstable isotope that has a half-life of about 50 billion years and decays to strontium-87, a stable isotope of strontium.

How is rubidium used by humans?

It readily reacts with skin moisture to form rubidium hydroxide, which causes chemical burns of eyes and skin. The metal is used in the manufacture of photocells and in the removal of residual gases from vacuum tubes. Rubidium is considered to be the 16th most abundant element in the earths crust.

What happens if you eat rubidium?

Rubidium compounds are not very dangerous in the human body; however, if a person gets too much from eating, they could get sick because it acts like other alkali metal ions such as sodium ions in sodium chloride. It reacts with air and water and makes the corrosive substance rubidium hydroxide.

Why is rubidium so expensive?

Rubidium is a rare and expensive metal with few uses. This explains why it is expensive on top of being rare: a number of tiresome processes are required to break that chemical bond and leave the metal isolated in its pure state.

What type of decay is Rubidium-87?

Rb is radioactive, with a half-life of 48.8 x 109 years. It readily substitutes for K in minerals, and is therefore fairly widespread. Rb has been used extensively in dating rocks; 87Rb decays to stable 87Sr by emission of a negative beta particle.

What is the half-life of rubidium-87?

48.8 billion years RADIOMETRIC TIME SCALEParent IsotopeStable Daughter ProductCurrently Accepted Half-Life ValuesThorium-232Lead-20814.0 billion yearsRubidium-87Strontium-8748.8 billion yearsPotassium-40Argon-401.25 billion yearsSamarium-147Neodymium-143106 billion years2 more rows•Jun 13, 2001

Who found rubidium?

Gustav Kirchhoff Robert Bunsen Rubidium/Discoverers Rubidium is the second most reactive metal and is very soft, with a silvery-white lustre. Rubidium was discovered (1861) spectroscopically by German scientists Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff and named after the two prominent red lines of its spectrum.

Can you touch rubidium?

Rubidium readily reacts with skin moisture to form rubidium hydroxide, which causes chemical burns of eyes and skin. Signs and symptoms of overexposure: skin and eye burns.

What are the hazards of rubidium?

If rubidium ignites, it will cause thermal burns. Rubidium readily reacts with skin moisture to form rubidium hydroxide, which causes chemical burns of eyes and skin. Signs and symptoms of overexposure: skin and eye burns. Failure to gain weight, ataxia, hyper irritation, skin ulcers, and extreme nervousness.

What happens if you put rubidium in water?

Rubidium metal reacts very rapidly with water to form a colourless basic solution of rubidium hydroxide (RbOH) and hydrogen gas (H2). The reaction continues even when the solution becomes basic. The resulting solution is basic because of the dissolved hydroxide. The reaction is very exothermic.

What percentage of rubidium-87 will be left after four half lives?

The original substance is callled the parent isotope and the decay product is the daughter isotope. Since 25% of the Rubidium-87 remains, approximately two half-lives have passed. After one half-life about 50% remains, and after a second half-life 50% of that 50% which is 25% remains.

How much does rubidium cost?

Recent spot prices for rubidium metal have ranged from $36.00 per gram up to US$130.00 per gram (US$1080 to US$3640 per ounce) depending on purity.

Where does rubidium come from?

Rubidium occurs in the minerals pollucite, carnallite, leucite and lepidolite. It is recovered commercially from lepidolite as a by-product of lithium extraction. Potassium minerals and brines also contain rubidium and are another commercial source.