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rubidium
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Rubidium
Soft, silver-white, metallic element, atomic number 37, relative atomic mass 85.47. It is one of the alkali metals in Group 1 of the periodic table. Reactivity of the alkali metals increases down the group and so rubidium is more reactive than lithium, sodium, and potassium. Rubidium ignites spontaneously in air and reacts violently with water. It is used in photocells and vacuum-tube filaments.
Rubidium was discovered spectroscopically by German physicists Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff in 1861 and named after the red lines in its spectrum.
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