Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A synthetic element produced in trace quantities by helium isotope bombardment of curium. All isotopes are radioactive, chiefly by emission of alpha particles. Atomic number 98; mass numbers 244 to 254; half-lives varying from 25 minutes to 800 years. See Table at element.
Wiktionary
- n. a transuranic chemical element (symbol Cf) with an atomic number of 98.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a radioactive transuranic element; discovered by bombarding curium with alpha particles
Etymologies
- From California + Neo-Latin suffix -ium (Wiktionary)
- After California . (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“You need some germanium crystals, a pinch of molybdenum, a teaspoon of californium ... and working with those short-lived superheavies is a royal pain, I'll tell you.”
“Some of the elements, such as francium and californium, were named to honor the places where they were discovered.”
“The two transuranium elements most recently discovered, berkelium and californium, correspond to terbium and dysprosium in the lanthanides.”
“The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory has produced a dozen superheavy elements called transuranics and bear such names as berkelium, californium, lawrencium and seaborgium.”
“Don't expect much, after all these are the people behind elements like californium and einsteinium.”
“So far, CARIBU has only used stable metal ions for charge breeding, but testing has just begun using the radioactive isotopes from the californium source.”
“The person who discovers the element gets to name it, which is why there are elements called berkelium and californium - for a while, UC Berkeley was the place to be for element hunters.”
“In 1941, the National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C. In 1950, scientists at the University of California at Berkeley announced they had created a new radioactive element, "californium.”
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“Tossing a lump of californium on the moving train improved the accuracy 10-fold, according to the scientists.”
“It was made by bombarding a californium target with a beam of calcium ions.”
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oroboros Cf. Dec 15, 2007