HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: spl@pitstop.ucsd.edu (Steve Lamont)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Date: 12 Sep 92 14:59:30 GMT
Organization: University of Calif., San Diego/Microscopy and Imaging Resource
NNTP-Posting-Host: pitstop.ucsd.edu

In article <UUG.92Sep11053027@pogo.cuc.ab.ca> uug@cuc.ab.ca (William Graham) writes:
>Not until The Osmium Isotopes make an appearance here.

I thought that they retired to somewhere outside Salt Lake City.

							spl
-- 
Steve Lamont, SciViGuy -- (619) 534-7968 -- spl@dim.ucsd.edu
UCSD Microscopy and Imaging Resource/UCSD Med School/La Jolla, CA 92093-0608
"There was a time when tyrants feared/The new world of the free.
Now freedom is afraid and shrieks/At tyranny." - "Brave New World," A. Macleish
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: gak@wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Reply-To: gak@wrs.com
Organization: Wind River Systems, Inc.
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 22:08:51 GMT

In article <h1rn7_c.gooley@netcom.com> gooley@netcom.com (Mark. Gooley) writes:
>Why cesium?
>
>Why not bismuth?

Why not my favorite, ytterbium?

---
I don't know what system you use,  you might try vodka in Evian bottles.   Some
people like  cream in  their morning coffee,  I spike  mine with  a little  JD.
Mickey's Big Mouths are an excellent choice, you can use the empty bottles as a
desktop vase.                               -Hoodlum Empire "Get Drunk At Work"
Richard Stueven        gak@wrs.com         attmail!gakhaus!gak        107/H/3&4
From: gezelter@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu (Dan Gezelter)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Cesium, of course.
Date: 9 Sep 1992 06:03:41 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sam.cchem.berkeley.edu

Cesium's  more interesting properties:
                            -4
% of earth's crust: 3.2 x 10
                   
Density: 1.873 g / cm^3
Melting Point:  28.5 C
Boiling Point:  705 C
Sublimation energy (@ 25 C): 78.78 kJ/mol
Ionization energies:  (in eV)
   1st:  3.894
   2nd:  25.1
   3rd:  35
Atomic radius: 263 pm
Heat of hydration (from a gas): 264 kJ/mol

Cesium can be obtained by reduction of Cs CO  with carbon or byh the 
                                         2  3 
thermal decomposition of cesium tartarate.

              Cs CO  + 2C --->  2Cs + 3CO
                2  3
Cesium is used in photoelectric cells, since the absorption of radiant
energy in the visible region of the spectrum can remove an electron
because of its low ionization energy.  Cesium also serves as a
"getter" in vacuum tubes, removing the last traces of corrosive gases
in the tube when it is first put into use.


Back off, man.  I'm a chemist.
-- 
_________________________________________________________________________
Don't step on my blue suede .sig      gezelter@lithium.cchem.berkeley.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: krpeters@athena.mit.edu (Karl R Peters)
Subject: Re: Time and our heroic element
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 12:53:43 GMT

In article <mDr-L=+@engin.umich.edu> positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas) writes:
>In article <18mi2eINN8e3@agate.berkeley.edu> gezelter@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu (Dan Gezelter) writes:
>>According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
>>(formerly NBS): 
>>
>>  The second is defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of
>>the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two
>>hyperfine levels of the ground state of cesium 133.
>>
>
>You sure about this? I'm almost certain that a second is defined as the
>amount of time it takes light to travel 299,xxx,xxx meters in a vacuum.
>
>-- 
>__/\__  Jonathan S. Haas         | Jake liked his women the way he liked
>\    /  University of Michigan   | his kiwi fruit: sweet yet tart, firm-
>/_  _\  positron@engin.umich.edu | fleshed yet yielding to the touch, and
>  \/                             | covered with short brown fuzzy hair.

No, actually the meter is defined by the distance travelled by light in
1/299,xxx,xxx of a second.

The second is defined by the atomic clock.

Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: gak@wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Re: More Cesium facts.
Reply-To: gak@wrs.com
Organization: Wind River Systems, Inc.
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 22:50:30 GMT

In article 18lu32INN379@agate.berkeley.edu, The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics writes:
>The metal has
>recently found application in ion propulsion systems.  Although these
>are not usable in the earth's atmosphere, 1 lb of cesium in outer
>space theoretically will propel a vehicle 140 times as far as the
>burning of the same amount of any known liquid or solid.

That last sentence doesn't make any sense at all.  Maybe cesium will
provide 140 times more acceleration than (some unspecified fuel), but
once your vehicle starts moving, it's going to keep moving more or less
until something stops it.  (Right, Isaac?)

What do they have to say about triply-ionized hydrogen?  (I like it as
a floor wax _and_ a dessert topping!)

gak

---
I don't know what system you use,  you might try vodka in Evian bottles.   Some
people like  cream in  their morning coffee,  I spike  mine with  a little  JD.
Mickey's Big Mouths are an excellent choice, you can use the empty bottles as a
desktop vase.                               -Hoodlum Empire "Get Drunk At Work"
Richard Stueven        gak@wrs.com         attmail!gakhaus!gak        107/H/3&4

Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: nuke@reed.edu (Bill Newcomb)
Subject: Re: Cesium Man
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 01:48:16 GMT

In article <88869@netnews.upenn.edu> weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) writes:
>
>The current team consists of Gold, Lead, Mercury, Iron, Tin, and
>Platinum (aka Tina).  I think it shouldn't be too hard to convince
>DC of the importance of Cesium.  Indeed, at the back of one issue,
>their "Metal Facts and Fancies!" blurb tells us to "Thank CESIUM
>for coating light meters".

Not a bad idea, but Cesium might be kind of a boring character...
"Nothing we've tried has even fazed this Foe!"
"All right then. Let Cesium out of his Argon atmosphere!"
<boom....>
Later, in the electrolytic recovery clinic:
"We have to remeber not to do that underwater!"
"Perhaps it would be better for the team if we retired Cesium back to the
light meter factory."

nuke@reed.edu
--
~/.oo
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: creutz@cco.caltech.edu (Michael John Creutz)
Subject: it melts in your hand, and in your mouth
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Distribution: wo
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 02:50:44 GMT

It melts in your hand,
And lights in your mouth.
Its flame is blue,
It's 132,
In 9-92. 
For francium it's a clue,
Though barium it's not,
Metals are hot!
From: goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Cesium, of course.
Date: 9 Sep 1992 06:38:37 GMT
Organization: The Sinister Icy Black Hand of Death Club
Distribution: world
Reply-To: goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb)
NNTP-Posting-Host: avalanche.berkeley.edu
Originator: goldfarb@avalanche.berkeley.edu

Why did you post from sam.cchem.berkeley.edu instead of cesium.cchem?
I mean, come on. Get into the spirit of things.

-- 
   David Goldfarb          | "I am the mad blind energy of the universe,
goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu  | I vacuum under the beds!"
goldfarb@UCBOCF.BITNET     |            -- Kim Stanley Robinson
From: gilligan@bldrdoc.gov (Jonathan M. Gilligan)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Time and our heroic element
Date: 11 Sep 92 20:57:10 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology

In article <18nojhINNcm0@agate.berkeley.edu> gezelter@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu (Dan Gezelter) writes:
>>NO, actually the meter is *defined* as a certain number of wavelengths of a
>>particular atomic transition of Krypton 86 ...
>
>Correct.  Once again, according to the latest NIST standards card, the
>meter is defined as 1,650,763.73 wavelengths in vaccuum corresponding
>to the transition 2p   -> 5d  of krypton 86.
>                    10      5
>

Must be a pretty old ``latest.'' From Metrologia Vol. 19, p. 163 (1984):

  The first re-definition [of the metre] was in 1960 (L.A. Hackel,
  K.H.  Casleton, S.G. Kukolich, and S. Ezekiel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 35,
  568 (1975)) when the old definition based on a material standard was
  replaced by one based upon the wavelength of a certain radiation of
  krypton-86. This definition, we now know, cannot be realized to
  better than about 4 parts in 10^9. The new definition, not being
  based upon a particular radiation, opens the way to major
  improvements in the precision with which the metre can be realized
  using laser-wavelength and frequency techniques. It also allows an
  immediate increase in accuracy for wavelength standards in the
  visible and near-infrared of about a factor of ten. The new
  definition has the effect of giving a fixed value to the speed of
  light of 299 792 458 m/s exactly.

Got it?

---Jon
-- 

Disclaimer --- The government probably disagrees with my opinions.
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: mbrockma@bank.ecn.purdue.edu (Matt Brockman)
Subject: Re: Cesium, of course.
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 02:43:01 GMT

In article <18k43tINNo73@agate.berkeley.edu> gezelter@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu (Dan Gezelter) writes:
>Cesium's  more interesting properties:
>                            -4
>% of earth's crust: 3.2 x 10

Fortunately, I used to live down the street from the
guy whose house stood on the lot where all that Cesium
was. I remember every 4th of July, he'd invite all the
neighborhood kids to come down and play in the Cesium
Pit. It was always a summer highlight.


===============================================================================
Matt Brockman                                           mbrockma@ecn.purdue.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "While a llama may produce some of the world's finest of wools, prized
        around the world, their breath, on the other hand, could only 
            be prized somewhere in the far reaches of llama hell."
===============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: rhatch@bestsd.sdsu.edu (RICHARD HATCH)
Subject: To the group
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: San Diego State University - Dept. of Redundancy Dept.
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 06:14:00 GMT

OK. Ceasium, already!

rh
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: More Cesium facts.
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 20:53:29 GMT

In article <18oeanINNkk6@agate.berkeley.edu>, gezelter@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu (Dan Gezelter) writes...
>In article <1992Sep10.192511.7334@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com writes:

>>Something with a half-life of 3*10^6 years won't occur naturally unless it is
>>the decay product of something else, since it has been about 1333 half-lives
>>since the formation of the Earth.  What's 1/(2^1333)?  That's the amount of
>>the original Cs-135 left, if the earth is 4 billion years old.

>True, except that Cs-135 could be the decay product of something with
>a much longer half-life, which could be continually restocking the
>world's supply of Cs-135.  Also, Cs in the earth's core could be
>absorbing neutrons from other nearby sources of radioactivity,
>bringing the abundance of Cs-135 well above what we would predict
>using the simple calculation using the age of the earth...

>  Anyone know if Cs-135 (or any other Cs isotope for that matter) lies
>anywhere in another isotope's decay chain?  

The isotopic percentages given are for the earth's crust.  We cannot do much
sampling of places like the core, other planets etc.  I bet there's a lot
more heavy stuff such as lead, gold uranium etc. in the core than the
crust.

Anyway, a check of the CRC of elements neighboring Cs shows no long-lived
isotopes that decay to Cs-135.  Xe-135 does beta-decay to it, but it is
short-lived (hours), and nothing long-lived decays to it.

However, La-138 is shown as being .09% of natural lanthanum, and it alpha
decays with a half-life of 1.06E11 years to Cs-134.  Cs-134 decays with
a half-life of 2 years.  Due to the long half-life of La-138, the rarity
of it, and the fairly short half-life of Cs-134, the amount of Cs-134 that
exists is almost zilch.

-Mike
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: krpeters@athena.mit.edu (Karl R Peters)
Subject: Re: Time and our heroic element
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 15:59:55 GMT

In article <1992Sep13.220334.501@cco.caltech.edu> peri@cco.caltech.edu (Michal Leah Peri) writes:
>krpeters@athena.mit.edu (Karl R Peters) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Sep12.045918.13611@cco.caltech.edu> peri@cco.caltech.edu (Michal Leah Peri) writes:
>>>gilligan@bldrdoc.gov (Jonathan M. Gilligan) writes:
>>>
>>>>The meter is defined as the distance light travels in
>>>>1/299,792,458 of a second in a vacuum in an inertial reference frame.
>>>
>>>And just where do they get an inertial reference frame for measuring
>>>the speed of light in a vacuum???
>>>
>>>						--  Michal
>>>
>
>>Inertial reference frame: Any frame that is not accelerating.
>>Thus, the surface of the earth is OK - provided that the earth's spin
>>is not enough to mess up your results.
>
>Aye there's the rub!  The earth's surface is decidedly *not* inertial.
>
>							--  Michal
>

It's close enough - gravity is countered by the upward force of the earth's surface against
your apparatus, and the earth's spin and sun's gravitation are negligible.


Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: gak@wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Reply-To: gak@wrs.com
Organization: Wind River Systems, Inc.
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 17:13:04 GMT

In article 94187@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU, arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith) writes:
>In article <BuA5Ir.AIt@wrs.com> gak@wrs.com writes:
>>
>>Why not my favorite, ytterbium?
>>
>You like ytterbium too!  I thought I was the only one!

OK...anybody for "alt.rare.earths"?

Yttrium, my yttrium...

---
I don't know what system you use,  you might try vodka in Evian bottles.   Some
people like  cream in  their morning coffee,  I spike  mine with  a little  JD.
Mickey's Big Mouths are an excellent choice, you can use the empty bottles as a
desktop vase.                               -Hoodlum Empire "Get Drunk At Work"
Richard Stueven        gak@wrs.com         attmail!gakhaus!gak        107/H/3&4

Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: tenney@med.unc.edu (Charles R. Tenney)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Organization: UNC-CH School of Medicine
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 05:18:20 GMT

In article <Sep10.011411.13570@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith) writes:
>
>Big Al.  Hey, where are all the Noble Gas fans?
>

Noble Gas fans are used in areas where the concentration of a Noble Gas is
so great that they need fans to move them around.  The xenon fans must
have reinforced blades, as xenon is quite heavy compared to air.

Me, I'm a xenon enthusiast, but I like krypton too.  Both can be used in
gas ionization chambers for x-ray detection.  For more info, including
interaction cross-sections, see my previous post, also a followup.

ObCesium:	Cesium is good for x-ray detectors too, even though it's
not a gas, but in a crystal, like cesium iodide.

Do you think this newsgroup might belong in the alt.music.heavy-metal
heirarchy?
-- 
--
Charles R. Tenney	tenney@med.unc.edu   | What would the UNC school of
					     | Medicine want with my opinions?
	"My karma ran over my dogma."	     | What would I want with theirs?
From: spl@pitstop.ucsd.edu (Steve Lamont)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Date: 9 Sep 1992 21:42:59 GMT
Organization: University of Calif., San Diego/Microscopy and Imaging Resource
NNTP-Posting-Host: pitstop.ucsd.edu

In article <1992Sep9.200111.7058@reed.edu> nuke@reed.edu (Bill Newcomb) writes:
>Er, come again? Do you mean gallium? 
>
>I like thallium, which needs no radioactivity to be thoroughly nasty.

Call me an old mossback but I'll stick with good old oxygen.  Good old
friendly O2...

							spl
-- 
Steve Lamont, SciViGuy -- (619) 534-7968 -- spl@dim.ucsd.edu
UCSD Microscopy and Imaging Resource/UCSD Med School/La Jolla, CA 92093-0608
"There was a time when tyrants feared/The new world of the free.
Now freedom is afraid and shrieks/At tyranny." - "Brave New World," A. Macleish
From: arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Date: 10 Sep 92 01:14:11 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523

In article <1992Sep9.200111.7058@reed.edu> nuke@reed.edu (Bill Newcomb) writes:
>In article <Sep09.051228.94187@yuma.ACNS.ColoState.EDU> arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith) writes:
>>
>>Big Al.  Who *really* goes nuts over Gallinium, though.
>>
>
>Er, come again? Do you mean gallium? 
>
Yeah, gallium.  I said that.

>I like thallium, which needs no radioactivity to be thoroughly nasty.
>
Well, arsenic will do that.  So will chlorine.

Big Al.  Hey, where are all the Noble Gas fans?
From: spl@szechuan.uucp (Steve Lamont)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Date: 14 Sep 1992 15:58:10 GMT
Organization: University of Calif., San Diego/Microscopy and Imaging Resource
NNTP-Posting-Host: szechuan.ucsd.edu

In article <1992Sep14.152735.11021@daffy.cs.wisc.edu> orf@scrap.ssec.wisc.edu (Leigh Orf) writes:
>My 1976 Saab 99's parts are composed primarily of the expensive alloy,
>Unobtanium.

Actually, if you'll check the owner's manual, you'll find out that
many are actually an alloy of costilum and unobtanium with trace
amounts of obscurium.

							spl



-- 
Steve Lamont, SciViGuy -- (619) 534-7968 -- spl@dim.ucsd.edu
UCSD Microscopy and Imaging Resource/UCSD Med School/La Jolla, CA 92093-0608
"There was a time when tyrants feared/The new world of the free.
Now freedom is afraid and shrieks/At tyranny." - "Brave New World," A. Macleish
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov (Scott Dorsey)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center and Reptile Farm
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 13:48:19 GMT

In article <1992Sep11.025248.27153@noose.ecn.purdue.edu> mbrockma@bank.ecn.purdue.edu (Matt Brockman) writes:
>>I say that we disband this group and get something useful like alt.nitrogen.
>>Nitrogen is much more useful than cesium anyway, and is in all ways a
>>superior element.
>
>Oh, boy. Another fair-weather fan. Hoppin' on the bandwagon
>just cause N take up ~80% of the atmoshpere. You think
>just because *your* element is more prevelent that it is
>automatically better. Why not back Jupiter just 'cause it's
>the biggest planet?
>Your kind disgusts me!

You ignorant fool!  While it's true that Nitrogen is cheap and plentiful,
making up the majority of the atmosphere, the true beauty of this amazing
element is in the rarity of compounds containing it.  Nitrogen forms compounds
of extremely high potential energy.  WIthout the benificent Nitrogen, we would
never have protein, or most explosives.  Now, how can you beat that with a
crude, slutty element like Cesium that goes around combining with anything
around it.  Why, it's almost as bad as flourine and sodium.  This is a moral
and a family values issue; we must ban Cesium immediately as it is a bad
example for our youth.
--scott
From: igor@charles.ucdavis.edu (Frog's Experimental Account)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Date: 8 Sep 92 22:41:55 GMT
Organization: Colonic Inebriation Association

what a group.  can anyone tell me what happens when you fill
some beagles with cesium-137 (is that the rite isotope#?) and
then bury them in an unlined grave next to the ol lab on 
school grounds.  below which there lie the wells of water supply.
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: bmarcum@world.std.com (Bill Marcum)
Subject: Re: Frozen Radioactive Beagles!
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 17:08:38 GMT

In article <BuFv3w.n3z@wrs.com> gak@wrs.com writes:
>Jeez, and I thought you guys were making this up!
>
>		Speaking of thawing and dogs and the warm glow that we all feel
>	at Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate here to bring up the matter of
>	the 1,000 frozen radioactive federal dogs in California. I am not
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Say, that would make a great title for a comic book!  Followup to
rec.arts.comics.misc, alt.fan.furry.glowing, and alt.sex.bestiality.frigid :)

>          To sight it must ring clear as a bell, it must snap
>          in the ear, feel pleasantly sticky between the fingers,
>          smell fresh and tempting and taste heavenly.
>
No comment.

Bill Marcum


Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith)
Subject: Re: Elements
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 00:34:20 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523

In article <DRW.92Sep10163637@euclid.mit.edu> drw@euclid.mit.edu (Dale R. Worley) writes:
>And how many elements *have* they found?  I remember when 104 was new,
>but I haven't heard anything since then.
>
Last I heard (a textbood written about '90 or so) it was 109.  I'm still wait
in' on 114

Big Al.
From: KARLIN@BNLCL6.BNL.GOV (P.L. Cowan)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Re: Time and our heroic element
Summary: none
Keywords: none
Date: 13 Sep 92 17:00:59 GMT
Reply-To: COWAN@ENH.NIST.GOV
Organization: BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.23

In <1992Sep12.045918.13611@cco.caltech.edu> peri@cco.caltech.edu writes:

: gilligan@bldrdoc.gov (Jonathan M. Gilligan) writes:
: 
: >The meter is defined as the distance light travels in
: >1/299,792,458 of a second in a vacuum in an inertial reference frame.
: 
: And just where do they get an inertial reference frame for measuring
: the speed of light in a vacuum???
: 
: 						--  Michal
: 

I used to work at NBS. As I recall the Inertial Reference Frame was painted
yellow and was kept in the basement of C-wing of Building 221. When they
weren't using it to measure metre sticks I used to borrow it to lift heavy
objects.

Oh, BTW the yellow paint contained ... CESIUM.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
P. L. Cowan     Please send replies, comments etc. (no flames thank you) to 
COWAN@ANL.GOV   (I'm posting this from a friend's account)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: dlm@unislc.uucp (Dennis McCurdy)
Subject: Re: Cesium, of course.
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Organization: Unisys Corporation SLC
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 17:28:41 GMT

Dan Gezelter (gezelter@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu) wrote:
: Cesium is used in photoelectric cells, since the absorption of radiant
: energy in the visible region of the spectrum can remove an electron
: because of its low ionization energy.  Cesium also serves as a
: "getter" in vacuum tubes, removing the last traces of corrosive gases
: in the tube when it is first put into use.

Seems I read in Aviation Week that cesium was also being used in ion-thruster
research by NASA. The engines didn't have too much thrust, but hey, one small
step....

: Back off, man.  I'm a chemist.

ok, ok, OK!! :)

-- 
Dennis L. McCurdy          |
 dlm@unislc                |
 dlm@unislc.slc.unisys.com |
 (x4103)                   |
From: tk@ai.mit.edu (Tom Knight)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Caesium
Date: 14 Sep 92 18:35:45 GMT
Distribution: alt.cesium
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab

I'm very disappointed in this newsgroup.  Nowhere have we had an
adequate discussion of the fundamental issue:

Is our fair element called Cesium or Caesium.  My fine high quality
wall-sized periodic chart minces no words, and comes down hard on the
side of Caesium.  We all know, of course, that it comes from the latin
Caesius, meaning blue-white, so how do you people get off forgetting
this crucial "a"?

Since Cs is the most electropositive element, surely there must be
something interesting about CsF, mixing it with the most electronegative?
Who can give us the definitive story?