Rubidium: Time, Medicine, and Fireworks — A Deep Dive

Rubidium is a soft, silvery-white metal that reacts with air and water, yet it's woven into technologies we use daily. In this episode we trace its story from 1861 discovery by Bunsen and Kirchhoff with the spectroscope, to its crucial role in some of the most precise clocks in the world, and in PET imaging with rubidium-82. We'll see how its signature red-purple spectral lines light up fireworks and how researchers are exploring rubidium's potential in thermoelectric generators. Along the way we’ll explain isotopes like rubidium-87 and why they matter in science. Sources include Wikipedia, Chemistry World, and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

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