uranium

uranium
\ \ [18] Ouranós was an ancient sky god in Greek mythology, consort of Gaea and father of Cronos and the Titans (his name was a personification of Greek ouranós ‘heaven’). The Romans called him ūranus, and the name soon came to be applied to the seventh planet from the sun after it was discovered in 1781. (Its discoverer, the German-born British astronomer Sir William Herschel, originally named it Georgium sidus ‘Georgian planet’, as an obsequious compliment to King George III, and others suggested that it should be called Herschel after the man who found it, but in the end the customary practice of naming after a classical deity prevailed.) The term uranium was derived from the planet’s name in 1789 by the German chemist Martin Klaproth, and is first recorded in English in 1797.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Uranium — (pronEng|jʊˈreɪniəm) is a silvery gray metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table that has the symbol U and atomic number 92. It has 92 protons and 92 electrons, 6 of them valence electrons. It can have between 141 and …   Wikipedia

  • Uranium — Protactinium ← Uranium → Neptunium Nd …   Wikipédia en Français

  • URANIUM — L’uranium (symbole U, numéro atomique 92) est un élément chimique métallique très dense (d = 19), dur, dont la couleur grise rappelle celle du nickel. Pendant les cent cinquante ans qui suivirent sa découverte, en 1789, par Martin Heinrich… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • uranium — [yoo rā′nē əm] n. [ModL: so named (1789) by M. H. Klaproth (see TELLURIUM), its discoverer, after URANUS, recently (1781) discovered planet + IUM] a very hard, heavy, silver colored, radioactive, metallic chemical element, one of the actinides,… …   English World dictionary

  • Uranium — U*ra ni*um, n. [NL., from Uranus the planet. See {Uranus}.] (Chem.) An element of the chromium group, found in certain rare minerals, as pitchblende, uranite, etc., and reduced as a heavy, hard, nickel white metal which is quite permanent. Its… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • uranium — Symbol: U Atomic number: 92 Atomic weight: (231) White radioactive metallic element belonging to the actinoids. Three natural isotopes, U 238, U 235 and U 234. Uranium 235 is used as the fuel for nuclear reactors and weapons. Discovered by Martin …   Elements of periodic system

  • Uranium — Uranium, so v.w. Uranorama …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Uranium — (U) Уран химический радиоактивный элемент (металл) с атомным номером 92 и атомной массой наиболее распространенного и устойчивого изотопа 238. Природный уран состоит из смеси трех изотопов урана 238, урана 235 и урана 234, из которых практическое …   Термины атомной энергетики

  • uranium — rare metallic element, 1797, named 1789 in Modern Latin by its discoverer, German chemist and mineralogist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743 1817), for the recently found planet URANUS (Cf. Uranus) (q.v.) …   Etymology dictionary

  • uranium — ► NOUN ▪ a grey dense radioactive metallic chemical element used as a fuel in nuclear reactors. ORIGIN from the planet Uranus …   English terms dictionary

  • uranium — /yoo ray nee euhm/, n. Chem. a white, lustrous, radioactive, metallic element, occurring in pitchblende, and having compounds that are used in photography and in coloring glass. The 235 isotope is used in atomic and hydrogen bombs and as a fuel… …   Universalium

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