rhenium

[ree-nee-uh m] /ˈri ni əm/
noun, Chemistry
1.
a rare metallic element of the manganese subgroup: used, because of its high melting point, in platinum-rhenium thermocouples. Symbol: Re; atomic number: 75; atomic weight: 186.2.
Origin
1920-25; < Neo-Latin, equivalent to Latin Rhēn(us) Rhine + -ium -ium
Examples from the web for rhenium
  • rhenium can be attached to phosphorus compounds that tend to concentrate in bones.
  • Immediately inside the reactor vessel was a rhenium baffle which would act as a neutron curtain in the event of water immersion.
British Dictionary definitions for rhenium

rhenium

/ˈriːnɪəm/
noun
1.
a dense silvery-white metallic element that has a high melting point. It occurs principally in gadolinite and molybdenite and is used, alloyed with tungsten or molybdenum, in high-temperature thermocouples. Symbol: Re; atomic no: 75; atomic wt: 186.207; valency: –1 or 1–7; relative density: 21.02; melting pt: 3186°C; boiling pt: 5596°C (est)
Word Origin
C19: New Latin, from Rhēnus the Rhine
Word Origin and History for rhenium
n.

1925, Modern Latin, from Latin Rhenus "the river Rhine" (see Rhine) + element ending -ium. Coined by German chemists Walter Noddack and Ida Tacke.

rhenium in Medicine

rhenium rhe·ni·um (rē'nē-əm)
n.
Symbol Re
A rare dense metallic element with a high melting point. Atomic number 75; atomic weight 186.2; melting point 3,186°C; boiling point 5,596°C; specific gravity 21.02; valence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

rhenium in Science
rhenium
  (rē'nē-əm)   
Symbol Re
A very rare, dense, silvery-white metallic element with a very high melting point. It is used to make catalysts and electrical contacts. Atomic number 75; atomic weight 186.2; melting point 3,180°C; boiling point 5,627°C; specific gravity 21.02; valence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. See Periodic Table.
Encyclopedia Article for rhenium

(Re), chemical element, very rare metal of Group VIIb of the periodic table, one of the densest elements. Predicted by the Russian chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev (1869) as chemically related to manganese, rhenium was discovered (1925) by the German chemists Ida and Walter Noddack and Otto Carl Berg. The metal and its alloys have found limited application as fountain pen points, high-temperature thermocouples (with platinum), catalysts, electrical contact points, and instrument-bearing points and in electrical components.

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