from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun A soft, silvery-gray metallic rare-earth element, extracted chiefly from monazite, used in high-temperature fuel cells as a stabilizer and in alloys responsive to a magnetic field. Terbium oxide provides an important phosphor in cathode-ray tubes and low-energy lighting applications. Atomic number 65; atomic weight 158.925; melting point 1,356°C; boiling point 3,230°C; specific gravity 8.230; valence 3, 4. cross-reference: Periodic Table.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun A rare element, not yet isolated, occurring in the samarskite of North Carolina and certain other rare minerals, associated with erbium and yttrium.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun (Chem.) A rare metallic element, found in certain minerals, as gadolinite and samarskite, with other rare earths such as ytterbium. Symbol Tb. Atomic number 65. Atomic weight 158.925.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun a metallic chemical element (symbol Tb) with an atomic number of 65
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun a metallic element of the rare earth group; used in lasers; occurs in apatite and monazite and xenotime and ytterbite
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[After Ytterby, a town in Sweden.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
After Ytterby, Sweden.
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Examples
Indeed, some international prices haven't fallen at all, in particular those that are known as heavy rare earths, like terbium, which is used in advanced lasers and optics.
The rare-earths blasted out of rocks here feed more than 77 per cent of global demand for elements such as terbium, which power low-energy lightbulbs; neodymium, which powers wind turbines; and lanthanum, which powers the batteries of hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius.
The rare-earths blasted out of rocks here feed more than 77 per cent of global demand for elements such as terbium, which power low-energy lightbulbs; neodymium, which powers wind turbines; and lanthanum, which powers the batteries of hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius.
The rare-earths blasted out of rocks here feed more than 77 per cent of global demand for elements such as terbium, which power low-energy lightbulbs; neodymium, which powers wind turbines; and lanthanum, which powers the batteries of hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius.
The rare-earths blasted out of rocks here feed more than 77 per cent of global demand for elements such as terbium, which power low-energy lightbulbs; neodymium, which powers wind turbines; and lanthanum, which powers the batteries of hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius.
Everything from fluorescent light bulbs to laptop and iPhone screens relies on small but critical amounts of europium to generate a pleasant red color and terbium to make green.
oroboros commented on the word terbium
Tb
December 1, 2007
sionnach commented on the word terbium
You know there are four elements all discovered in that same region, named for that same town, Ytterby.
yttrium, erbium, terbium, and ytterbium
End of useless trivia item.
December 1, 2007