Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An extremely unstable radioactive element of the alkali metals, produced by alpha decay of actinium or artificially from thorium, having over 40 isotopes and isomers, the most stable of which is Fr-223 with a half-life of 22 minutes. Atomic number 87; melting point 27°C; boiling point 677°C; valence 1. cross-reference: Periodic Table.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A metallic chemical element (symbol Fr) with an atomic number of 87.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a radioactive element of the alkali-metal group discovered as a disintegration product of actinium

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After France.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French francium, from France +‎ -ium (after the native country of Marguerite Perey).

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Examples

  • Some of the elements, such as francium and californium, were named to honor the places where they were discovered.

    Elements 2009

  • Per Wikipedia: Mercury is a heavy, silvery d-block metal [that] is one of six elements that are liquid at or near room temperature and pressure, the others being caesium, francium, gallium, bromine, and rubidium.

    Annotations for Trinity issue #51 | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment 2009

  • Only 20 atoms of francium exist at any given instant.

    Archive 2007-06-01 N A 2007

  • There are some very unstable radioactive elements, like francium, that last just a couple of minutes and then decay.

    The Guardian World News Jon Ronson 2012

  • And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium,

    Qulog 2.0 2010

  • Lindsay's about as unstable right now as the element francium.

    Celebslam: They're Better Than Us 2009

  • 7: Nice touch of science, but it'd have to be a pretty high room temperature for cesium, francium, gallium and rubidium to melt--the lowest melting point among them is francium's 300 degrees Kelvin, which is 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Archive 2007-04-01 Douglas Wolk 2007

  • 7: Nice touch of science, but it'd have to be a pretty high room temperature for cesium, francium, gallium and rubidium to melt--the lowest melting point among them is francium's 300 degrees Kelvin, which is 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Week 49: Of Course You Realize Douglas Wolk 2007

Comments

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  • add this to water for much fun.

    September 25, 2007

  • Fr.

    December 16, 2007