californium

American  

[kal-uh-fawr-nee-uhm] / ˌkæl əˈfɔr ni əm /

noun

Chemistry.

1. a transuranic element. Cf; 98.

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californium British  

/ ˌkælɪˈfɔːnɪəm /

noun

1. a metallic transuranic element artificially produced from curium. Symbol: Cf; atomic no: 98; half-life of most stable isotope, ²⁵¹ Cf: 800 years (approx.)

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californium Scientific  

/ kăl′ə-fôr′nē-əm /

1. A synthetic, radioactive metallic element of the actinide series that is produced from curium or berkelium and is used in chemical analyses. Its most stable isotope, Cf 251, has a half-life of 800 years. Atomic number 98.

2. See Periodic Table

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Etymology

Origin of californium

1945–50; named after the University of California where it was discovered; -ium

Example Sentences

From copper to californium, we discover how the sober face of the periodic table hides dramatic backstories.

From Nature • Dec. 9, 2019

It’s also just the second element to be named after a U.S. state, the first being californium.

From Slate • Jun. 17, 2016

Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley in 1950 announced they had created a new radioactive element, "californium."

From US News • Mar. 17, 2015

As occasional collisions occurred between the oxygen and californium nuclei, they fused and formed the heavier nucleus of element 106�but not for long.

From Time Magazine Archive

They found that the bombardment of californium with boron ions released α particles which had an energy of 8.6 MeV and decayed with a half-life of 8 ± 2 seconds.

From A Brief History of Element Discovery, Synthesis, and Analysis by Watson, Glen W.