Cesium

The most common form of cesium is cesium formate which is used in based drilling fluids for the oil industry. This is because the high density of the cesium formate brine reduces the requirement for toxic high-density suspended solids in the drilling fluid which is crucial for technological, engineering, and environmental advantages. Cesium is also used in atomic clocks.
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“Cesium is used in industry as a catalyst promoter, boosting the performance of other metal oxides in the capacity and for the hydrogenation of organic compounds.”

One of the world’s richest sources of cesium is located at Bernic Lake, Manitoba.

= **Human Heatlh & Environment**=

Cesium is one of the heavier alkali metals and it is highly reactive. Cesium can be highly explosive when it comes into contact with water, not just hot but cold as well as ice. Cesium hydroxide can etch glass. Cesium compounds rarely come into contact with humans and should be labeled as mildly toxic because of its chemical similarity to potassium. Large amounts of this compound cause hyperirritability and spasms. Humans can be exposed to cesium by breathing, eating, and drinking. In the air, cesium is usually low, but in radioactive cesium has been found in some level at surface water and many types of foods.

Cesium is formed naturally from the environment, usually form erosion and weathering of rocks and minerals. It is also released in the air, water and soil through mining. Radioactive isotopes of cesium may be released into the air by nuclear power plants and during nuclear accidents and nuclear weapons testing.

=**Economic & Political**=

Cesium is made from the erosion and weathering of rocks and minerals. “A cesium clock operates by exposing cesium atoms to microwaves until they vibrate at one of their resonant frequencies and then counting the corresponding cycles as a measure of time. The frequency involved is that of the energy absorbed from the incident photons when they excite the outermost electron in a cesium atom to jump ("transition") from a lower to a higher orbit.”

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By: Ashley Robinson