Dictionary Home » Webster's New World College Dictionary » strontium

strontium

strontium definition

stron·tium (strän′s̸həm, -s̸hē əm; stränt′ē əm)

noun

a pale-yellow, metallic chemical element, one of the alkaline-earth metals, resembling calcium in properties and found only in combination: strontium compounds burn with a red flame and are used in fireworks: symbol, Sr; at. no., 38: a deadly radioactive isotope (strontium 90) is present in the fallout of nuclear explosions

Etymology: ModL: so named (1808) by Sir Humphry Davy, who first isolated it < strontia + -ium

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.