Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
00:10
00:09
00:08
00:07
00:06
00:05
00:04
00:03
00:02
00:01
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
curium cu·ri·um (ky&oobreve;r'ē-əm)
n.
Symbol Cm
A metallic synthetic radioactive transuranic element. Atomic number 96; longest-lived isotope Cm 247; melting point (estimated) 1,350°C; valence 3,4.
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
curium  (ky r'ē-əm) Pronunciation Key
Symbol Cm A synthetic, silvery-white, radioactive metallic element of the actinide series that is produced artificially from plutonium or americium. Curium isotopes are used to provide electricity for satellites and space probes. Its most stable isotope has a half-life of 16.4 million years. Atomic number 96; melting point (estimated) 1,350°C; valence 3. See Periodic Table. |
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
curium
synthetic chemical element of the actinoid series of the periodic table, atomic number 96. Undetected in nature, curium (as the isotope curium-242) was discovered (summer 1944) at the University of Chicago by Glenn T. Seaborg, Ralph A. James, and Albert Ghiorso in a plutonium isotope, plutonium-239, that had been bombarded by helium ions (alpha particles) in the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. It was the third transuranium element to be discovered
Learn more about curium with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Cite This Source
