thalliumn.
/ˈθalɪəm/, U.S. /ˈθæliəm/ A rare metal, bluish white in colour with leaden lustre, extremely soft and almost devoid of tenacity or elasticity; occurring in small quantities in iron and copper pyrites. Atomic weight 204; symbol Tl.
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the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > thallium > [noun]
thallium1861
1861 Crookes in Chem. News 16 Mar. 193 On the Existence of a New Element.
1861 Crookes in Chem. News 18 May 303 I have thought..to propose for it the provisional name of Thallium, from the Greek θαλλός, or Latin thallus, a budding twig..which I have chosen as the green line which it communicates to the spectrum recals with peculiar vividness the fresh colour of vegetation at the present time.
1866 H. E. Roscoe Lessons Elem. Chem. xxiv. 214 Thallium was discovered in 1861 by Mr. Crookes, by means of spectrum analysis, in the deposit in the flue of a pyrites burner.
1874 tr. E. Lommel Nature of Light (ed. 4) 114 The splendid green light of Thallium is more strongly refracted than the yellow light of Sodium.
Compounds
attributive and in other combinations, as thallium alloy, thallium spectrum; thallium-activated adj. containing a small amount of added thallium so as to make the substance active as a phosphor. thallium glass n. a variety of glass of great density and refracting power, in the manufacture of which thallium is used instead of lead or potassium. thallium green n. the colour of the thallium line n. the vivid green line of the thallium spectrum.
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemical assay or analytical chemistry > [noun] > acetimetry > spectral analysis > record of
thallium line1868
Soret (also Soret's) band1899
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > glass and glass-like materials > [noun] > glass > other types of glass
mirror glass1440
Venice glass1527
green glass1559
bubble glass1591
hard glass1597
window glass1606
bottle glass1626
looking-glass plate1665
opal glass1668
flint-glass1683
broad-glass1686
jealous glass1703
plate glass1728
Newcastle glass1734
flint1755
German sheet glass1777
Réaumur's porcelain1777
cut glass1800
Vauxhall1830
muslin glass1837
Venetian glass1845
latticinio1855
quartz glass1861
muff glass1865
thallium glass1868
St. Gobain glass1870
frost blue1873
crackle-glass1875
opaline1875
crackle-ware1881
amberina1883
opal1885
Jena1892
Holophane1893
roughcast1893
soda glass1897
opalite1899
milchglas1907
pâte de verre1907
Pyrex1915
silica glass1916
soda-lime glass1917
Vita-glass1925
peach-blow1930
borosilicate glass1933
Vitrolite1937
twin plate1939
sintered glass1940
gold-film1954
Plyglass1956
pyroceram1957
float glass1959
solar glass1977
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > phosphorus > [adjective] > made active as a phosphor
thallium-activated1956
1868 H. Watts Dict. Chem. V. 745 The length of the wave of the green thallium-line is 0·0005348 millimetre.
1868 H. Watts Dict. Chem. V. 745 Thallium-salts are highly poisonous.
1868 H. Watts Dict. Chem. V. 758 Thallium-glass.
1956 Nature 3 Mar. 413/1 A single-crystal spectrometer (thallium-activated sodium iodide crystal).
1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XV. 397/2 The phosphor in greatest use in scintillation counters is thallium activated sodium iodide.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1861