zirconium
pronunciation
How to pronounce zirconium in British English:
UK [zɜ:ˈkəʊniəm]
How to pronounce zirconium in American English:
US [zɜrˈkoʊniəm]
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- Noun:
- a lustrous gray strong metallic element resembling titanium; it is used in nuclear reactors as a neutron absorber; it occurs in baddeleyite but is obtained chiefly from zircon
Word Origin
- zirconium (n.)
- metallic chemical element, 1808, coined by German chemist and mineralogist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743-1817) in 1789; so called because it was found in zircon.
Example
- 1. As temperatures soared , the zirconium alloy coating the fuel apparently split or melted , reacting with the steam to produce copious amounts of hydrogen gas .
- 2. A bwr contains thousands of thin , straw-like tubes 12 feet in length , known as fuel rods , that in the case of fukushima are made of a zirconium alloy .
- 3. Mr mphep 's pixels are pieces of zirconium dioxide , 30 microns across , that have been coated on one side with a layer of silver 1.23 microns thick .
- 4. Paradoxically , though , it is a mirror in which the silver , being on top , is the transparent layer ( it is so thin that light passes easily through it ) while the zirconium dioxide ( which is normally a transparent substance ) acts as the reflective surface .