uranium

UK/jʊˈɹeɪniəm/US/ˌjuː.ˈɹeɪ.ni.əm/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,779 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: urania

Uranium is a heavy radioactive metal used as nuclear fuel. Enriched uranium, uranium ore, mine uranium.

Only one isotope in a hundred and forty of natural uranium will sustain a chain reaction, which is why enrichment exists and why it is watched so closely — the same process that makes fuel makes weapons material if carried further. It was named after the planet Uranus.

Definitions of uranium

1nounuraniumA heavy radioactive metal used as nuclear fuel.B2+
“The power station uses uranium as fuel to make electricity.”

uranium is an element.

Where it comes from

Named in 1789 after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered eight years before.

Proto-Indo-European
*h₁wers-
English, today
uranium

From Uranus + -ium. After Uranus (the planet), -ium.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Chemistry & Elements

Practise this word

uranium in the wild

The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238 and uranium-235.
Uranium
Many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear properties.
Uranium
Normal functioning of the kidney, brain, liver, heart, and numerous other systems can be affected by exposure to uranium, a toxic metal.
Depleted uranium
The biological half-life (the average time it takes for the human body to eliminate half the amount in the body) for uranium is about 15 days.
Depleted uranium
Unlike uranium-235, it is non-fissile, which means it cannot sustain a chain reaction in a thermal-neutron reactor.
Uranium-238

1 / 3

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

← Vocabulary