Adjacent Words

vanadium definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a soft silvery white toxic metallic element used in steel alloys; it occurs in several complex minerals including carnotite and vanadinite [syn: vanadium, V, atomic number 23]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: New Latin, from Old Norse Vanad?s Freya Date: 1833 a silvery-grayish malleable ductile metallic element obtained from minerals and used especially to form alloys and in catalysts — see element table

Dictionary of the Elements

vanadium
Symbol: V
Atomic number: 23
Atomic weight: 50.9415
Soft and ductile, bright white metal. Good resistance to corrosion by alkalis, sulphuric and hydrochloric acid. It oxidizes readily about 933K. There are two naturally occurring isotopes of vanadium, and 5 radioisotopes, V-49 having the longest half-life at 337 days. Vanadium has nuclear applications, the foil is used in cladding titanium to steel, and vanadium-gallium tape is used to produce a superconductive magnet. Originally discovered by Andres Manuel del Rio of Mexico City in 1801. His discovery went unheeded, however, and in 1820, Nils Gabriel Sefstron of Sweden rediscovered it. Metallic vanadium was isolated by Henry Enfield Roscoe in 1867. The name vanadium comes from Vanadis, a goddess of Scandinavian mythology. Silvery-white metallic transition element. Vanadium is essential to ascidians. Rats and chickens are also known to require it. Metal powder is a fire hazard, and vanadium compounds should be considered highly toxic. May cause lung cancer if inhaled.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. Chem. a hard grey metallic transition element occurring naturally in several ores and used in small quantities for strengthening some steels. Usage: Symb.: V. Derivatives: vanadate n. vanadic adj. vanadous adj. Etymology: mod.L f. ON Vanadís name of the Scand. goddess Freyja + -IUM

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vanadium Va*na"di*um, n. [NL., fr. Icel. Vanad[=i]s, a surname of the Scandinavian goddess Freya.] (Chem.) A rare element of the nitrogen-phosphorus group, found combined, in vanadates, in certain minerals, and reduced as an infusible, grayish-white metallic powder. It is intermediate between the metals and the non-metals, having both basic and acid properties. Symbol V (or Vd, rarely). Atomic weight 51.2.