tellurium
2
9.9
- noun
- /tɛˈljʊəriəm/
- Specialized
:
telurio
- Perhaps the most subtle and least understood problem with CdTe PV is the supply of tellurium.
- tellurium and indium
Examples
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Selenium comes from selene (the ancient Greek word for "Moon") and is so named because the element was discovered together with the element tellurium, which had already been named for Earth, from the Latin tellus.
Academic text (2002) -
According to USGS, global tellurium production in 2007 was 135 metric tons.
Blog text (28) -
So if you say I need twice as much tellurium, you can't go and and mine twice as much rock to go get it.
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However, because tellurium has had so few uses, it has not been the focus of geologic exploration.
Blog text (28) -
Since CdTe is now regarded as an important technology in terms of PV's future impact on global energy and environment, the issue of tellurium availability is significant.
Blog text (28) -
In the last decade, new supplies of tellurium-rich ores have been located, e.g., in Xinju, China.
Blog text (28) -
Three thousand movable, dielectric mirrors, each with nine layers of polystyrene and tellurium, made Bunny a wizard at gathering sunlight.
Fiction book (2000) -
The metalloid tellurium is often used in alloys to improve their mechanical properties.
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In electronics, tellurium serves as a semiconductor in various devices.
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Due to its brittle nature, tellurium can be difficult to handle.
Synonyms
3
9.6
A brittle silver-white element used in electronics and metal alloys
A brittle silver-white element used in metal mixes and electronic parts
Compounds
- Specialized
A silver-white mineral containing silver and gold that people use to get gold
Surface Forms
Morphology
tellurium = tellur (semi-transparent) = tellur + ium
The suffix '-ium' clearly marks a chemical element, but the root 'tellur-' is a combining form not familiar as a standalone English word, so learners only partially recover the meaning.
Etymology
The word tellurium comes from the Latin tellus, meaning 'earth' or 'ground', the same idea behind terrain. Scientists named this rare element after the earth because it was found in soil and rocks, so it's easy to remember that tellurium comes from the ground.