Short exposure to extremely large amounts of radiation might cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding, coma, and even death. Cesium oxide react with water Cs 2 O + H 2 O 2CsOH [ Check the balance ] Cesium oxide react with water to produce cesium hydroxide. Consider the peroxide ion, \(O_2^{2-}\), which has the following structure: The covalent bond between the two oxygen atoms is relatively weak. It is also well-documented that mushrooms from contaminated forests accumulate radiocaesium (caesium-137) in the fungal sporocarps. [12] Caesium is also used as a source of positive ions in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The sublimation energy (1) is the smallest of the alkali metals because the Cs atoms are the biggest. Larger pieces of potassium produce a lilac flame. The largest present-day use of nonradioactive caesium is in caesium formate drilling fluids for the extractive oil industry. Cs2O is hygroscopic, forming the corrosive CsOH on contact with water. Radioactive isotopes are constantly decaying or changing into different isotopes by giving off radiation. Its polarity makes it a good solvent and is commonly known as the universal solvent. The following binary (containing only Cs and O) oxides of caesium are known: Cs11O3, Cs4O, Cs7O, and Cs2O. It reacts with oxygen in the air to give white lithium oxide: \[ 4Li + O_2 \rightarrow 2Li_2O \label{1}\]. Both the oxide and suboxides are brightly coloured. The process yielded 9.2 grams (0.32oz) of rubidium chloride and 7.3 grams (0.26oz) of caesium chloride from the initial 44,000litres of mineral water. You can be exposed to stable or radioactive cesium by breathing air, drinking water, or eating food containing cesium. Some of the cesium that your body absorbs can remain in your body for weeks or months, but is slowly eliminated from your body through the urine and feces. What recommendations has the federal government made to protect human health? Reactivity of the simple Oxides: \(X_2O\), status page at https://status.libretexts.org. Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registration. How can I find the activation energy in potential energy diagrams? Please click here to see any active alerts. When you eat, drink, breathe, or touch things containing cesium compounds that can easily be dissolved in water, cesium enters your blood and is carried to all parts of your body. [69], Alternatively, caesium metal may be obtained from the purified compounds derived from the ore. Caesium chloride and the other caesium halides can be reduced at 700 to 800C (1,292 to 1,472F) with calcium or barium, and caesium metal distilled from the result. [124] The International Atomic Energy Agency and other sources have warned that radioactive materials, such as caesium-137, could be used in radiological dispersion devices, or "dirty bombs".[125]. [98] It has also been used in well logging devices for measuring the electron density of the rock formations, which is analogous to the bulk density of the formations. If you are exposed to cesium, many factors determine whether you'll be harmed. The reaction of these metal hydrides can be described below: \[MH_{2(s)}+2H_2O_{(l)} \longrightarrow M(OH)_{2(aq)}+2H_{2(g)} \label{7} \]. For the most current information, check with the federal agency or organization that provides it. We can write the changes for the Cs atom as, (1) Cs(s) Cs(g); #H_"sub"# = +79 kJ/mol profile for cesium, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Cesium reacts with cold water to form hydrogen gas and a solution of cesium ions and hydroxide ions. Based on eye irritation, the NIOSH has established a recommended exposure limit (REL) for cesium hydroxide of 2 mg/m3 as a timeweighted average (TWA) for up to a 10-hour workday and a 40-hour workweek. The resulting solution is basic because of the dissolved hydroxide. Sodium is the alkali element that reacts most violently with water. The aluminium sulfate component is converted to insoluble aluminium oxide by roasting the alum with carbon, and the resulting product is leached with water to yield a Cs2SO4 solution. Why are different oxides formed as you go down the Group? In addition, if babies were to be exposed to enough radiation while in their mothers womb during the time when their nervous system is rapidly developing, they could experience changes in their brains that could result in changes in behavior or decreased mental abilities. An empty tin can. lithium superoxide sodium superoxide potassium superoxide . The exception to this general assumption is beryllium, whose oxide (BeO) does not react with water. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page. Health professionals examining people who have health problems similar to those resulting from radiation exposure would need to rely on additional information, such as the testing of blood samples for cell counts and chromosomal damage, in order to establish if such people had been affected by being near a source of radioactivity. The oxide forms of each element can be summarized as follows: The more complicated ions are unstable in the presence of a small positive ion. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has assigned cesium hydroxide a threshold limit value (TLV) of 2 mg/m3 as a TWA for a normal 8-hour workday and a 40-hour workweek, based on respiratory and eye irritation. Now imagine bringing a small positive ion close to the peroxide ion. Electrons in the peroxide ion will be strongly attracted toward the positive ion. It is a pale yellow-white powder with the chemical formula CeO 2. It is difficult to determine if a person has been exposed only to external radiation from radioactive cesium. In this case, however, hydrogen gas is produced with the metal hydroxide. Water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom. In the presence of sufficient oxygen, the compound which produces the most stable compound is dominant (Table 1). Exposure to Cs-137 can increase the risk for cancer because of the presence ofhigh-energy gamma radiation. The radiological impacts in Europe from 137Cs and 134Cs released from the Chernobyl accident, however, were great. Man-made sources of radioactive materials are found in consumer products, industrial equipment, atom bomb fallout, and to a smaller extent from hospital waste, medical devices, and nuclear reactors. The larger metals form complicated oxides due to energetic factors. Even though it has only a +1 charge, the lithium ion at the top of the group is very small small; therefore it has a high enough charge density that any peroxide ion near it breaks down into an oxide and an oxygen atom. from Wikipedia. Cesium binds strongly to most soils and does not travel far below the surface of the soil. Cesium-137 is produced by nuclearfissionfissionThe splitting of an atomic nucleus into at least two other nuclei with the release of a relatively large amount of energy. You can review and change the way we collect information below. This information is important because this substance may harm you. Reactions of Main Group Elements with Water is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts. Similarly to the Group 1 oxides, the hydrides of the Group 1 elements react with water to form a basic solution. Official websites use .gov \[\ce{I2(g) + 2H2O(l) HI(aq) + HOI(aq)}\]. Cesium forms a number of mercury amalgams. If you have questions or concerns, please contact your community or state health or environmental quality department or: For more information, contact: [88] Other uses of the metal include high-energy lasers, vapour glow lamps, and vapour rectifiers. [12] Xenon was used in the experimental spacecraft Deep Space 1 launched in 1998. One interesting consequence of this is that tin (Sn) is often sprayed as a protective layer on iron cans to prevent the can from corroding. . [12], Most of the mined caesium (as salts) is directly converted into caesium formate (HCOOCs+) for applications such as oil drilling. Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caesium_monoxide&oldid=1070844348, This page was last edited on 9 February 2022, at 15:30. Cerium oxide (CeO2) is one of the preferred buffer layers for the fabrication of superconductors, especially for YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) processing. Industrial gauges that detect the flow of liquid through pipes. As 134Cs and 137Cs decay, beta particles and gamma radiation are given off. Because of their effect on heart rhythms, however, they are less likely to be used than potassium or rubidium salts. It is an important commercial product and an intermediate in the purification of the element from the ores. It has a particularly convenient Feshbach spectrum to enable studies of ultracold atoms requiring tunable interactions. Laboratory caesium hydroxide is typically a hydrate . Internal exposure to Cs-137through ingestion or inhalationallows the radioactive material to be distributed in the soft tissues, especially muscle tissue,which increases cancer risk. Known year-to-year variation within that period allows correlation with soil and sediment layers. The most important source of commercial cesium is a mineral known as pollucite, which usually contains about 5-32% cesium oxide (Cs 2 O). Lithium (and to some extent sodium) form simple oxides, \(X_2O\), which contain the common \(O^{2-}\) ion . The reaction continues even when the solution becomes basic. Water treatment plants are able to remove the precipitated metal carbonate and thus soften the water. Caesium fluoride enjoys a niche use in organic chemistry as a base[24] and as an anhydrous source of fluoride ion. You should understand that cesium only contributed a small fraction of the total radioactivity released following these events. The LibreTexts libraries arePowered by NICE CXone Expertand are supported by the Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Project, the UC Davis Office of the Provost, the UC Davis Library, the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Program, and Merlot. Sodium (and to some extent potassium) form peroxides, \(X_2O_2\), containing the more complicated \(O_2^{2-}\) ion. Caesium hydroxide is a very strong base, and will rapidly corrode glass. [17], The isotopes 134 and 137 are present in the biosphere in small amounts from human activities, differing by location. Cesium sulfates are soluble in water and are thought to be used primarily in water treatment, fuel cells, and to improve optical quality for . Metal and . [1], Caesium oxide is used in photocathodes to detect infrared signals in devices such as image intensifiers, vacuum photodiodes, photomultipliers, and TV camera tubes[3] Common cations in the water include Mg+2 and Ca+2. Ballard, James W., Infrared sensitivity of cesium oxide. We can write the changes for the Cs atom as (1) Cs (s) Cs (g); H sub = +79 kJ/mol (2) Cs (g) Cs (g); I 1 = +375.7 kJ/mol The reaction is very exothermic. To protect the public from the harmful effects of toxic chemicals and to find ways to treat people who have been harmed, scientists use many tests. Molecular weight: 946.3 Melting point: 4.3 C (decomposes) \(NaH{(s)}+2H_{2}O_{(l)} \longrightarrow\), \(NaH{(s)}+2H_{2}O_{(l)} \longrightarrow Na^+_{(aq)}+OH^-_{(aq)}+H_2 \; {(g)}\). Forming complicated oxides from the metals releases more energy and makes the system more energetically stable. After conversion to the nitrates and extraction with ethanol, a sodium-free mixture was obtained. sodium + water sodium hydroxide + hydrogen. One of the most familiar alkaline earth metal oxides is CaO or quicklime. The most common radioactive form of cesium is Cs-137. The halogen gases vary in their reactions with water due to their different electronegativities. This page examines the reactions of the Group 1 elements (lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium and cesium) with oxygen, and the simple reactions of the various oxides formed. 12H2O). Pure cesium metal is silvery white in color and very soft, but pure cesium is not expected to be found in the environment. In fact, boron (B) does not react at with water. Steel cans are made of tinplate (tin-coated steel) or of tin-free steel. We take your privacy seriously. [109], Caesium salts have been evaluated as antishock reagents following the administration of arsenical drugs. Balanced equation for reaction (smallest integer coefficients): + Name of base: Metal oxides can react with water to form bases. Cesium Hydroxide Hydrate is a water soluble Cesium source for use in oxygen-sensitive applications, such as metal production. Cells like muscle cells and nerve cells require changing electrical charges in order to function properly and allow you to think and move. [82], Caesium is also important for its photoemissive properties, converting light to electron flow. Quantities of radioactive cesium, as well as other radioactive elements, are measured in units of mass (grams) or radioactivity (curies or becquerels). Uses: The thermal decomposition of the azide is employed as a method of producing extremely pure, oxygen-free cesium. Reactivity increases as you go down the group; the less reactive metals (lithium, sodium and potassium) are stored in oil (because of its density, lithium floats in oil, but because it is less reactive than the other metals in the group, the thin coating of oil that results is sufficient to prevent reaction). While they are less prevalent than either caesium-133 or caesium-137, these bellwether isotopes are produced solely from anthropogenic sources. So the activation energy for Cs is the lowest, mainly because of its low ionization energy. Regulations and recommendations can be expressed in not-to-exceed levels in air, water, soil, or food that are usually based on levels that affect animals; they are then adjusted to help protect people. The alkaline earth metals were precipitated either as sulfates or oxalates, leaving the alkali metal in the solution. (2) Cs(g) Cs(g); #I_1# = +375.7 kJ/mol Name the base. A common characteristic of most Alkali Metals is their ability to displace H2(g) from water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website. Chamblee, GA 30341-3717 These species react with water in different ways: \[\ce{M2O(s) + 2H2O(l) \longrightarrow 2M^{+}(aq) + 2OH^{-} (aq)} \label{1}\], \[\ce{M2O2(s) + 2H2O(l) \longrightarrow 2M^{+}(aq) + 2OH^{-} (aq) + H2O2(aq)} \label{2}\], \[\ce{2MO2 (s) + 2H2O(l) \longrightarrow 2M^{+}(aq) + 2OH^{-} (aq) + H2O2 (aq) + O2(g)} \label{3}\]. Toxicological This is because enough heat is given off during the exothermic reaction to ignite the H2(g). Your doctor might need to ask your state health department to investigate. In reality, the product was probably a colloidal mixture of the metal and caesium chloride. Animal testing may also be used to identify health effects such as cancer or birth defects. The LibreTexts libraries arePowered by NICE CXone Expertand are supported by the Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Project, the UC Davis Office of the Provost, the UC Davis Library, the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Program, and Merlot. They are stored either in a vacuum or in an inert gas such as argon and the tubes must be broken open when the metal is used. Above: Extended unit cell of Cs 18 Hg 8 O 6 in a projection approximately along a.Green cubes depict the [Hg 8] 6 anions, oxide anions are drawn as red spheres, cesium cations as blue spheres. The interaction of water with cesium on the strontium titanate surface SrTiO 3 (100), was studied, mainly by means of work function measurements and thermal desorption spectroscopy. It is also one of the byproducts of nuclear fission processes in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons testing. Do not include states. But people exposed to radioactive cesium that has been widely dispersed in air, water, soil, or foods following nuclear bombings or accidents have not been exposed to amounts large enough to cause the same effects. This information is important because this substance may harm you. and Human Services, Public Health Service. Friestad, Gregory K.; Branchaud, Bruce P.; Navarrini, Walter and Sansotera, Maurizio (2007) "Cesium Fluoride" in, General Conference on Weights and Measures, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, "NIST Radionuclide Half-Life Measurements", "History of the recommended atomic-weight values from 1882 to 1997: a comparison of differences from current values to the estimated uncertainties of earlier values", "C&EN: It's Elemental: The Periodic Table Cesium", "Density of melts of alkali metals and their Na-K-Cs and Na-K-Rb ternary systems", "A Basic Rule of Chemistry Can Be Broken, Calculations Show", "Caesium in high oxidation states and as a p-block element", "Forcing Cesium into Higher Oxidation States Using Useful hard x-ray Induced Chemistry under High Pressure", "Effects of relativistic motion of electrons on the chemistry of gold and platinum", "Single-atom electron energy loss spectroscopy of light elements", "The Crystal Structure of Cesium Monoxide", "Nucleosynthesis in Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars: Relevance for Galactic Enrichment and Solar System Formation", IEER Report: Transmutation Nuclear Alchemy Gamble, Chernobyl's Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socia-Economic Impacts and Recommendations to the Governments of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine, "Transmutation of Cesium-137 Using Proton Accelerator", "Distribution of the elements in some major units of the Earth's crust", 10.1130/0016-7606(1961)72[175:DOTEIS]2.0.CO;2, "Cesium as a Raw Material: Occurrence and Uses", "The Tanco Pegmatite at Bernic Lake, Manitoba: X. Pollucite", "Lithium, cesium, and rubidiumThe rare alkali metals", "Cesium formate fluid succeeds in North Sea HPHT field trials", "Chemische Analyse durch Spectralbeobachtungen", "Ueber die Darstellung von Rubidium- und Csiumverbindungen und ber die Gewinnung der Metalle selbst", "Cesium Supplier & Technical Information", "The material flow of radioactive cesium-137 in the U.S. 2000", "IsoRay's Cesium-131 Medical Isotope Used In Milestone Procedure Treating Eye Cancers At Tufts-New England Medical Center", "Level and density measurement using non-contact nuclear gauges", "Isotope Tracers Project Resources on Isotopes Cesium", "A Synopsis of Ion Propulsion Development Projects in the United States: SERT I to Deep Space I", "Infrared illumination compositions and articles containing the same", "Accumulation of potassium, rubidium and caesium (, "IAEA director warns of 'dirty bomb' risk", View the reaction of Caesium (most reactive metal in the periodic table) with Fluorine (most reactive non-metal), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caesium&oldid=1137590149, Chemical elements with body-centered cubic structure, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 13:01. From this reaction it is apparent that OH- is produced, creating a basic or alkaline environment. An estimated 16,461 workers (4,276 of these are female) are potentially exposed to natural cesium and cesium compounds in the United States. [84][85] Nevertheless, germanium, rubidium, selenium, silicon, tellurium, and several other elements can be substituted for caesium in photosensitive materials.[12]. Exceptionally pure and gas-free caesium can be produced by 390C (734F) thermal decomposition of caesium azide CsN3, which can be produced from aqueous caesium sulfate and barium azide. In the reaction with water, hydrogen gas is released. About 10% of absorbed radiocaesium washes out of the body relatively quickly in sweat and urine. The mining and milling of certain ores can also release cesium to the air, water, and soil. L. R. Koller described the first modern photoemissive surface in 192930 as a layer of caesium on a layer of caesium oxide on a layer of silver. Because Cs-137 bonds with chlorides to make a crystalline powder, it reacts in the environment like table salt (sodium chloride): Small quantities of Cs-137 can be found in the environment from nuclear weapons and from nuclear reactor accidents. Pure cesium metal reacts violently with air and water, resulting in an explosion-like reaction. Legal. The high water solubility is a disadvantage which makes it incompatible with large pool irradiators for food and medical supplies. Cesium oxide is a hygroscopic yellow-orange solid that can be reduced to elemental cesium in a reaction with magnesium metal. The amount of cesium in drinking water is ordinarily about 1 microgram (1 microgram equals 1/1,000,000 of a gram) per liter of water (g/L). The second, symbol s, is the SI unit of time. Plants and vegetation growing in or nearby contaminated soil may take up small amounts of Cs-137 from the soil. Once again, these are strongly exothermic reactions and the heat produced inevitably decomposes the hydrogen peroxide to water and more oxygen. It is known to have a higher selectivity to etch highly p-doped silicon than the more commonly used potassium . These sites make up the National Priorities List (NPL) and are the sites targeted for long-term federal cleanup activities. Oxides of Group 1 elements also react with water to create basic solutions. [68] The primary smaller-scale commercial compounds of caesium are caesium chloride and nitrate. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease The half-life of 134Cs is about 2 years and the half-life of 137Cs is about 30 years. for use in medical devices and gauges. Description. Children can be affected by cesium in the same ways as adults. The carbonate ion then precipitates out with the metal ion to form MCO3(s). \[MO_{(s)}+H_2O_{(l)} \longrightarrow M(OH)_{2(s)} \label{6}\]. The hydroxide ions combine with the bicarbonate ions in the water to produce water and a carbonate ion. Federal agencies that develop regulations for toxic substances include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC). Sometimes cesium is used as a getter for residual gas impurities in vacuum tubes and as a coating in tungsten filaments or cathodes of the tubes. It is an anisotropic etchant of silicon, exposing octahedral planes. In the case of a radioactive chemical, it is also important to gather information concerning the radiation dose and dose rate to the body. The effects of exposure to any hazardous substance depend on the dose, the duration, how you are exposed, personal traits and habits, and whether other chemicals are present. cesium tungsten oxideReverso Context-: cesium doped tungsten oxide Context Documents Collaborative Dictionary Expressio Reverso Corporate It is an orange solid. [72] In 1882, he produced caesium metal by electrolysing caesium cyanide, avoiding the problems with the chloride.[74]. Cesium binds strongly to soil and concrete, but does not travel very far below the surface. Fissioning that occurs without any outside cause is called "spontaneous fission." With the exception of beryllium (Be), the alkaline metal hydrides react with water to produce the metal hydroxide and hydrogen gas. Generally halogens react with water to give their halides and hypohalides. Its advantages include a half-life of roughly 30 years, its availability from the nuclear fuel cycle, and having 137Ba as a stable end product. Registry (ATSDR). Radioactive forms of cesium are unstable and eventually change into other more stable elements through the process of radioactive decay. The most important factor is whether or not there has been recent fallout from a nuclear explosion such as a weapons test or an accident that has occurred at a nuclear power plant. Laboratories use special techniques to measure the amount of cesium in body fluids such as blood and urine, as well as in feces or other human samples. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies the most serious hazardous waste sites in the nation. One curie is the amount of radioactive material in which 37 billion atoms transform every second; this is approximately equivalent to the radioactivity of 1 gram of radium. These included environmental dispersion of radiocesium and uptake in reindeer, caribou, and livestock. After reduction of the hexachloroplatinate with hydrogen, caesium and rubidium were separated by the difference in solubility of their carbonates in alcohol. The balanced equation for reaction of solid cesium with liquid water = 2Cs + 2H2O 2CsOH + H2. The discovered haematococcus strains were successful in the removal of up to 50 % of radioactive cesium from low-level contaminated water containing 5 Bq/ ml initial concentration. Radioactive decay decreases the concentration of 134Cs and 137Cs. Cesium compounds do not react violently with air or water and are generally very soluble in water. Caesium vapour is used in many common magnetometers. [12], It is highly pyrophoric: the autoignition temperature of caesium is 116C (177F), and it ignites explosively in air to form caesium hydroxide and various oxides. Cesium Oxide is a highly insoluble thermally stable Cesium source suitable for glass, optic and ceramic applications. The hydrogen gas produced by the reaction is heated by the thermal energy released at the same time, causing ignition and a violent explosion. JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Each atom of 134Cs changes into either xenon 134 (134Xe) or barium 134 (134Ba), neither of which is radioactive, while each atom of 137Cs decays to barium 137 (137Ba), which is also not radioactive. caesium oxide caesium peroxide: Other cations. Accessibility StatementFor more information contact us atinfo@libretexts.orgor check out our status page at https://status.libretexts.org. When a substance is released from a large area, such as an industrial plant, or from a container, such as a drum or bottle, it enters the environment. The reaction is so explosive that it often shatters the container. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Group 1 metals are very reactive, and must be stored out of contact with air to prevent oxidation. The federal government develops regulations and recommendations to protect public health. Leaching with water or dilute ammonia (NH4OH) yields a dilute chloride (CsCl) solution. [100], Caesium and mercury were used as a propellant in early ion engines designed for spacecraft propulsion on very long interplanetary or extraplanetary missions. Preparation. No known taste or odor is associated with cesium compounds. \[\ce{Cl2(g) + 2H2O(l) HCl(aq) + HOCl(aq)}\]. profile for cesium. Studies utilizing metal oxides adsorbents such as titanium oxide are well documented [32], [33], . How does the activation energy affect reaction rate? Naturally occurring sources of radiation are cosmic radiation from space or radioactive materials in soil or building materials. Stable cesium is not likely to affect the health of children, but large amounts of gamma radiation, from sources such as radioactive cesium, could damage cells and might also cause cancer. How can I draw an elementary reaction in a potential energy diagram? Hydroxide, the OH - anion composed of an oxygen atom bonded to a hydrogen atom, is commonly present in nature and is one of the most widely studied molecules in physical chemistry. Huheey, James E., Ellen A. Keiter, and Richard L. Keiter. How can families reduce the risk of exposure to cesium? These factors include the dose (how much), the duration (how long), and how you come in contact with it. [92] Caesium salts sometimes replace potassium or sodium salts in organic synthesis, such as cyclization, esterification, and polymerization. This reaction can be generalized to all alkali metal hydrides. Caesium compounds may provide a faster response (CsF) and be less hygroscopic (CsI). Cesium is not mined or produced in the United States and very little is imported from other countries. It combines quickly with oxygen in the air and reacts violently with water. From: Epitaxial Growth of Complex Metal Oxides, 2015 Related terms: Nanoparticle ZnO Al2O3 Metal Oxide Conductivity Oxide Nanostructured Material Oxygen Vacancy View all Topics Download as PDF Set alert Manfred Bick, Horst Prinz, "Cesium and Cesium Compounds" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry 2005, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. The hydroxides of calcium, strontium, and barium are only slightly soluble in water; however, enough hydroxide ions are produced to make a basic environment. However, atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons was halted many years ago, and there have only been two major reactor accidents at nuclear plants where radiocesium was released in significant amounts.