a metallic element that occurs naturally in tiny amounts in air, water, soil, and food. it is a byproduct of zinc refining, and is used to make batteries, pigments, plastics, alloys, and electroplate. it is also found in cigarette smoke. exposure to high levels of cadmium may cause certain cancers and other health problems.
出典:Wiktionary
1817, from Ancient Greek Καδμεία (Kadmeía, “calamine”), a cadmium-bearing mixture of minerals, which was named after the king Κάδμος (Kádmos, “Cadmus”).
cadmium (countable かつ uncountable, 複数形 cadmiums)
出典:Wikipedia
出典:『Wikipedia』 (2011/06/27 09:03 UTC 版)
Cadmium ( /ˈkædmiəm/ kad-mee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, bluish-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Similar to zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and similar to mercury it shows a low melting point compared to transition metals. Cadmium and its congeners are not always considered transition metals, in that they do not have partly filled d or f electron shells in the elemental or common oxidation states. The average concentration of cadmium in the Earth's crust is between 0.1 and 0.5 parts per million (ppm). It was discovered simultaneously by Stromeyer and Hermann, both in Germany, as an impurity in zinc carbonate.