The previous article mentioned that the rocks brought back by Apollo contained the superconducting element Yttrium, in fact there are quite a number of other rare earth elements on the moon as well, such as the element Scandium which is quite rare in the earth’s crust, and may even be more valuable than gold, even so, it is still traded for industrial use rather than as a luxury item. Although Scandium is rare on Earth, it is found in high concentrations on the Sun and other planets.
In 1869 Mendeleev proposed the Periodic Law of the Elements in a paper entitled “The Relationship between the Properties of the Elements and their Atomic Weights” and published it in the first edition of the Periodic Table of the Elements of Chemistry. It was predicted that there should be another undiscovered element of unknown nature between the two elements of calcium and titanium and Scandium was predicted by Mendeleev in
Eight years later, in 1879, Nilson and his team discovered the element Scandium in the Black Rare Gold Mine and the Silicon Beryllium Yttrium Mine, and named it Scandium after the Latin name of the peninsula in which it is found (Scandia). The pure metal Scandium was difficult to produce in the early days, and it was not until 1937 that it was first successfully extracted.
The pure metal Scandium is usually prepared by electrolytic chlorination of Scandium, when Scandium is exposed to air, its color will gradually change to a slightly light yellow, or pinkish hue. Scandium is the lightest of the rare earth elements, but it is not classified as a light rare earth metal, and because of its high melting point and strong corrosion resistance, when this element is added to aluminum alloys, it becomes a high-strength, lightweight aluminum alloy. When this element is added to aluminum alloy, it becomes Scandium aluminum alloy with high strength and light weight. When this element is added to the aluminum alloy, it becomes a high strength and light weight aluminum alloy. It is often used in aerospace, automobile engines, and lightweight sports equipment such as baseball bats and bicycle frames.
It is interesting to note that the lighting used for large venues and movie shoots is related to the “Scandium” element.Scandium is originally used in the manufacture of high-intensity light bulbs, i.e., a substance containing sodium Scandium alloy is poured into a light tube.The electrical discharge will emit light similar to that of sunlight, which is brighter and has a longer life than halogen lamps, and even consumes only about 50% of the power consumed by halogen lamps.
