Introduction Samarium was first discovered in 1879 by French chemist Paul-Émile L. de Boisbaudran from the rare earth mineral samarskite, which was itself named in honor of Russian mining engineer Colonel Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets for his contributions to mineralogy. Samarium has seven naturally occurring isotopes, including stable isotopes 144Sm, 149Sm, 150Sm, 152Sm, and 154Sm, as well …
Introduction In 1879, Swedish chemist P. T. Cleve isolated pale green thulium oxide from erbium ores and named it “Thulia” after the Scandinavian term for the “farthest north” — Thule. This oxide led to the naming of the new element as “Thulium” (Tm). Thulium does not naturally occur in pure elemental form but coexists with …
Thulium, Named After the Mythical Northern Land of Thule from Greek Mythology Read More »
Previous articles mentioned the discovery of erbium oxide by scientist Mosander, leading not only to the separation of ytterbium (Yb) but also holmium (Ho) and thulium (Tm). Now, let’s dive into the rare earth element “holmium”! Introduction Holmium (Ho) has 35 isotopes, with naturally occurring 165Ho being the most stable. The remaining isotopes are artificially …
Holmium: Wielding Immense Power, It Obliterates Kidney Stones Read More »
Ytterbium is a rare earth element with the chemical symbol Yb. First isolated in 1878 from gadolinite, its name comes from the village of Ytterby in Sweden, where the mineral was discovered. It has multiple stable and radioactive isotopes and is primarily used in laser technology, alloy strengthening, fiber optic communications, medical imaging, and nuclear medicine. Its properties make it useful in aviation, chemicals, electronics, geophysical monitoring, and it holds potential in high-density explosives and optical clocks.
In a previous article, we mentioned the rare earth element “Terbium.” Its sibling elements, discovered in the same year, include “Erbium.” Initially, terbium oxide and erbium oxide were confused with each other, and it wasn’t until after 1860 that this was corrected. Both Er and Tb were isolated from gadolinite, yet their oxides differ in …
Previously, we discussed how “Yttrium” was discovered in a mine near the village of Ytterby in Sweden. Interestingly, there are three other elements that, much like triplets, have similar names and are often confused: Erbium (Er), Terbium (Tb), and Ytterbium (Yb). All of these were also discovered in the same area. In the lanthanide family, …
The Rare Earth Triplets—Terbium, the Unfortunate Victim Read More »
Rare earth elements may sound exotic and valuable, but among this group of elements, cerium stands out for its abundance. It ranks as the 25th most common element in the Earth’s crust, leading some to jokingly refer to it as “the least rare of the rare earth elements.” Cerium was first discovered in 1803 by …
When discussing rare earth elements, we cannot overlook the large group of lanthanides, one of the most important categories in the periodic table.Most lanthanide elements are found in monazite and bastnäsite, and they are typically mixed together in stable proportions (with lanthanum comprising 25-38%). These elements are separated from each other as oxides and are …
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…
Recently, the topic of superconductors has resurfaced in discussions, particularly with the idea that at low enough temperatures, certain materials exhibit zero electrical resistance—a phenomenon known as superconductivity. Introduction In 1986, scientists Muller and Bednorz at IBM’s laboratory in Switzerland discovered a series of ceramics that exhibited superconductivity at 35 K. The following year, scientists …
